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Increasing size and complexity of research projects means increasing need for effective collaborations - across the ICR, with other academic organisations, and with Industry. This workshop will look at some of the key challenges and the practical steps needed to allow successful collaborations – whether at individual, team or Institute level.

A highly interactive six day course, over a period of six months, designed to equip participants with the skills they need for their interactions with industry/external organisations bodies. It covers everything they need from building new contacts, running the first meeting to finding opportunities for collaboration. Between the skills days teh trainer is on hand for 1-1 mentoring advice It is run by Phil Richardson, Thoughtcrew International

A series of lunchtime sessions for Early Carrer Researchers (ECRs) introducing them to a variety of different aspects of enterprise and entrepreneurship.

A 1 day conference for ECRs and those supporting ERCs in the South West focussing on interdisciplinary research and collaboration organized jointly by development and research staff - in 2009 The 2nd researchers cOnference in Bath has focussed on Impact.

The Winning Team is a three-day training programme for PhD students, focussing on developing core skills for employment, enterprise and business development. During the training days participants receive: - training in creativity related skills; - training in business skills; - training in business planning; - feedback on their performance on two psychometric instruments, Thinking Styles and Emotional Intelligence. Between training days participants work in teams to develop a product concept and route to market. They also develop a business plan for this business concept under the supervision of an experience professional from the financial services sector. On the final day each team presents their business proposal in a dragons den format, to a group of business people and entrepreneurs drawn from the East Midlands area. Participants also complete a peer-review process and reflective diary. Those completing the course successfully receive the Leicester Award for Employability.

Evening Career Events are three hour career events for PhD students, at the University of Leicester. This focuses on PhD students from the College of Social Sciences and the College of Arts, Humanities & Law. Seven events are run over a two year cycle, each one focussing on a particular career sector. Each event consists of a number of speakers from the career sector, each speaker giving a short presentation to a prescribed format. This format includes an outline of the individual's career experience, a description of working in their area and hints and tips for aspirants and newcomers in terms of working in the field and the organisation. An additional part of the Evening Carer Event is an exhibition from some employers and recruiters in the particular employment sector.

Glasgow’s researcher development initiative aims to develop and support a vibrant community of researchers who can participate in meaningful engagement with researchers from other fields, policy makers, the wider public, and the local community and business sector. This has been achieved through our flagship ‘Making an Impact’ event which connects researcher training with opportunities to put what has been learnt into practice in real scenarios. ‘Making an Impact’ ran 3 times in the last academic year and was well attended by early-career researchers from all disciplines, as well as prospective PhD students. The overarching aim of the event was to help researchers to consider how their research and how they as researchers can have an impact on the local community, Government policy or the economy. Each event had two distinct sections as well as networking opportunities: Part A: Presentations from PhD alumni These were designed to help participants consider the wide range of career opportunities open to them and identify possible routes into these. Many speakers brought examples of how they are continuing to work closely with academia, thus enabling researchers to understand how their research could be used to inform work in museums, policy, social enterprise and spin-outs. These talks have cemented relationships between local organisations and the University. For example, discussions are now underway between a current research student in Adult Education and one of the Social Enterprise speakers about possible research collaboration. Following the presentation from a representative of Glasgow museums, a current researcher was invited to visit and meet curatorial staff to help clarify her career goals. Part B: Presentations from current research students Current researchers presented their work, considering how best to convey its value and interest to an audience outside of their own field (including the external speakers). Pitching their talk at the correct ‘level’ was particularly challenging for many students but they appreciated having an ‘outsider’ perspective as well as finding out about research methods and practice in other fields and areas where they might collaborate or learn from each other.

An overview of TST courses in the Graduate School of Life Sciences addressing the entire Roberts agenda, and run across the whole school or within individual Departments and Institutes; but run for the individual student rather than for the yeargroup or the course.

A 2 x ½ day compulsory Introductory session for all new graduate students emphasises the importance of transferable skills training and provides an introduction to the nature of Research Degrees, the Cambridge University system, scientific ethics, enterprise and IP. It includes a wide range of speakers from Academia and Industry, with an aim to introduce at least two academic research names and one external business celebrity that the students will have heard of before arrival in Cambridge.

Durham University Graduate School fund up to three one-year Business Creation Fellowships per year. These fellowships, which provide a small stipend to support the Fellow, are designed to enable Fellows to develop a very early stage business idea towards market. The business idea need not be related to the Fellow’s previous research interests. Applicants should have a potentially viable business idea that is capable of being taken to market. There is no restriction on the stage that the business is at, although it is anticipated that these will be at a very early stage. Fellows will be given a stipend of £10,000 to cover their living expenses for the duration of the fellowship, so enabling them to concentrate on developing their business idea. Fellows will be given access to the Business Incubator and support will be offered by the Technology Transfer and Postgraduate Training Team. Candidates for the Fellowships should be either: (i) Postgraduate research students of Durham University in the final stages of completing their research degree OR (ii) Postdoctoral researchers at Durham University whose contract of employment is close to termination. The Fellowship will be tenable for 1 year from 1st October or a mutually agreed date. However, Fellows who are postgraduate research students will normally have had to submit their thesis before taking up their Fellowship, while postdoctoral researchers will normally have terminated their employment with the University before taking up their Fellowship. The principal duty of the Business Creation Fellow is to develop their business idea. To support this, Fellows will be asked to undertake a training needs analysis at the commencement of their Fellowship and then address their training needs, supported by the Postgraduate Training Team and the Tech Transfer Office. Fellows will also have to undertake enterprise support work from time to time, amounting to, on average, no more than half a day per week. Applications Deadline: mid July. Candidates should include a brief business-focussed CV, a short (1 page) outline of their business idea and an outline of their plans for progressing the idea over the period of the Fellowship (1 page). If a business plan is available this should be included; if a business plan has not yet been written candidates should include descriptions of • Intellectual property protection • Potential markets • Potential competitors • How you will reach your customers and make money Informal enquiries may me made to the director of postgraduate training.