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Forthcoming Events

Wed 30th September

Activate Your Library & Learning Resources: 9am - 10am; This session will introduce you to the University’s Library and Learning Resources services

What do students do all day?: How to build academic skills into your daily routine.: 1pm - 2pm; 4th Floor Training Room, Main Library; This session explores how students spend their time, how they talk about their day, and how you can shape your own study habits. With real examples and practical tips, you’ll leave with ideas for building academic skills into your daily routine.

Prepare for final year or your dissertation with The Academic Skills Centre: 2pm - 3pm; Online; This workshop, specifically tailored for final year UG students, will help you manage your time and work-load and strengthen your critical thinking and academic voice as you start to prepare for final year projects or dissertations.

Preparing for your final year / your dissertation: 2pm - 3pm; Online; This workshop, specifically tailored for final-year undergraduate students, will help you reflect on your previous studies and identify how you want to develop this year. It will also explore strategies for managing your time and workload.

Wed 7th October

PGT Academic Skills Chat: 1pm - 1:45pm; Online; Your opportunity to ask study skills questions and connect with other PGT students. PGT Skills Chat is a monthly online community space for postgraduate taught students held on the first Wednesday of every month in term time.

PGT Essentials: Develop your skills for postgraduate study with the Academic Skills Centre: 3pm - 4:30pm; Online; Postgraduate study can feel like a big transition, whether you are returning to university straight after an undergraduate degree or a longer break from education. This session will explore some key skills required for PGT study, followed by a Q&A.

Fri 9th October

Shut Up and Work for early career researchers: 9:30am - 4:30pm; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room; Work on your own writing, planning or literature discovery in a quiet but supportive environment. There will be time to set targets at the beginning of the day and there will be regular planned breaks to enable you to network or take a walk.

Tue 13th October

Preparing for your viva: 4pm - 5pm; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room 1; The viva is an important part of the assessment for your programme. Attend this workshop in the months approaching your viva to do some practical activities to help you prepare.

Wed 14th October

Starting to write for PGRs: 10am - noon; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room 1; An introduction to the writing process, strategies for planning and creating text, and the role of GenAI in writing for research, suitable for those at the beginning of their development as postgraduate research level academic writers.

Thu 15th October

Coffee Morning in the Researcher Suite: 11am - noon; Main Library First Floor Researcher Suite; Take a break and join the Research Skills Team for an informal coffee morning in the first-floor Researcher Suite, Main Library. Drop in for a cuppa, a biscuit, and a friendly chat about all things library and research related. No need to book.

Preparing for your Assignments: Getting started with finding information: noon - 1pm; Online; Search strategies can provide a handy structure to your research. We’ll explore breaking down a topic into keywords, exploring alternatives and how to use search operators to make database searches easier. Open to UG and PGT students.

Mon 19th October

Development Needs Analysis: 2pm - 4pm; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room 1; The Development Needs Analysis (GRS1) form is a requirement of research programmes. This highly practical workshop supports the process, including introducing you to Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework.

Wed 21st October

Preparing for your Assignments: Reading and notetaking strategies: 1pm - 2pm; Online; In this workshop, open to all UG and PGT students, we’ll consider different strategies for reading effectively and taking active and useful notes for your assignments.

Thu 22nd October

Coffee Morning in the Researcher Suite: 11am - noon; Main Library First Floor Researcher Suite; Take a break and join the Research Skills Team for an informal coffee morning in the first-floor Researcher Suite, Main Library. Drop in for a cuppa, a biscuit, and a friendly chat about all things library and research related. No need to book.

Preparing for your Assignments: Getting started with referencing: noon - 1pm; Online; Being able to reference resources correctly is a key academic skill. This workshop will introduce you to some key principles of referencing as well as highlight the main styles (like Harvard) used at UoB.

Wed 28th October

Data management plans for PGRs: 10am - 11am; Online; All postgraduate researchers are required to have a Data Management Plan in place before completing their first annual review (GRS3). This workshop will help you to achieve this by covering the basics of research data management.

PGT Essentials: Finding and Using Information: 2pm - 3:30pm; Online; What is the best way to begin your assignment research? how can you make sure you find the information you need? and how do you make the most of library resources? Join the Academic Skills Centre for this online workshop followed by a Q&A.

Thu 29th October

Working effectively with your supervisor: 10am - noon; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room 1; Understand what to expect from the supervisor-PGR relationship, how to get the most from your supervisory team, and the support available to complement your supervision.

Preparing for your Assignments: Critical Thinking: 1pm - 2pm; Online; What is ‘critical thinking’ and why is it important? This workshop, open to all UG and PGT students, will explore how to apply critical thinking to your assignments. Including structure, analysis and creating strong arguments in written work.

Tue 3rd November

Development Needs Analysis: 2pm - 3:30pm; Online; The Development Needs Analysis (GRS1) form is a requirement of research programmes. This highly practical workshop supports the process, including introducing you to Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework.

Getting your thesis ready: 2pm - 4pm; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room; For postgraduate researchers (PGRs) approaching the final stages of preparing their thesis (4-6 months from submission), this workshop covers thesis presentation, the submission process and copyright considerations.

Wed 4th November

Literature searching: hints and tips for researchers: 10am - 11:30am; Fourth Floor Training Room, Main Library; Explore practical strategies for finding academic literature. Learn how to make the most of databases, search engines and discovery tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your literature searches.

Preparing for your Assignments: Planning an assignment: 1pm - 2pm; Online; How do you plan an assignment? How you do you move from a few notes to a full first draft? In this mini workshop, open to all UG and PGT students, we’ll look together at how a student at UoB plans their essays to give us some inspiration.

Thu 5th November

Preparing for your Assignments: Easy formatting for Microsoft Word: noon - 1pm; Online; Not using the full range of functions within Word? This workshop open to all UG and PGT students will help you to make the most of automatic functions to help with sections, page numbering, tables etc.

Tue 10th November

What is Citation Justice?: noon - 1pm; Online; Explore the role of influence and power in who we cite, how bias in this area can occur and be addressed, and discover tools for finding literature that is more representative of the global majority.

Preparing for your viva: 4pm - 5pm; Online; The viva is an important part of the assessment for your programme. Attend this workshop in the months approaching your viva to do some practical activities to help you prepare.

Wed 11th November

Open Research tools: noon - 12:30pm; Online; Learn how small steps can help foster a more open research culture. This 30-minute online microsession introduces key concepts, support at the University of Birmingham, and practical tools including ORCID, PURE and UBIRA.

Dissertation Series: Finding information for dissertations: 1pm - 2pm; Online; This workshop covers how to access and use key resources for your dissertation including journals, databases and other relevant sources of information. It will also cover the key principles of referencing so that you can confidently cite your sources

PGT Essentials: How to critique an academic article: 2pm - 3:30pm; Onine; What does it mean to 'be more critical'? This academic skills workshop followed by a Q&A considers how we might think more critically and then move from critical thinking and reading to a piece of critical, analytical, and evaluative writing.

Thu 12th November

Planning for success: 10am - noon; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room 1; Designed primarily for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) in the very early stages of their research programme (approximately during the first three months), this workshop covers research project management techniques.

Preparing for your Assignments: How to paraphrase: noon - 1pm; Online; In this workshop, open to all UG and PGT students, we'll look at the role of sources and reporting verbs in your writing and practice paraphrasing using a few simple steps.

An introduction to EndNote Desktop: 3pm - 3:30pm; Online; New to EndNote Desktop? Join this practical 30-minute online session to learn how to organise references, import records from databases, manage PDFs, remove duplicates, and cite in Microsoft Word.

Fri 13th November

Shut Up and Work for early career researchers: 9:30am - 4:30pm; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room; Work on your own writing, planning or literature discovery in a quiet but supportive environment. There will be time to set targets at the beginning of the day and there will be regular planned breaks to enable you to network or take a walk.

Wed 18th November

Tips for discoverability and impact: noon - 12:30pm; Online; Discover tools and resources to maximise the discoverability and impact of your research. Learn about publication and post-publication options, and ways to engage wider audiences with your work.

Thu 19th November

Literature searching for a Systematic Review: 10am - 11:30am; Fourth Floor Training Room, Main Library; Take a systematic approach to your literature searching. This workshop covers search strategy development, database selection, search techniques and result management for Systematic Reviews and related studies.

Preparing for your Assignments: Moving from descriptive to critical writing: 1pm - 2pm; Online; How do we make sure our writing is critical? In this workshop, open to all UG and PGT students, we’ll take a closer look at what makes a strong paragraph and how we can comment on things we have read in interesting, analytical and evaluative ways.

Tue 24th November

Starting to write for PGRs: 2pm - 3:30pm; Online; An introduction to the writing process, strategies for planning and creating text, and the role of GenAI in writing for research, suitable for those at the beginning of their development as postgraduate research level academic writers.

Wed 25th November

Preparing for your Assignments: Writing concisely: noon - 1pm; Online; This session, open to all UG and PGT students, will cover six methods that you can use to write concisely in an academic way. You will have opportunities to practice some of these and get feedback during the session.

Tools for finding a journal for your paper: noon - 12:30pm; Online; Unsure where to publish? Discover tools and resources to identify suitable journals, compare publishing routes, evaluate journal quality, explore open access options, and recognise warning signs of problematic journals.

Thu 26th November

Researcher visibility essentials: ORCID and Pure: 10am - 11am; Online; Learn how to create an ORCID profile for yourself that is recognised in academia and grows in value as your career progresses. Link it to your University of Birmingham Research Portal webpage to increase your discoverability.

Mon 30th November

Working effectively with your supervisor: 2pm - 3:30pm; Online; Understand what to expect from the supervisor-PGR relationship, how to get the most from your supervisory team, and the support available to complement your supervision.

Wed 2nd December

Introduction to AI tools for researchers: 11am - noon; Online; Develop an understanding of the opportunities and risks of using AI tools in the research process, explore how AI Tools might be used to augment research processes to create efficiencies, and critically evaluate potential ethical risks.

Thu 3rd December

Preparing for exams and revision: 1pm - 2pm; Online; Open to all UG and PGT students, this workshop will help you reflect on your own approaches to exam preparation, explore practical revision strategies and ensure you’re feeling prepared on the day for the exam.

Literature searching: hints and tips for researchers: 2pm - 3:30pm; Online; Explore practical strategies for finding academic literature. Learn how to make the most of databases, search engines and discovery tools to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your literature searches.

Mon 7th December

Planning for success: 2pm - 3:30pm; Online; Designed primarily for postgraduate researchers (PGRs) in the very early stages of their research programme (approximately during the first three months), this workshop covers research project management techniques.

Wed 9th December

An introduction to EndNote Desktop: 11am - 11:30am; Online; New to EndNote Desktop? Join this practical 30-minute online session to learn how to organise references, import records from databases, manage PDFs, remove duplicates, and cite in Microsoft Word.

PGT Essentials: How to paraphrase and write concisely: 2pm - 3:30pm; Online; How can we summarise and write about other people’s research, and communicate our own arguments clearly? Join the Academic Skills Centre for this online workshop on some of the fundamentals of academic writing, followed by a Q&A.

Thu 10th December

Preparing for your viva: 10am - 11am; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room 1; The viva is an important part of the assessment for your programme. Attend this workshop in the months approaching your viva to do some practical activities to help you prepare.

Fri 11th December

Shut Up and Work for early career researchers: 9:30am - 4:30pm; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room; Work on your own writing, planning or literature discovery in a quiet but supportive environment. There will be time to set targets at the beginning of the day and there will be regular planned breaks to enable you to network or take a walk.

Wed 13th January

Getting your thesis ready: 10am - noon; Online; For postgraduate researchers (PGRs) approaching the final stages of preparing their thesis (4-6 months from submission), this workshop covers thesis presentation, the submission process and copyright considerations.

Fri 15th January

Preparing for your viva: 11am - noon; Online; The viva is an important part of the assessment for your programme. Attend this workshop in the months approaching your viva to do some practical activities to help you prepare.

Wed 10th March

Getting your thesis ready: 2pm - 4pm; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room; For postgraduate researchers (PGRs) approaching the final stages of preparing their thesis (4-6 months from submission), this workshop covers thesis presentation, the submission process and copyright considerations.

Mon 17th May

Getting your thesis ready: 10am - noon; Online; For postgraduate researchers (PGRs) approaching the final stages of preparing their thesis (4-6 months from submission), this workshop covers thesis presentation, the submission process and copyright considerations.

Thu 24th June

Getting your thesis ready: 2pm - 4pm; Main Library Fourth Floor Training Room; For postgraduate researchers (PGRs) approaching the final stages of preparing their thesis (4-6 months from submission), this workshop covers thesis presentation, the submission process and copyright considerations.

Tue 27th July

Getting your thesis ready: 2pm - 4pm; Online; For postgraduate researchers (PGRs) approaching the final stages of preparing their thesis (4-6 months from submission), this workshop covers thesis presentation, the submission process and copyright considerations.

Wed 25th August

Getting your thesis ready: 2pm - 4pm; Online; For postgraduate researchers (PGRs) approaching the final stages of preparing their thesis (4-6 months from submission), this workshop covers thesis presentation, the submission process and copyright considerations.

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