Pre-Course Work
In order to provide the most effective workshop we are asking participants to do a small amount of pre-course preparation. You may or may not have the time to do this but we have found that those who have completed the coursework for other workshops have got more out of them.
1. Prepare a poster (Size A1 or A0) on your research area that can be understood by other biologists (as well as outside of your area of expertise).
You don't need to spend too much time on this. Don't be too concerned about the content, for example, if you are a new PhD student or if you don't want to reveal your latest results, that's OK. You can simply present a review of the field you're working in, the techniques you're using, the aims of the research, etc.
You can either produce a poster from scratch or use a poster which you have already presented at a conference.
Be aware that the content needs to be understood by other scientists who are not in your specialist area (e.g. you may have to explain a medical-based piece of work to an environmental scientist or vice versa etc). Thus, you may have to sacrifice some technical detail or depth in favour of more easily understood terminology or the inclusion of simple definitions. For more information about producing posters there's quite a colourful description at this website:
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.htm - obviously aimed at larger conference presentation but all the same basic rules apply.
We don't want you to spend too much time on this as you will have enough research work to be getting on with, however we would like everyone to bring a poster with them as we will ask everyone to give a 3 minute presentation on their poster in small groups. It's not long so think of three key points you want to highlight.
2. Myers-Briggs Type Instrument (MBTI) Personality questionnaire.
After you've registered you'll be sent a Myers Briggs Type Instrument (MBTI) personality questionnaire, to complete and return before the meeting. This is optional - you don't have to complete this exercise or you may have done it already so remember to take a note of your result from last time. It can cost you around £50 in the commercial world so it's worth taking the opportunity of doing it for free. It takes about 20 - 30 mins to complete.
There are no right or wrong answers to the questionnaire and you will receive your feedback in confidence when you arrive at the workshop. We'll discuss the MBTI further during the workshop as part of an informal icebreaker.
Most people find this interesting, informative and fun.
More information on MBTI - http://www.opp.eu.com/MBTI_step_I.aspx
3. Bring an up to date version of your CV.
Or your most recent version.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS RELATING TO THE PRE-COURSE WORK PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO GET IN TOUCH - email Sarah Blackford at s.blackford@lancaster.ac.uk / 01524 594850.
