Surviving your Viva, and Beyond

This interactive workshop is focused on how to prepare for your PhD viva and about how to make decisions about what to do afterwards. The workshop consists of two parts.
During the first part, we will address questions such as: What is the PhD viva? How does it work? What is it like to be examined in this way? What are examiners looking for? How does one prepare for a viva? What are the possible outcomes of a viva? The second part of the workshop will provide an opportunity to discuss how to begin thinking about life after your viva, with information
provided about resources that might assist you further with this.
The workshop will be led by Dr Jennifer Fraser, formerly from the Centre for Transformative Practice in Learning and Teaching at Birkbeck University. Jennifer has run this session on previous occasions and feedback from students has been consistently positive.

The Reproducibility Workshop

Reproducibility is an important part of efficient, sustainable, and productive research.  The self-correcting mechanisms of the scientific method depend on the ability of scientists to reproduce the results of published studies in order to strengthen evidence and build upon existing work. The aim of this workshop is to present tools enabling researchers not only to adopt best practices in reproducibility but also to teach other researchers about reproducibility. The workshop is organised by Addgene as part of the “Reproducibility for Everyone” group initiated by the Elife Ambassadors group, Protocols.io, Code Ocean and
Addgene.

Postdoc Fellowships – Where to look and how to get them-

This workshop is focused on the postdoc fellowship schemes and where to look for them. The following topics will be addressed during the workshop; purpose of postdoc fellowships, types of postdoc fellowships, sources postdoc fellowships, how to approach a fellowship application, general content of fellowship applications, travel funding and more. There would be opportunity for Q&A throughout the session and some successful fellowship applicants will be present to share their experience.

Pathway t(hr)o(ugh) Postdoc: how to get there and beyond

What questions cross your mind about making a success of your postdoc? When do I start looking for a position? How do I choose a lab/project/mentor? What factors might be important? What do I need to do today to apply with the strongest possible CV? Have no
fear, this workshop has your back and will set you up for success. A panel of neuroscientists, from first-year postdoc to senior lab head, will share their own experience of the crucial PhD- to-postdoc transition. They will answer your most pressing questions, offer their tips and tricks, and share what they wish they had known before starting on the postdoc journey.

Presentation Skills Workshop

The workshop covers all the fundamentals of public speaking. We look at:

• Structure: How to structure your talk with a proper Opening, Corpus (body) and
  Closing, how to handle Q&A, How to create your visuals, story telling,…
• Verbal communication: Verbal aspect of public speaking you should consider when
  you are presenting such as: Voice, Tone, Words, Speed, Intonation…
• Non Verbal communication: Non Verbal aspect of public speaking you should
  consider when you are presenting such as: Posture, Gesture, Facial Expression…
• Congruence and feel: How to communicate the same message on different
  communication channels

Neurofeedback Workshop

Neurofeedback training is defined as learning to control brain events by giving sensory (conscious) feedback, contingent on the event. It helps the clients’ brain to self-regulate more effectively. The clients’ brainwaves are measured and the client receives information on his brain state by means of optical and acoustical feedback. He can then respond to this feedback and train his brainwaves to a more favourable condition. Although its use is mostly in the clinical setting to treat PTSD, ADHD, depression, chronic pain, among others, research has shown that neurofeedback training can enhance artistic performance in musicians and dancers and can improve mental abilities such as memory and attention in college students. In this workshop, the concept of neurofeedback training will be introduced and it will will follows by a demonstration and a discussion on the real world applications of the technology as the second part.

Entrepreneurship Workshop

This workshop will be delivered by the Entrepreneur First (EF) and will include the
following sessions:

• How to generate ideas for your future company: Introduce and workshop various
  methodologies we use at EF including: edge-based ideation, the idea maze, and lateral
  thinking.
• Developing your edge and why it matters: This talk would delve deeper into one of
  EF’s key concepts – Edge. Edge is defined as your ‘personal competitive advantage’
  that puts you in a stronger position to build a particular type of startup. We would
  cover: what is edge; types of edge; how to identify your edge; how to find someone
  with a complementary edge; using edge to generate ideas.

Entrepreneur First is the world’s foremost Talent Investor. It invests in incredible individuals
helping them find a cofounder, develop and idea and funds them to build incredible deep tech
startups, including some incredible Neuroscience ones such as Mimica and Limbic AI. Check
out joinef.com to learn more and join the Entrepreneur First workshop with the London
Company Building Lead, Jonny Clifford.

Constructive peer review with eLife

A talk about the eLife’s publishing process and their programmes early-career researchers, followed by a discussion exploring perceptions of what peer review is, and practices that help both authors and reviewers to make the experience more valuable.