VALIDATE ECR Workshop "Post-doc'ing for Success 2"
Date: 30 September 2019
Venue: Boardrooms 3 & 4, The Drum at Wembley, London, UK
Description of the workshop
This workshop aimed to help VALIDATE Early Career Researchers (Associate and post-graduate student Affiliate members) widen and improve the non-technical skills necessary to progress their careers. This was a small, informal workshop that provided plenty of opportunity to get to know fellow VALIDATE postdoctoral and post-graduate researchers from around the world. The workshop was run as part of the VALIDATE Network 2019 Annual Meeting and followed our 2018 ECR workshop, with different content from the previous year.
Agenda
This one-day workshop included sessions on career planning for success, communicating research effectively, grant writing and leadership, as well as our highly successful career-panel Q&A with senior members of VALIDATE:
09:00–09:30 Registration and tea/coffee
09:30 Welcome and introductions – Samantha Vermaak, VALIDATE Network Manager
10:00 Career planning for success – Samantha Vermaak, VALIDATE Network Manager/Business and Personal Coach
Sam is a Business and Personal Coach, and in this session she discussed how to plan effectively for career success. She guided attendees through exercises and questions designed to help them think about and plan their next career steps.
11:00 Coffee/tea break
11:30 Managing yourself: great leadership – Samantha Vermaak, VALIDATE Network Manager/Business and Personal Coach
The session considered how researchers stepping into roles requiring management, particularly Group Leader positions, could become leaders who inspire, motivate and support their teams to succeed.
12:00 How to communicate well around vaccine research – Sara Dada, Communications Officer, Vaccine Confidence Project, LSHTM
Drawing on extensive experience of communications around vaccines, particularly the Ebola vaccine trials in Africa, Sara discussed best practice in communicating research, the risks and pitfalls that can arise when communicating about vaccines, and how these challenges can be managed effectively.
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Career planning for success – panel talks and Q&A
Senior members of VALIDATE from different stages of the postdoctoral career trajectory gave short talks about their careers and shared tips and advice for our ECRs. They then answered questions from the audience about having a successful career in science:
IPGMER, India
Mitali is Professor of Pharmacology at the Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in India and works on leishmaniasis.
University of Manchester, UK
Tracy is Professor of Inflammatory Disease at the University of Manchester and Director of the Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation and the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research.
Pfizer, UK
Steve was Vice-President and Head of Europe and Asia-Pacific Vaccine Clinical Research and Development at Pfizer.
Public Health England, UK
Ann was Scientific Leader at Public Health England, providing scientific direction to the TB research programme.
15:15 Coffee/tea break
15:45 Planning and writing a great grant application – Prof Andrea Cooper, University of Leicester
As a senior and successful academic researcher, Andrea talked through how to plan and write a strong grant application – from finding an initial scientific idea and identifying collaborators to understanding what funders look for, writing effectively and applying practical tips for success. She also shared insights from the various review panels on which she had served. The talk lasted approximately one hour, leaving plenty of time for questions.
17:00 End of day
18:30 onwards An optional group dinner was arranged at a local restaurant, with the meal paid for by delegates.
