News

Postdoc Business Plan Competition - Launch Night

• A guide to the application process
• Speeches from three previous competition winners - giving their take on what the competition was like and how it helped them
• A drinks reception for a chance to meet and exchange ideas with previous contestants, EPOC members, Cambridge Enterprise staff and fellow postdocs.

I would be most grateful if you could circulate this event to your wider network of postdocs, and anyone else that might be relevant to the overall competition.

Opportunity for lecturing: Sutton Trust Summer School -- looking for volunteers from RA pool

Homerton College is looking to appoint experienced postdocs

Homerton College is in the process of expanding its undergraduate Engineering intake to 24 students per year. We have been approached by the Master of Homerton College to help with the provision of supervisors for Parts IA and IB of the Engineering Tripos. 

The College is looking to appoint experienced postdocs within the Department with at least 5-years’ experience on short-term supervisor contracts that will be paid at the standard supervision rate, although there may be other benefits associated with the appointment. Each post-doc will be required to supervise up to 4-hours per week during term-time.

Anyone interested should first discuss this with their PI, who would need to support an application. Expressions of interest should be made in the first instance to Research Office (research-office@eng.cam.ac.uk), with a brief description (one paragraph) of your background and research interests and an indication of which Part I courses you would be prepared to supervise.

Shanghai Thomas Experimental High School (STEHS)

Recruitment of Part-time External Research Advisors 

Background

Shanghai Thomas Experimental High School (STEHS) is an innovative high school focused on delivering STEM/STEAM education using project-based, interdisciplinary learning methodologies to produce vibrant and meaningful learning communities and graduates who are equipped to thrive in a rapidly evolving technological world.

Science competence and global vision are the essential elements to student success at STEHS. To achieve such image, Grade 10 students are encouraged to work on a year-long project with the help and input from both internal and external advisors. STHES is looking to appoint part-time academic mentors from leading Universities, and academics from Cambridge University are particularly welcome to join this experimental and meaningful mentorship program.

Requirement

10 advisors from the academic (faculty), post-doctoral, research fellowship community

Commitment

Part-time work

5 working days on-site pa (August, Shanghai)

5 working days on-line pa

Academic Tutorial Areas

Computer Systems

Engineering Design

Analytical Chemistry   

Physics

Biology   

Responsibilities

Tutors will provide academic guidance across the curriculum, including: 

-       The role of research in teaching;

-       The selection of research topics;

-       Recommendation of subject-based reference documents and related readings;

-       Effective argument and debate;

-       The use of experimental data;

-       Academic writing.

Other responsibilities will include:

-       Participation in a mid-term review;

-       Appraisal of final presentations;

-       Collaboration with internal advisors;

-       Participation in the yearly review. 

More information soon.

Free Mindfulness and Meditation Course for Postdocs

When: Thursday lunchtimes (15th, 22nd, 29th March and 5th April), 13:00-14:00
Where: 17 Mill Lane, Central Cambridge

This short course run by the University Staff Counselling Service will look at using mindfulness and meditation as resources to improve your wellbeing. Each session will begin and end with a simple meditation or breathing practice. Topics discussed will include negative self-talk, psychological self-care strategies and how to manage emotions. No experience of meditation is eeded and you won't have to share any personal information or experiences.

For more information or to sign up, please e-mail welfare@pdoc.cam.ac.uk. If you're interested but you can't make these 
dates/times/location, please also get in touch, because we will run further courses in future.

Making Engineering presentations with impact: A Masterclass in how to present 

We are fortunate to have Dr Jean-Luc Doumont, an engineer and physicist, coming to talk to us on Tuesday March 20th. 

Strong presentation skills are a key to success for engineers, scientists, and others, yetmany speakers are at a loss to tackle the task. Systematic as they otherwise can be in their work, they go at it intuitively or haphazardly, with much good will but seldom good results. In this talk, Dr Doumont proposes a systematic way to prepare and deliver an oral presentation: he covers structure, slides, and delivery, as well as stage fright.

Book now if you want a place:

https://www.training.cam.ac.uk/eng/event/2413355

Cambridge Carbon Challenge 2018 now open for submissions

You are invited to submit your innovative ideas for reducing air miles and finding alternatives to flying within the University. Contribute to University efforts to reduce carbon emissions in one of the most challenging yet significant aspects of the University’s carbon footprint. 

 To find out more and to submit your idea, visit: https://www.environment.admin.cam.ac.uk/carbon-challenge

New skills development programme: Engage For Change

If you are excited by the prospect of implementing innovative solutions to sustainability challenges, this new 6-week programme funded by the University’s Environment and Energy team is for you: https://www.cambridgehub.org/activities/engage-for-change

Engage for Change is for people who want to learn to make change happen, through effective conversations with those around and above them. You will develop the skills to design, implement and evaluate your own environmental sustainability-related interventions, using the University as a testing-ground.

University’s Research Data Management Facility Survey

The University’s Research Data Management Facility continues to work on improving the services they offer our research community and they need our input.

By filling the survey, we will help to develop the University’s strategy for research data handling, one that reflects our researcher needs. Additionally, they will compare current research data management approaches at our University with other institutions around the world.

This link will take you to a survey on research data practices at the University.

http://bit.ly/Survey_Research_Data_Cambridge

If you are interested in finding out about an innovative Data Champions programme at the University,  please go to: https://www.data.cam.ac.uk/.

Support of Postdoc Parents and Families Survey

The PdOC Society are thinking about what more we can do to support postdocs parents and families in Cambridge. If you are interested in this (whether you're a parent or not) please help us by filling in the short survey at: https://goo.gl/Kvnjy5

If you have problems accessing the survey, or if you prefer to give us feedback by e-mail instead, please contact:
welfare@pdoc.cam.ac.uk

North West Cambridge (Eddington) Survey

Help improve the University's new initiative to relieve the housing situation for its members. Whether you are currently living in Eddington, are soon going to be living there, or have recently been unlucky while applying for a flat: your feedback will be appreciated and will make Eddington a better experience for everyone.

The survey should not take more than 5 minutes of your time and the results that will be publicized will not allow for the identification of individual feedback. The summary of our findings will be presented to the University's Accommodation Syndicate and to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.

Fill in the survey at: https://goo.gl/forms/8X8PYCC5eonTYbhl1

CHRIST'S COLLEGE POSTDOCTORAL AFFILIATION SCHEME

Christ’s College MCR invites postdocs employed at the University of Cambridge and its affiliated institutions to apply to its new postdoc affiliation scheme.

Membership at a Cambridge College provides a unique academic and social environment. Not only do College members gain access to sports, dining and study facilities, but the environment also encourages interaction between academics in diverse fields and across all career stages. The Christ’s College MCR postdoctoral affiliation scheme aims to provide an opportunity for postdocs to experience the collegiate environment at Cambridge. Visit our website for more details: https://www.christsmcr.co.uk/postdoctoral-affiliation/. 

HOW TO APPLY

We are opening applications to postdoctoral researchers who have an interest in being active members of Christ’s College MCR. In order to apply, please send a completed application form (attached), CV, and short statement of interest (maximum single A4 page) to Tess [secretary@christsmcr.co.uk].

The deadline for this round of applications is 31st January 2018.

Successful applicants may be invited to give a brief research talk in front of the graduate students at Christ’s College MCR. 

For any queries, please get in touch with Hayden [president@christsmcr.co.uk].

The Borysiewicz Biomedical Sciences Fellowship Programme

Application deadline: 17:00 on Monday 26 February 2018.

The Borysiewicz Biomedical Sciences Fellowships have been developed in honour of Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, a pioneer in the biomedical sciences, who when Vice-Chancellor of the University led and shaped the development of key provisions for Cambridge’s postdoc community.

The Borysiewicz Fellowships will take outstanding Cambridge postdocs and develop them into motivated, strategic future leaders ready to pursue a range of global questions and problems. The programme will provide a unique mixture of purposeful and outcome-driven engagement opportunities for postdocs both within and outside their area of expertise, which will develop their skills as leaders and lead to a chance to pursue truly independent work on novel ideas.

In the first year, Fellows will embark on a set of flexible, outcome-driven trainings and experiences intended to develop leadership and teamwork skills. In parallel, Fellows will spend time in small groups, pursuing a Global Challenge in collaboration with mentors and experts from industry, enterprise, policy, government and academia leading to a tangible output. This will be completed alongside a Fellow’s existing research contract.

Fellows will then have the opportunity to bid for a period of independent time to pursue their own work. The projects can be anything from a conventional research project, to starting a business, to political or civil society-engagement.

The Fellowships are designed to provide career enhancement to support outstanding researchers seeking to shape the future for the betterment of society. Therefore strong emphasis will be placed on the leadership potential of the candidates.

Full details about the programme timetable, eligibility & assessment criteria, and how to apply, can be found here.

Applications must be submitted to fellowships.opda@admin.cam.ac.uk no later than 17:00 on Monday 26 February 2018. Any questions can also be directed to fellowships.opda@admin.cam.ac.uk.

New Departmental Policy Enabling Postdocs to Apply for Small Grants

The Department has announced a new policy enabling postdocs to apply for small grants. Research Associates and Senior Research Associates may be the named applicant for small grants and manage the grants they win, providing:

• the manager/supervisor provides an email to confirm that he/she:
  • considers it appropriate to allow the Research Associate to be the applicant named on the grant application
  • undertakes to review the management of the grant on a regular basis
  • agrees to take financial and management responsibility should a problem arise
• the applicant:
  • is eligible under the sponsor’s rules
  • is currently employed by the University of Cambridge in the Department of Engineering with an end date (or funding end date if the contract of employment is open ended) that lies beyond the end date of the new proposed grant
  • completes training under the policy against bribery and corruption before submitting the grant application
  • understands that permission to be an applicant for a small grant under this policy does not give them Principal Investigator (PI) status for grants outside this policy
• the application:
  • has a total grant value of less than or equal to GBP30k excluding VAT
  • requests grant funding that will be used to pay only costs such as travel, equipment, consumables, facilities, design services and technical services
  • does not risk confusing the definition of PI status with sponsors, under the REF, etc.

Anyone wishing to make a grant application should contact research-grants@eng.cam.ac.uk to benefit from advice and ensure the application is correctly processed.

Visit the Research and Finance Office's website for more information on Winning Grants and Funding Opportunities.

The Researcher Development Programme (RDP) will hold a specialised leadership programme for postdocs in 2018. Applications are now open.

Emerging Research Leaders’ Development Programme (ERLDP) to support postdocs aspiring to achieve research independence in order to lead a research group and/or become a research leader in any field. ERLDP provides an advanced leadership programme for those wishing to explore and consolidate their leadership practice over a four-month period within a multidisciplinary group.  

• This cohort programme is intended for postdoctoral researchers from any discipline with at least two years’ postdoc experience.

• To be eligible for the programme, you will have applied or be aiming to apply for independent research funding, and you will be currently responsible for managing/supervising students or others (officially or unofficially).

• ERLDP will run from January to April 2018 with sessions meeting at St John’s Old Divinity School.

Applications must be received by 5pm on Monday, 23rd October 2017.

Follow this link to the programme description, dates, and application. 

Or click here: http://www.rdp.cam.ac.uk/postdocs/emerging-research-leaders-development-programme-erldp