Speaking

Social Media

Reputation. Personal brand. Esteem. Track record. They all mean the same thing. Yet we prioritise them differently in different situations. Academics regularly focus on building their track record – their academic reputation – but spend little time on their personal brand – their reputation outside academia. Social media is a quick, easy and accessible way of translating academic success into community impact. In this presentation Richard covers a range of social media channels why you should (or should not) use them and how best to be successful on each. You’ll come with a social media account and leave with new connections, likes, shares as well as a clear strategy for making your chosen social media channel(s) work for your academic life.

Resume Writing

Leaving academia? Then you’ll need a resume. Not one of those academic ones – 30 pages is not going to cut it! You’ll need no more than 2. How is that possible?! In a half-day workshop (or series of one-on-one-coaching sessions) Richard goes through what employers are looking for and how to present that in your resume. If you bring your computer, you should leave with something close to a complete resume.

LinkedIn for Industry Engagement

LinkedIn is translated into more than 24 different languages. It crosses international boarders like no other social media. It is where business people go to grow and connect with other business people. If you want work with industry – LinkedIn is the social media platform for you. That’s why Richard has a dedicated program just for LinkedIn. You’ll come with a LinkedIn account and leave with new connections, post likes, post shares and a clearer goal for your LinkedIn profile.

Working with Industry

Working with industry is the easiest way to fund your research. But how do you find a partner? How do you know what you have to offer? How do you know what they want? In this talk, Dr Huysmans answers these questions using a series practical tips and tricks. You’ll leave having a list of potential things you could do for industry; partners that might be interested in working with you; and an introduction email/statement to use with potential partners.

Grant Writing

Grant writing is often about the questions not covered in the application as much as the questions that are asked. This talk covers the key things to consider when writing a grant, tender or proposal. It also looks at the differences between all three. Finally, participants are given a guide to producing a competitive grant in less than four weeks – allowing you to respond to those special purpose grants, tenders or requests for proposal that never have long lead times. You’ll leave knowing the three things to focus on when trying to understand a new opportunity and how you can prepare those answers in advance.

Building Resilience

PhD students (and probably academics) have some of the highest rates of poor mental health among any profession and their age-matched-peers.

In this talk, Richard goes through his own journey, building resilience. As well as tools, techniques and strategies students, ECRs and established researchers can implement to improve their own resilience.

Project Management for Research

Project management in research is often talked about in the context of being a transferable skill. A skill you pick up in your PhD and research career that is useful outside research.

However, do you actually manage your research projects? Or do they manage you?

Do you employ a project management approach?

Could you use Project Management language?

Do you know the features and benefits of different approaches?

Journal Article Writing

There are very few programs out there to support journal article writing. It is something that is assumed knowledge. So much of the process is a black box. In this talk Richard goes through Wendy Belcher’s 12 week program as well as things he’s learned writing his own published works and helping others in his writing program.

Productivity

Getting your PhD started and finished in 3 years is a challenge. Let alone doing it without being fully organised or productive. In this talk, Dr Huysmans covers things researchers and PhD students can do to save time in the lab, at the bench, in front of a computer, collecting data, doing analysis or writing documents.

Thesis Writing

Most people only ever write one PhD thesis – including Richard. But, he’s helped heaps of PhD students write their thesis. From start to finish. Covering the necessary word processing skills, to engaging your supervisor for drafts, to compiling your publications into your thesis. In this talk, Richard covers what is required to write your thesis, put forward a schedule to get it done in 15 weeks, and talk about what challenges you’ll face (and how you’ll overcome them). He uses real world examples from his thesis writing program, and attendees can put forward their challenges.