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Have you ever wished you could get 10 minutes with a senior colleague to ask their advice on how they would handle something? Have you ever wondered how others approach challenging problems? This is your opportunity to ask. We are bringing together a panel of very experienced colleagues from across the University for a special speed mentoring session so that they can offer you their support and advice.

Speed mentoring offers you the opportunity for a series of short, focused conversations about a specific question or issue you are struggling with. You will rotate around four different mentors, spending around 10 minutes with each, to gain different perspectives on an issue you are seeking to resolve or a project you are trying to progress.

"I liked that there were a diverse background of university staff involved in the session, and all of the mentors were really engaged and enthusiastic. I felt that I could be honest about some of my experiences in the University, good and bad. All the mentors I spoke to acted as a good sound board for the issues that I wanted to discuss and they have given me some excellent advice and ideas."

"The fact that we saw 4 different mentees was brilliant - we gained different perspectives, saw different mentoring types and were also introduced to people and roles we may not have known about."

Mentors:

• Charlotte Knights - Senior Professional Services Manager, Human Resources Division

• Andy Hyland - Learning and Development Consultant, Human Resources Division

• Kirstie Buckridge - Organisational Development Consultant, Human Resources Division

• Bruce Daniels - Assistant Director for Research Operations School of Physical Sciences, Research Office

• Suzanne Fowler - Head of HR Policy and Strategic Projects, Human Resources Division

• Elle Wills - ED&I Advisor, Cambridge University Libraries

Springboard is for women staff and graduate students, and those who identify as women, who want to take control, become more assertive, increase their confidence & build themselves a more positive attitude in both their work and home lives.

The programme gives you the time to reflect, share and most importantly, set achievable personal and professional goals for now and the future.

Key areas covered include communication skills, assertiveness, self confidence, improving your work/life balance and developing positive skills and attitude. If you want to progress and develop, then this programme is for you.

The programme comprises four days over a three-month period and a workbook to be completed between sessions.

Stages of Conflict: Bitesize

PPD bitesize resources are short and high impact; including videos, quick tips guides and interactive bitesize modules. Develop your skills and knowledge quickly, easily, when you need. They complement face to face events and more in-depth online modules.

Stages of Problem Solving: Bitesize

PPD bitesize resources are short and high impact; including videos, quick tips guides and interactive bitesize modules. Develop your skills and knowledge quickly, easily, when you need. They complement face to face events and more in-depth online modules.

Stakeholder Management: Bitesize

PPD bitesize resources are short and high impact; including videos, quick tips guides and interactive bitesize modules. Develop your skills and knowledge quickly, easily, when you need. They complement face to face events and more in-depth online modules.

STAR Model: Bitesize

PPD bitesize resources are short and high impact; including videos, quick tips guides and interactive bitesize modules. Develop your skills and knowledge quickly, easily, when you need. They complement face to face events and more in-depth online modules.

Dive into the fascinating research of the New Kingdom Research Foundation (NKRF) as we explore the dynamic history of Egypt's climate and biodiversity. Contrary to the common belief that Egypt is perpetually hyper-arid, our latest archaeological findings in the Theban Mountain reveal periods of remarkable wet conditions during the New Kingdom and Roman eras.

Join us in unravelling the mysteries behind the extraordinary preservation of diverse plant species and trade goods from these periods of higher temperatures in the late Holocene. Was this due to economic prosperity, extensive trade networks, or mere chance?

To deepen our understanding, we have created a comprehensive database of vegetal remains from archaeological sites across Egypt, spanning from the predynastic to Coptic eras. Using cutting-edge Geographic Information Systems (GIS), climate modelling, and ecological analysis, we're mapping the intricate relationship between biodiversity, climate change, and human activity over millennia.

Furthermore, we're pioneering molecular methods to analyse DNA in soil and mudbrick remains, aiming to uncover the presence of ancient plants in tombs, Coptic settlements, and ancient springs. This innovative approach seeks to correlate our DNA findings with historical data, providing new insights into Egypt's botanical past.

Our research not only captivates archaeologists but also offers crucial insights into how past warming episodes influenced biodiversity in the Saharan region, shedding light on what we might expect as global warming progresses.

Join us on this journey through time and discover how Egypt's ancient climate can inform our future!

The SDP programme will offer a blend of theory and practical learning sessions, interwoven with the strategy and governance context of the University. This will be delivered over several sessions and put in to practice with a strategic work project.

• You need to meet the selection criteria and complete an application form for the programme.
• Applications will require approval by your line manager and will then be reviewed and prioritised by School Secretary, Head of Division and Head of Institution, Registrary as appropriate.
• Applications typically open in May each year.

Strategic Development Programme Films: Bitesize

PPD bitesize resources are short and high impact; including videos, quick tips guides and interactive bitesize modules. Develop your skills and knowledge quickly, easily, when you need. They complement face to face events and more in-depth online modules.

This 4-hour mental health awareness training is intended for frontline staff at Colleges and Academic Faculties/Departments whose roles are pastoral or include responsibilities for responding to student welfare.

The session offers:

• A brief overview of student mental health in Higher Education.
• Best practice guidance on identifying and responding to students who may be experiencing mental health difficulties.
• Context-specific case vignettes and scenarios to improve staff confidence in intervening and applying skills in discussions with students, including those who may be experiencing poor wellbeing, mental ill-health and thoughts of suicide.
• Evidence-based and practical strategies for promoting student and staff wellbeing, including self-care for staff.
• Key resources and services in place to support mental health locally and nationally.

Please note these are stand-alone training sessions and participants should only attend one session.

This training is provided free of charge to College and University staff thanks to a philanthropic donation. The cost of providing the course is £25 per participant.

‘Student Mental Health Essentials’ is a focused introductory guide to student mental health tailored to the Cambridge context. The programme has been developed with Academic Departments, for Academic Departments, and is led by trainers from the University’s Student Wellbeing Service.

The session offers essential information and practical guidance relevant to the roles of academic and professional staff at Faculties and Departments and offers opportunities for discussion and analysis of authentic case studies with colleagues.

We welcome suggestions of practical scenarios relevant to your context to ensure the scenarios are appropriate and useful. Each session includes practical resources and information on services which will be circulated alongside the session slides for reference.

This short interactive module introduces you to Cambridge University Libraries and explains how to find resources for your subject. This module has a focus on the Biological Sciences strand of the Natural Sciences Tripos, and is suitable for anyone who is new to Cambridge.

• This is the Live Online version of the Supporting People Through Change (In Person Face to Face).

During change we often focus on what will be delivered and if it will be right for the job, but we often focus less on the need to support, reassure, and motivate those impacted by change – the people side of change.

This short session for staff with people-management responsibilities (including PIs, supervisors and team leads) will explore approaches to the people side of change in the context of the University. Whilst high-level sponsorship provides senior leadership and the rationale for change, research shows that direct line managers have the most influence on how their team respond to change by helping to support people in understanding, preparing for, and adopting changes in working life and practice. “Change happens one person at a time.” Prosci.com.

Using the HR Transformation Programme and the introduction of myHR as an example, we will look at how the approaches we are using to support colleagues across the University can be applied to the changes you may be leading in your team or area.

Join us to consider skills and techniques for supporting people through change, using consistent language to help build our individual and collective change capability, for the everyday changes and for the more significant ones.

Please Note: Once you have booked on the course, click on Add to Calendar to start the process to import the course appointment into your calendar. This contains the link to the MS Teams course meeting under Joining Instructions that you will use to join on the day of the course.

As part of the Festival of Wellbeing and in partnership with the Leaders and Managers Network, this session by Dr Hisham Ziauddeen will consider how we can understand unseen disabilities and support people with disability in the workplace, particularly as we move to new ways of working together.

The impacts of COVID on the disabled community and the challenges for the future will be considered. Disabled people are one of the groups in society that have been hit hardest by the pandemic and in the world of COVID, where we are moving to ‘life as normal’ and ‘living with the virus’, they will continue to be significantly affected. We need to understand these in order to think about how we can support our colleagues through the coming times

Access the recording of the Supporting People with Unseen Disabilities Webinar.

In this session we will discuss together how to get your mentoring relationship off to a good start, how to build trust with your mentor and build your confidence as a mentee. We will also touch on how to overcome any obstacles in the mentoring relationship.

In this session we will discuss together how to get your mentoring relationship off to a good start, how to build trust with your mentee and build your confidence as a mentor. We will also touch on how to overcome any obstacles in the mentoring relationship.

This is an opportunity for the members of the University to go one-on-one with Tableau experts across the Business Information and Strategic Insights Team, who can help you solve challenges.

This session is an opportunity for you to ask questions and to find out more about the development opportunities that Cambridge is offering you – for both the Team Leader or Supervisor Level 3 and the Leadership and Management Level 5.

We are looking to explore what interest there is at this current time in both apprenticeships and hope that there will be sufficient interest to establish University-wide cohorts. By establishing University-wide cohorts, we are looking to encourage more departments to use apprenticeships as a way to provide focused professional development for staff. Participants will have the advantage of a peer group to work through the programme with Cambridge University Press and Assessment who are potentially interested in joining in with this.

Thanu Mahendra of Corndel, our approved training provider for these programmes will present and be available to answer any questions or concerns that you may have before submitting an expression of interest.

Programme details of each apprenticeship can be found via the links below:

Team Leader or Supervisor Level 3

Leadership and Management Level 5 (Operations or Departmental Manager)

There is a minimum of 18-20 people required for each programme, for a cohort to run. Depending on the level of interest shown, it is intended that these apprenticeship cohorts will start in September 2024. However you will also have the opportunity to join an open (public) cohort if we are unable to reach sufficient numbers for a closed cohort. Entry to these cohorts will be by application and is open to all University employees who meet the eligibility criteria.

A link to the session will be sent with the joining instructions when your booking is confirmed.

Further information from the provider, Corndel.

Apprenticeship guidance.

• A discussion-style session with a brief overview of how IT works in the University of Cambridge, what is expected of an IT professional working within a College, Department or other University Institution, and what resources are available for you.
• Provided for any (relatively) new IT staff (or those who may have missed this).
• The session will also introduce opportunities to network with other University IT professionals, and key contacts for supporting IT staff.

A webinar to update technical staff on the projects the University is running as part of the Technician Commitment and to learn more about professional development as well as to provide a Q+A session and to encourage engagement and discussion.

• Access the recording of an Introduction and overview to the technician commitment by John Nicolson.
• Access the recording of a discussion of Technician career development by Freya Villis from Our Cambridge.
• Access the recording of an overview of professional registration online by Laurence Dawkins-Hall.

This next meeting focuses heavily on networking but will include a brief update from the Technician Commitment Coordinator on recent events and also a short presentation on where to begin looking at career development and training options.

These will be followed by a networking session and some local tours of labs/facilities in Pathology.

Following a recent announcement by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCO), the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) will be expanded to international researchers as well as international students.

The ATAS scheme currently applies to certain international students who require a visa to study in the UK and are intending to study at postgraduate level in certain sensitive subjects which may be “against the UK’s national interests”, predominately in programmes to develop Advanced Conventional Military Technology (ACMT), weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) or their means of delivery.

From 21 May 2021, the ATAS will be extended to cover ‘researchers’ intending to work in the UK in areas of research in these same sensitive areas. The ATAS requirement will only affect those applying for Skilled Worker, Tier 5 GAE and visitor visas.

The briefings is run by Graeme Ross, Immigration and Compliance Manager for the HR Division. The briefing covers the known areas of guidance on how the scheme will operate, who will be eligible for an ATAS certificate, and the potential impacts on recruitment and immigration at the University.

Access the recording of the Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) and Visas for Researchers Webinar.

An interactive and participative session that looks at the root of great communication covering:

• Levels of Listening
• Listening to understand
• Asking Great Questions
• Giving and Receiving Feedback

This session will involve group work, work in pairs and some time for individual reflection.

You've heard of a book group, but how about one for podcasts? In these sessions we will focus on a different episode from the wonderful Squiggly Careers Amazing If podcasts, which includes over 300 episodes on career based topics ranging from coaching and confidence, to strength and values.

Before each session you will be sent a link to a podcast episode to listen to and reflect upon. During the session you will be led through a selection of tasks/exercises recommended in the episode Pod Sheet. You will have the opportunity to work on these individually and then reflect back as a group.

Session 9: How to increase your visibility at work

In this episode podcast hosts talk about the actions you can take to increase your visibility with authenticity. It’s not about doing more work and it’s not about being the person who shouts about the loudest. It’s more about the simple and consistent things you do so your work is seen, heard, and recognised.

It is anticipated that it will take around 25 minutes to go through the online materials plus additional time to complete the exercises.