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This is a brief summary of the organisational model that we have adopted in order to work more closely with Schools, Faculties and Departments and 'partner' with them in understanding and providing for the needs of their particular staff in a ‘bespoke’ way where appropriate. This positions us better to target our resource towards meeting real needs, while striving for enhanced alignment between UCL’s research strategy and individual aspirations. This new model also enables us to work more closely in partnership with other key people deployed at a Faculty or Department level, such as Research Facilitators, Research Leaders, HR Consultants, Faculty Managers etc.

Workshops are facilitated by editors of high impact journals who discuss with participants key aspects within the writing process and the aims of the journal. Brief writing exercises on papers published by participants take place during the workshop. In addition, selected published articles from the journal are being discussed highlighting relevant points of interest that inform the writing process.

Building a resource of career profiles provided by research student Alumni, to guide and inspire current research students.

Ketso is an interactive, hands-on toolkit for bringing meetings and workshops to life. It is compact and portable, simple to use and accessible to everyone. Ketso extends people's ability to run effective and enjoyable workshops - virtually anywhere and in any setting. It encourages people to be creative and share in productive dialogue, while also generating real results that can be put into action. Ketso provides a set of tabletop tools that can be used to capture and display people's ideas. It consists of colourful 'branches', 'leaves' and other materials, which can be placed on a felt workspace and easily moved around in response to changing discussion. Ketso is robust and portable, and comes in a handy carrying bag, making it easy to transport to and from events. Ketso provides a series of free resources to help you run effective workshops and engagement processes - such as workshop plans and training videos in planning and running a workshop.

The Project Support Assistant (PSA) model was introduced as a form of enhanced skills development, offering a work experience opportunity to current doctoral researchers. The PSAs gain experience of planning and implementing large scale events/conferences, as well as developing and honing their project management, communication, team working and inter-personal skills. It is important to ensure that the PSAs have a project manager that is familiar with the project and available for regular team meetings. Although the PSAs lead on the planning of the event, they do require a high level of support from the project manager.

The Postgraduate Enterprise Summer School, now in its sixth year, is a week long course that has been designed to teach skills in enterprise and entrepreneurship to postgraduate students at the University of Birmingham. Topics covered include innovation, marketing, business planning, financing, commercialisation and presentation skills. By the end of the course participants will: develop a business idea from the concept stage to a fully fledged business proposition; know the steps required to set up their own business; be aware of the requirements to commercialise research in an academic environment; be able to work effectively in a team environment; and identify which role they are best suited to in a business team. The Entrepreneurship and Innovation team of the Careers and Employability Centre plans, runs and facilitates the week with some teaching input. The majority of training is delivered by other internal staff, external trainers and entrepreneurs. The University’s Business School hosts the event providing training rooms and IT suites. Being intensive, all lunches and refreshment breaks need to be catered and one evening dinner is provided, as an opportunity to network with successful entrepreneurs from the region. In recent years, use of software (SimVenture) and the internet, brainstorming tools (Ketso) and profiling tools (e.g. Belbin, eFACETS) have significantly enriched the programme.

An interdisciplinary initiative run by doctoral researchers to enrich their research environment, enhance their skills and facilitate exchange of ideas on Europe.

This scheme funds young researchers to work within entrepreneurial technology-driven business to develop: 1) a practical understanding of how to transform research ideas into commercially successful products and services; 2) leadership and transferable business skills.

A two day summer school which provides research staff with a platform for development to do better research and to advance in their research careers. This programme is for new research staff, who are within their first 12 months of their first research contract. Day 1: Taking a Strategic View of Research: Getting Published and Seeking Funding Understanding the Vision and Research Strategy of the University Working Your Own Vision Personal Motivation for Research and Funding as a Career Strategy The Politics of Getting Published SWOT/ Skills Audit Day 2: Managing Projects, Teams and Funding Applications Project Management Approaches The Research Team – how you fit Getting Funding - What Works; What Doesn’t Esteem Factors & Your Researcher-Profile

In one intensive three-hour session gives participants a general understanding of the media, including how journalists work, how to get coverage, how to prepare for interviews, and how to manage expectations. This is followed by individual coaching and mentoring in interview techniques, during which the participant is interviewed twice with video playback and analysis afterwards.