Workshops

Stories make people pay attention – they can’t help it. We’ll watch films for hours, lose whole afternoons to a good book, or go without sleep to see just one more episode…

So, if you want people to pay attention to the research you are doing, why not steal some of the techniques and ideas from the world’s oldest form of communication?

In this workshop, we’ll explore how imagery, empathy, and curiosity become your tools to create a crucial “way in” for your audience. All too often, audiences are left on the outside, unable to see the value, or potential of your research, no longer!

This workshop will enable you to help them understand, access, and resonate with, your work.

We’ll mix deep theory with practical ideas. You’ll learn tips, but also how and why they work, there are no generic storytelling formulas here. It’s just real tools for researchers who want their work to land with the people who need to hear it.

Delivered by Duncan Yellowlees.

Participants will gain a practical understanding of how to design and write a high-quality beamline proposal specifically tailored towards battery research. They will receive an overview of the different national facilities available to UK researchers and the analytical techniques which each facility offers.

By learning directly from Beamline scientists, attendees will develop insight into what makes a proposal stand out, how proposals are evaluated, and how to align their research aims with facility capabilities. The session is delivered by experienced Beamline scientists who have sat on proposal review panels and understand how decisions are made. They will leave the session with the foundations of their own proposal drafted and a much stronger understanding of applying for Beamline time.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Build an understanding of the key national facilities relevant to battery research and understand the capabilities of each national facility
• Understand the full proposal process, from initial idea to submission and review.
• Recognise the essential components of a strong proposal and how to clearly communicate scientific rationale, feasibility, and impact.
• Analyse examples of successful proposals and extract best-practice approaches.
• Begin writing their own beamline proposal through a supported, hands-on activity.

Delivered by Dr Gabriel Perez and Zoe Wright from ISIS Neutron and Muon Source.

As researchers we need to be able to clearly communicate our perceptions and arguments to others. This is fundamental to academic discourse. It is also an important component of functional human relationships.

When our message hasn’t been understood in the way we intended, the receiver will often give us feedback. This feedback can come in the form of questioning, which can feel confrontational. Or it might manifest as a strong emotional response or push back against our idea.

Misunderstandings are natural. Most can be resolved using skill, tact and a bit of strategic thinking – all good tools in the researchers’ toolkit. Left unresolved, misunderstandings can pose serious risks to our physical and mental wellbeing.

In project contexts, misunderstanding can lead to errors which are costly to fix and/or potentially dangerous. Misunderstanding is the root cause of conflict and this can spill over to impact a whole team. Conflicts can cost us opportunities and relationships, so it really is in our interests to understand how they arise and what to do to resolve them.

In this short workshop we will use discussion, practice and reflection to better understand others, and ourselves, and reduce the chances of misunderstanding.

By the end of this training you will have:

• Developed your understanding of conflict and its causes.
• Employed skills to reduce misunderstanding between self and others.
• Practiced techniques to develop dialogue around contentious subjects in non-confrontational ways

Delivered by Jen Allanson for Skillfluence.

Scriptoria’s Scientific Writing Workshop for the Faraday Institution is aimed at early-career battery researchers who want to improve the output and quality of their writing for reports and journal articles. Our participants consistently report an increase in their confidence and writing quality following our courses.

What participants will gain from the training

Participants will gain practical, immediately applicable skills to improve the clarity, precision, and overall quality of their scientific writing. They will learn how to communicate more effectively in reports and journal articles, and gain insight into the professional writing and editing cycle. They will also pick up useful tools, techniques, and software tips that streamline the writing and editing process.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Manage a solo or collaborative writing project effectively, including planning, structuring, and progressing through a writing cycle.
• Communicate information more concisely and precisely, using clear, direct language suited to scientific audiences.
• Structure text more clearly for readers, improving the logical flow and readability of scientific documents.
• Engage readers more effectively using stylistic and structural tools, enhancing tone, clarity, and narrative coherence.
• Edit and proofread their own writing with greater confidence using MS Word, reference managers, and free tools to improve quality.

Delivered by Scriptoria.

This workshop introduces researchers to the process of applying for a fellowship. During the session, you will learn where to look for appropriate fellowship funding, how to apply, and things to take into consideration when writing a fellowship application. Specific areas covered in the training include:

• Highlighting the importance of research and how best to articulate this on applications
• Remit and eligibility of finding funding
• Understanding the application process in detail and looking at the flow of applications including objectives, milestones, deliverables and impact
• Guest speaker will join to provide insight on their own fellowship progress and provide tips and tricks followed by Q&A

“It covered the whole process of applying to a fellowship, highlighting very well how to structure our message to improve chances of success.”

Delivered by the Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre, Imperial College London. Find out more about the Centre here.

A crash course on Intellectual Property (IP) and Patents! Interested to know more about how IP and patents relate to you and your research? By attending this workshop you will:

• Learn the fundamentals of what IP is and its different forms, ownership of IP and the impact on researchers
• Gain insight into the timescales and costs of patent protection and the role of patent attorneys
• Come away with an overview of areas within battery research which can be protected with patents, and gain knowledge of good practice for capturing and recording inventions with real-world examples
• Find out what to consider before approaching a patent attorney to protect an invention

Delivered by Fynn McLennan and Darena Slavova, both Associate Patent Attorneys at Mewburn Ellis LLP.