VALIDATE ECR Workshop 2027 - The Management Experiment: People, Performance, and Other Stuff They Never Taught You in the Lab
VALIDATE 2027 ECR Workshop - The Management Experiment: People, Performance, and Other Stuff They Never Taught You in the Lab
10-11 May 2027 (in-person at the One Farrer Hotel, Singapore, ahead of the VALIDATE 2027 Annual Meeting)
Applications for this workshop are open until 16:00 GMT on 27 November 2026 (apply via the VALIDATE 2027 Annual Meeting Registration Portal)
So you want to be a PI?
Moving into management is one of the most significant and least trained-for career transitions professionals make. Researchers are promoted to Group Leader because they are excellent at what they do – research; clinical, lab or field work - only to discover that leading a group requires an entirely different skill set.
Suddenly, your success is no longer just about doing great work yourself but also getting results through others. It’s about setting direction, shaping team culture, delegating effectively, giving feedback, establishing boundaries, navigating difficult people and performance issues.
This lively, in-person, two-day workshop on how to successfully manage people is designed for VALIDATE ECR members who want to improve their people management skills and are:
- Currently supervising students or group members, formally or informally
- Preparing for a PI role in the next 2-3 years
- In the early throes of leading their own research group
Applications to register for this workshop can be made via the VALIDATE 2027 Annual Meeting registration portal, where you will need to select the options to apply to join this workshop. Applications for this workshop will be competitively assessed and places awarded based on career stage of the applicant, and relevance of the applicant's research focus to the VALIDATE remit. Applications are open until 27 November 2026. Delegates will be expected to cover their own travel costs to join the workshop and VALIDATE Annual Meeting, unless awarded a VALIDATE travel grant (obtained via submitting a research talk or poster presentation application - see 2027 Annual Meeting webpage).
What We’ll Explore In The Workshop
In the two-days, course-leader Peggy Klaus will cover a range of helpful management and manager topics, including:
- What is Management, Exactly?
What no one tells you about the job before you say, “I do.”
- To Manage or Not to Manage? That Is the Question
Whether you’re new to management, experienced, or just considering it, what are the strengths, gaps, and blind spots you bring to the role?
- Where Good Leaders Go Off the Rails
We look at the common traps that can derail both new and experienced managers: micromanaging, rescuing, avoiding conflict, and trying to be everyone’s friend.
- Who Says Work Has to Be Miserable?
Creating the norms, expectations, and behaviours that make a team collaborative, accountable and trusting.
- Not My Circus… Oh Wait, It Is!
Figuring out what’s working on your team, what isn’t, and when and how to step in.
- Just Say It
Communicating with Executive Presence - warmth and strength, clarity, confidence, and appropriate transparency - especially in the conversations we’re tempted to avoid.
- Meetings Don’t Have to Be Boring
Creating meetings with a clear purpose, balanced airtime, and concrete next steps.
- Getting Credit Where Credit Is Due
How to talk about your own and your team’s work, accomplishments and impact without sounding like a bad braggart.
- Managing Up Without Sucking Up
How to build a strong relationship with your own manager, to ask for what you need, keep them informed, push back when necessary, and manage expectations.
- Go Forth and Manage!
We’ll be turning everything you’ve learned into a practical, personalized 90-day management roadmap.
About Peggy Klaus
Peggy Klaus is one of the most sought-after executive coaches, speakers, and authors in the USA. Her razor-sharp insights, humour, and heart have helped thousands of professionals—from Fortune 500 CEOs and board chairs to emerging leaders—communicate and lead with clarity, confidence, and authenticity. Her mission is to inspire, nurture and guide her clients to be the very best version of themselves.
Whether she’s preparing a client for a high-stakes board presentation, a global town hall, a TED Talk, media interviews, or tough conversations with their team, Peggy brings deep expertise and an uncanny ability to help people show up as their best selves. Her programs empowering women of all ages are internationally recognized for their transformative impact, and audiences around the world continue to be inspired by her workshops and keynotes on Unstoppable Confidence, Mastering the Art of Executive Presence, and The Art of Bragging.
Before becoming a coach, Peggy’s journey began in the arts. A former actor and classical singer, she earned advanced degrees in drama, speech, and theater from London’s Royal Academy of Music and The Drama Studio. In Hollywood, she worked as a producer, director, and talent coach for prominent figures in the entertainment industry, and for Paramount Studios, Warner Brothers, ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Peggy is the author of two best-selling books, BRAG! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It and The Hard Truth About Soft Skills, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Harvard Business Review.
Honored with the Coach of the Year Award in 2016 for her impact on leaders and organizations worldwide, Peggy has shared her expertise as a guest lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School and School of Public Health, Wharton’s Executive MBA Program, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, among others.
Today, she brings that same creative energy to her work with leaders across every industry. And, when she’s not working or traveling, she is at her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, enjoying the beauty of the southwest with her dog, Morty.
