• Facilitation skills workshops – offering the opportunity to build a network of capable, confident facilitators internally within your organisation. We teach them pragmatic approaches to facilitating successful collaborations.

• Facilitating research partnerships and collaborations workshops – support for researchers making the transition into leading their own independent research, establishing collaborations with their peers or looking to broaden their research networks.

How does it work?

Our aim is that attendees leave the workshops with increased capability and confidence. A pre-workshop online questionnaire helps us understand the kind of facilitation or collaboration you are involved in, the things you feel confident about and the ones you find more challenging. We also note the career stages your potential facilitators or other workshop attendees are at, from PhD and early career to more senior colleagues and leaders. We tailor the content of the workshop to best meet the needs of the people in the room.

As facilitators and collaborators ourselves, we work with many universities, funding organisations, research networks and charities, so we share our experience of what works - and what doesn't.

We recognise that no two collaborations are the same, so our skills workshops are bespoke, based on your needs and the context you work in.

Facilitation skills workshops

We introduce you to a 5-step process for successful facilitation, covering areas such as target outcomes, the role of the facilitator and practical tools. By the end of a typical workshop, you will have:

• Developed an awareness of how to influence and inspire people to engage and collaborate, using practical techniques and approaches
• Experienced some well tested tools and strategies for engaging diverse groups
• Explored the planning process and strategies for managing an effective workshop
• Made tangible progress with a plan for your own successful workshop

What our participants say

“Thank you for a very insightful and actionable workshop. Your approach was wonderful and enabled me to learn new ideas, and perhaps more importantly, gain a better understanding of what facilitation is, in its purest sense, and what it isn’t. This has given me a renewed sense of confidence going forward.”
Research Project Manager

“Many thanks to you and your team for the session yesterday. Personally, I found it thought provoking and very good fun, and look forward to an opportunity to implement some of the things I've learned.”
Head of Research Grant Development

“The people who attended are busy partnering up to support each other’s meetings so definitely having the intended outcomes. We now have a box of very nice post it notes of every size, colour and shape imaginable and some budding facilitators that are much more confident in holding meaningful meetings”
Senior Development Manager

“Thanks again for a great session. As an introvert I also really appreciated how well thought out it was in terms of giving everybody space to contribute.”
Knowledge Exchange and Impact Manager

Research partnerships and collaborations workshops

We consider the why, who and how of research collaborations and focus on practical skills to enable you to develop your own productive research relationships. By the end of a typical workshop, you will have:

• Explored how to approach and engage with different types of research collaborators
• Experienced some well tested tools and strategies for managing an effective research collaboration
• Been supported to develop a plan for your own research collaboration

What our participants say

“Thank you for a really engaging and informative day. I have a tool-kit now which I will put into use.”
Early Career Researcher

“Lack of competition is key for creating great atmosphere! This was greatly done.”
PhD Student