Author: peep@mhohnen

In November 2022, Marieke conducted two workshops for the Autumn School of MoSaiQC on behalf of Hertz Trainings for scientists. The 14 PhD students of this European consortium are working on projects around optical atomic clocks.

During the scientific presentations workshop, we practised various presentation skills. Participants worked on their use of voice and body language. We also tried out different ways of grabbing the audience’s attention, and connecting with them.

The second workshop focused on the imposter phenomenon: the feeling that you know much less than colleagues, and could fall through. It is estimated that up to 70% of scientists recognise this feeling to a greater or lesser extent at some point in their careers. For PhD students in particular, it can be a problem: they are busy learning new skills, regularly receive negative feedback, and encounter substantive problems that they do not always know how to solve right away. The workshop gave participants tools to deal with the imposter phenomenon.

The workshops took place in Innsbruck.

All scientists want to make a difference, whether in science or in society. Increasingly, scientists want to have an impact in both areas. But it can be a challenge to create enough room in your agenda and your mind to figure out which projects you want to focus on.

Hakuna Matata science & media supports scientists who want to achieve more societal impact, but don’t know how. This training will help you turn your abstract ideas into concrete plans, resulting in an impact plan. Writing an impact plan will help you make choices, describe your qualities, and structure your approach to achieving your goals.

Marieke gave the training, together with Jeanine de Bruin of Hakuna Matata science & media, in 2021 and 2022 for the VU and the Amsterdam UMC.

Read more about the training here (Dutch only).

A narrative CV is increasingly one of the elements of a proposal. These narrative CVs are part of the “Recognition and Rewards” trend in science, to acknowledge a broader range of academic qualities. In a narrative CV, you can highlight not only your research results, but also, among others, your knowledge and experience in other relevant fields. But how do you approach writing a narrative CV? How do you make sure it becomes more than just an enumeration of achievements, and how do you highlight the right points?

Together with Hakuna Matata, we have developed a workshop to help scientists writing a narrative CV.

During this practical workshop, you will work on your narrative CV. Exercises will help you gain insight into how you can accentuate your strong points and show your individuality. You will learn to use the principles of scientific storytelling to write a compelling story. We will also discuss the do’s and don’ts of structure and writing style. At the end of the workshop, you will have a strong first version of your narrative CV.

The workshop can be given both live and online.

The workshop is aimed at scientists at all stages of their career.

You have reached the last obstacle before the grant you’d been hoping to get: the interview. But how do you prepare for that interview? Together with Hakuna Matata science & media we have developed a workshop to help scientists prepare for these interviews.

During the workshop we will discuss which topics you should address during the presentation, but also how you can grab your public’s attention, and defend your proposal. We will share practical tips and there is time to practice.

Since many interviews are currently taking place online, we will also discuss how to present yourself via a digital medium.

In September 2020 we gave the workshop for scientists who were preparing Vidi and ERC Consolidator interviews, but the workshop is also suitable for other categories of grant interviews.

The workshop can be given online, and lasts 3,5 hours.