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Our online courses are just as interactive as any face-to-face training. They are specially designed so you get more engagement in ways that are not possible when everyone is in the same room together. Online courses are a great way to keep colleagues connected and inspired. 

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Since Fast Track Impact launched in 2013, it has become the most widely used resource to train researchers in impact in the world, having been used by over 200 institutions in 55 countries to date. We have regularly trained researchers in every Russell Group University and the majority of other research-active institutions in the UK.

 

 

Course Description

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In this course, you will discover how you can transform your working environment and create a culture you can belong in. Whether you seek ideas that will change the world or you just want to reclaim a place in which you can think deeply, this course invites you to overcome what is preventing you doing the best work of your career. You will be able to discuss practical ideas and creative ways of thinking to re-motivate and inspire you, building on what works and adapting what doesn't, to create your own culture with your closest colleagues.

 

At the very least, you will see how it is possible to create a protective bubble in a toxic culture. But at best, unexpected new ways of working will emerge and spread from person to person and group to group. This is the way innovations spread, minds change and new cultures are born: diverse, authentic and values-driven cultures that inspire the creative thought the world needs so badly right now.

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• Understand your research culture, considering how robust, ethical and action-oriented research, deep and diverse values, community and capacity enables impact

• Use diagnostic questions to identify bright spots and issues in your impact culture

• Discuss how you can become more authentic as a researcher and lead change by tackling competing priorities, imposter syndrome, perfectionism, people-pleasing and fear of failure

• Identify your spheres of influence and levels of trust within and beyond your academic community, and start building the social capital you need with stakeholders to achieve impact

• Learn from evolutionary organisations, contrasting top-down change management linked to extrinsic incentives from funders, with more bottom-up approaches that draw on your intrinsic motivations

• Design your own experiment to experiment with small, safe changes that you can evaluate and scale to do the best work of your career

 

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What does our training include?

 

We communicate with you before we train to ensure our workshops are tailored to the needs of your group. Our training includes:

• Prof Reed works with every group.

• Each participant gets a pdf copy of Prof Reed’s Impact Culture and an e-handout pack with editable worksheets. Hard copies* are available for any participant who would like one. Simply email pa@fasttrackimpact.com to request a copy sent directly to your home address.

• Sessions run via Zoom which does not require any software (just an internet browser), enabling colleagues to join easily from home. Breaks are generous, so people can pace themselves effectively.

• All sessions are highly interactive, making use of break-out rooms, the chat function and polls, alongside plenary discussion.

 

*Available when you book half a day's worth of courses or more

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At the end of the workshop you:

• Receive slides and links to free resources to help you embed impact in your research

• Have the option to make a commitment to an action based on the course and receive a follow-up email from Prof Reed to check in and help as necessary after a month.

• Are invited to an optional free follow-up programme over five weeks, so you can apply what you have learned. You can work through these steps yourself from the handbook, but by signing up to take these steps online, you get access to extra material. Each step consists of a 6 minute video with accompanying text and tasks.

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We pride ourselves in the quality of our follow-up with participants, ensuring they are able to apply what they learn to transform their practice:

• Online courses feature additional individual follow-up after each training. Participants are invited to write actions they commit to doing within a month, based on the course, which we email back to them exactly 1 month later, increasing the likelihood that actions are completed.

• In the follow-up email after a month, participants are invited to reply to get help applying what they learned if they have not completed their intended actions. If they use our system, we guarantee a response within a week to all questions with no time limit and no restriction on the number of questions that can be asked.

• Everyone gets an email via the course organiser (including those who do not wish to share their email with us) with links to slides and a reminder about how to get support from Prof Reed.

• Everyone is also invited to join a free follow-up programme over five weeks, to apply what they have learned in their research. They can work through these steps themselves from the handbook, but by signing up to take these steps online, they get access to extra material. Each week consists of a 6 minute video with accompanying text and tasks.

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Further training

 

If you would like to consider adding a coaching follow-on to make your course even more impactful, read more about our coaching options facilitated by Dr Joyce Reed.