Bristol Clear Bulletin- 19th January

Your development matters!

Issued every fortnight, this bulletin for Researchers at Bristol brings you the latest news about personal and career development opportunities, both from inside and outside of the University.
If you have any queries or feedback, please contact the Bristol Clear team, bristol-clear

Focus on

Prosper: Reflect on your career journey

Prosper is a portal filled to the brim with resources for postdocs, managers of researchers and institutions to aid researcher career development.  

Start thinking about your career development journey and look at the skills, values and interests you possess with self-assessment tools and exercises to explore your identity and skill set.   

Action for you: Check out the resources, identify 1-2 you would like to do, set aside a bit of time and Reflect  

In the next bulletin, we will focus on “Explore”


Upcoming workshops

Places are now available on the following workshops:

  • 24 January 10:30-12:30- An Introduction to Policy Engagement
  • 25 January 14:00-15:00- Introduction to Research Compliance 
  • 31 January 10:00-11:00- Introduction to Research Contracts
  • 05 February 11:00-12:00- Drop in Q&A on the Research Project Life Cycle 
  • 05 February 10:00-12:30- Bristol Clear 1:1s
  • 06 February 14:00-15:00- Introduction to Post-Award research finance – monitoring and budgeting 
  • 08 February 10:30-12:30- Advanced influencing policy:​ How to engage with policymakers and the policy-making process  
  • 09 February 09:30-12:30- Engaged Research: why and how to embed Public Engagement in your research (in person)
  • 13 February 09:30-13:00- Narrative CV writing workshop (in person)
  • 20 February 11:00-12:00- An introduction to Public Engagement with Research: involving the public in your research
  • 27 February 10:00-11:30- Intro to Research Funding [Sci+Eng]
  • 27 February 09:30-12:00- Managing Research Teams (in person)
  • 28 February 14:00-15:00- Intro to Research Funding [FHS+FLS]
  • 28 February 09:30-13:00- Healthy and Sustainable Writing Habits- Part 1
  • 29 February 09:30-12:30- Working Towards a Lectureship 

To book, please sign in to Develop now and search the catalogue for these course titles. To book a place when registration has closed, please email sd-course@bristol.ac.uk

To see a full list of Bristol Clear and Research in Practice workshops, please see our webpage.


Research-related events and initiatives

The Broadening Horizons mentoring programme – EOI deadline extended to 1st February 2024!

Aiming to support early career researchers with their professional development and raise awareness of the skills and mindset needed to translate discoveries into practical application for societal benefit. It does this by connecting mentees with mentors from industry, policy and the third sector. The programme is free and runs from February to September 2024, and gives mentees exposure to opportunities in translating research and provides tools, knowledge and guidance.

To know more about the programme please visit the Broadening Horizons website here or access our comprehensive programme Information pack here.


Community Fellowship Opportunity – From the Personal to the Planetary: Interaction, Activism and Futures

The Brigstow Institute and Cabot Institute for the Environment are collaborating on an initiative called From the Personal to the Planetary: Interaction, Activism and Futures. The initiative seeks to activate a broad range of people and stakeholders in considering climate change and responding to the climate emergency.

  • Deadline: 10:00am, 19th February 2024
  • Funding available: £5,000 per fellowship (VAT inclusive)
  •  Number of fellowships available: a total of eight P2P Community Fellowships positions (four academic fellowships drawn from the University of Bristol only, four fellowships for those beyond the university)
  • Timescale of fellowships: fellowships begin June 2024 for 10 months with some flexibility.

Find out more about the fellowships and application process: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/brigstow/funding/p2pfellowships/


Invitation to attend Arts, Law and Social Sciences health & social care research networking event on Tuesday 27 February 2024

You are invited to an interdisciplinary networking event hosted by the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute. This will be an opportunity for health and wellbeing researchers across the university who adopt social sciences, arts and humanities research methods to get together, learn about current research at Bristol in this space, find out what expertise is available and make new connections.

The networking event will be held in-person over lunch on Tuesday 27 February 2024, 12:00 – 14:00, in the Arts Complex, Humanities Cinema Room G.H01, 7 Woodland Road. Light lunch will be provided in the Research Space on the first floor above G.H01 and participation is free. To register please complete a short registration form by midday on Monday 19 February 2024. Full details and agenda can be found here.


Library Services New Scholarly Works Policy

Library Services are excited to announce that we have a new Scholarly Works Policy. This is an important step to ensuring free and open access to all of our research outputs, and to enabling authors to retain the rights for their work, without unnecessary admin. More information can be found on their blog, as well as their new open access pages.


EBI Lunchtime LINKS: Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in research projects

What EDI aspects do you need to consider when planning a research project?

Join the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute to discuss:

  • What EDI looks like in the dissemination of results
  • Tools and resources that are available
  • Current examples of best practice in research environments.

There will also be a book launch! Talks will be followed by a light networking lunch.

Wednesday 31 January 2024 from 12.00-13.30 in the Verdon Smith room in Royal Fort House. Find further information and book here


The Inclusive Research Toolkit

It can be difficult to know where to begin with inclusive research. You know you want to do something… but what?

The Inclusive Research Toolkit provides a framework to start thinking about equity and inclusivity in your own research, with lots of resources, case studies and activities along the way.

How it works: The toolkit is organized into sections according to the stages of the research process. These sections each contain several key topics about different inclusive research practices. The toolkit is set up as a self-guided learning resource on Develop, and is supported through an interactive pdf workbook (which you can download and print).


Training from other providers: Research Culture Uncovered Series

In this episode of the Research Culture Uncovered Series- The Bee’s Knees: Uncovering the Secrets of Research Culture in the Hive Ged Hall talks to Dr Vicki Jenneson and Dr Fran Pontin.

The main points from the discussion include:

  • The significance of collaborative work across professional and academic teams and the advantages of building networks in conducting impactful research, as noted by Vicki.
  • The importance of communicating complex data science methods and results in a clear, convincing manner to non-data scientists. This is a skill that Vicki and Fran emphasize can make a significant difference in the impact of research.

But the most importantly take away is that early career researchers can and do contribute significantly to the generation of prize winning and important impact.

Listen now!