Workshops

Do you have a question about the services and guidance that the Library provides for researchers?

Any question are welcome - whether you would like help with making your research open access, managing your research data, or understanding your research impact.

Our friendly Library staff are here to help! We would love to meet you to introduce the various services on offer and direct you to the information you require. If we cant find an answer to your question straight away, we can facilitate connections to relevant experts so you can get the information you need.

The Library's Research Services team are hosting weekly drop-in clinics for authors to ask questions and discuss any concerns about the new UKRI Open Access policy, which applies to all UKRI funded journal articles and conference proceedings submitted for publication after April 1st 2022. These sessions will take place via Zoom.

There's no need to book, just turn up on the day.

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/95272880363

This training course will teach you the basics of using the new Research Costing Tool, BlackDackel.

By the end of this workshop you will be able to:

• Log into the system
• Navigate around BlackDackel
• Search for Project/Budgets
• Model a basic research grant application
• Share Project/Budget ID

Further Information

Before attending this training course, you will need to request access to BlackDackel and familiarise yourself with our online training materials via our website using the pathway For Research Academics/Project Managers.

Access requests are made by emailing researchcostingtool@manchester.ac.uk.

Are you starting to write your Data Management Plan but have questions? Then this hour long session is for you. Here is the format:

* Introduction and a brief overview of the Data Management Plan, including why each section is important

* 20 min question and answer session - ask any DMP related questions on your mind

* 10 min break - we would encourage this time to be spent looking at your DMP to see if you can apply what you've learnt

* 10 min for any further questions and session wrap up

If this sounds like something that would be useful to you, book onto a session today and start getting your questions ready.

Participant information

This session will take place on the online video conferencing app Zoom. Please sign up and download the app for free via this

link: https://zoom.us/

We will send you the Zoom link for the workshop a day before the workshop is to take place, booking onto this workshop is essential.

The Pure drop-in will be held online via Zoom. For details of how to join the online session, please log into your Pure account, where you will find log-in details for the session. The Zoom details will be available on Pure a week before the drop-in.

Do you have a question about using Pure? Something like:

• How can I set up my Pure account?
• How do I upload publications to Pure?
• How can I extract my Pure data for use elsewhere?

Come along to our Pure drop-in session and ask one of our advisers. There's no need to book, just turn up on the day!

In this workshop you will explore three of the most common challenges identified by PhD candidates: managing your relationship with your supervisor; time management and procrastination; and dealing with setbacks during research.

You will explore the context around these issues and how they affect the research process, before working with other postgraduate researchers to help develop the necessary skills and approaches for dealing with them.

Finally, you will be introduced to established models and strategies for working effectively with your supervisory team, beating the procrastination cycle and maintaining resilience in the face of setbacks.

The aim of this one-day writing retreat is to provide a quiet space where staff and researchers can make progress with their writing. It is a great way to carve out dedicated time to get on with those journal articles, thesis chapters, HEA Fellowships or grant applications.

The day will start with some useful writing warm-up techniques that you can apply throughout the day. These strategies will focus on: getting started, overcoming writers block and trying a different writing approach. The majority of the day will be spent in concentrated writing sessions where there should be no talking, no internet, no research - just writing! There will be short, scheduled breaks (with free tea, coffee and snacks) in between these blocks of concentrated writing time, to help keep you motivated and on-task.

Don't forget your laptop!

Programme for the day:

9.00-9.20 Tea, coffee and registration

9.20-9.50 Set your writing goals for the day, and try some useful warm-up writing strategies

9.50-12.00 Concentrated writing time

12.00-13.00 Lunch and optional wellbeing activity

13.00-13.10 Reflect on your progress so far, re-evaluate your goals

13.10-15.20 Concentrated writing time

15.20-15.35 Coffee break

15.35-16.50 Concentrated writing time

16.50-17.00 Reflection

Shut Up and Write is an event for researchers to come together for a fixed amount of time and write. The aim is not to put pressure on you to be productive, rather, to help you carve out some dedicated time to write and to present a chance to connect with other researchers. It is a great way make progress on those thesis chapters, journal articles, or grant applications.

Whilst two hours doesn't sound like much, it is amazing what you can get done if you really focus. There will be short, scheduled breaks in between writing sessions of 30 minutes, to help keep you motivated and on-task. During the breaks there will also be time to reflect on some of the challenges we are facing as a research community and how we might support one another.

Booking on

Due to popularity, booking onto the event is essential to ensure a place.

Further support

Talk to us online via the 24-hour Library Chat service. Alternatively, you can email us for advice or to book one-to-one appointments at uml.teachingandlearning@manchester.ac.uk.

Find out more about the workshops and online resources offered by My Research Essentials on the library webpage. Online resources related to this workshop include:

• Start to finish: writing
• Start to finish: dissertations
• My Research Essentials Medium: writing strategies
• My Learning Essentials: writing online resources

In this fully interactive workshop you will learn a range of improvisation techniques that will improve your confidence about public speaking and informal networking.

Improvisation is a form of unscripted theatre that relies on heightened communication and creativity. Aside from performance, it can be also be used to promote teamwork, enhance presentation skills and ease social anxiety. We will focus on the application of improvisation for improving public speaking skills and will provide you with practical exercises to help you build confidence in communicating with a variety of audiences.

Learn to be more present, feel confident speaking in any setting and embrace failure.

Shut Up and Write is an event for researchers to come together for a fixed amount of time and write. The aim is not to put pressure on you to be productive, rather, to help you carve out some dedicated time to write and to present a chance to connect with other researchers. It is a great way make progress on those thesis chapters, journal articles, or grant applications.

Whilst two hours doesn't sound like much, it is amazing what you can get done if you really focus. There will be short, scheduled breaks in between writing sessions of 35 minutes, to help keep you motivated and on-task. During the breaks there will also be time to reflect on some of the challenges we are facing as a research community and how we might support one another.

How to book on

This event will take place on the online video conferencing app Zoom.us. Booking onto the event is essential to receive the link and passcode to join.

Zoom guidance and support

All University of Manchester students and staff should register at Zoom.us using their University of Manchester email address, only authenticated users can join this event. Help and support with using Zoom is provided by Media Services. Updates are posted to the Media Services website, and you can contact the team by emailing mediaservices@manchester.ac.uk.

Find out more about the workshops and online resources offered by My Research Essentials on the library webpage. Online resources related to this workshop include:

• Start to finish: writing
• Start to finish: dissertations
• My Research Essentials Medium: writing strategies
• My Learning Essentials: writing online resources

Open Access (OA) is an essential consideration for all Manchester researchers and PGRs. This bitesize workshop will explain OA and why you should be thinking about openness when undertaking and seeking to publish your research.

This workshop will provide you with the following:

• Understanding of the benefits of OA for you as an individual researcher, and for the wider world.
• Awareness of the different ways of publishing OA research.
• Ability to choose the most appropriate OA method for your work.
• Knowing how to ensure compliance with institutional and funder OA requirements.
• Understanding how the Library's Scholarly Communication team can help you.

This session will take place on the online video conferencing app Zoom. Booking onto the session is essential in order to receive the link to join.

All University of Manchester students and staff should register at Zoom.us using their University of Manchester email address, only authenticated users can join this event. Help and support with using Zoom is provided by Media Services. Updates are posted to the Media Services website, and you can contact the team by emailing mediaservices@manchester.ac.uk.

Further support

Talk to us online via the 24-hour Library Chat service. Alternatively, you can email us for advice or to book one-to-one appointments at uml.teachingandlearning@manchester.ac.uk.

Find out more about the workshops and online resources offered by My Research Essentials on the library webpage. Online resources related to this workshop include:

• 7 steps to maximise the profile of your next paper

In this fully interactive workshop you will learn a range of improvisation techniques that will improve your confidence about public speaking and informal networking.

Improvisation is a form of unscripted theatre that relies on heightened communication and creativity. Aside from performance, it can be also be used to promote teamwork, enhance presentation skills and ease social anxiety. We will focus on the application of improvisation for improving public speaking skills and will provide you with practical exercises to help you build confidence in communicating with a variety of audiences.

Learn to be more present, feel confident speaking in any setting and embrace failure.

This session will take place on the online video conferencing app Zoom.

Booking onto the session is essential in order to receive the link to join.

All University of Manchester students and staff should register at Zoom.us using their University of Manchester email address, only authenticated users can join this event. Help and support with using Zoom is provided by Media Services. Updates are posted to the Media Services website, and you can contact the team by emailing mediaservices@manchester.ac.uk.

This workshop will equip you with the skills to spot so-called 'Predatory Publishers', and feel confident in the credibility of the journals you will be submitting to. By the end of the session you will be able to:

• Feel confident in your ability to identify credible journals
• Understand the motivations behind 'Predatory Publishing'
• Understand the consequences of submitting your work to non-reputable journals
• Spot the common characteristics of non-reputable publishers
• Use established tools and processes to check the credibility of a journal

As part of this workshop we will be running an activity where a personal device (mobile phone, laptop, tablet etc.) would be useful but is not essential.

This session will take place on the online video conferencing app Zoom. Booking onto the session is essential in order to receive the link to join.

All University of Manchester students and staff should register at Zoom.us using their University of Manchester email address, only authenticated users can join this event. Help and support with using Zoom is provided by Media Services. Updates are posted to the Media Services website, and you can contact the team by emailing mediaservices@manchester.ac.uk.