17
May
2018
Skills for the 95%
We’re re-inventing how professional skills development is delivered for PhDs as part of CDTs. In this blog, I’ll explain a bit of the “why” and a bit of the “how”. Why are we doing this? Because there’s a problem. A report by the Royal Society found that over 95% of STEM PhD holders in the... Read More
21
Mar
2018
20 Tips for Delivering a Successful Technical Presentation
You’ve been asked to give a presentation about your research at an upcoming conference. With only a couple weeks before the conference, a combination of fear and excitement has set in. To help ease your anxiety and help you deliver an awe-inspiring presentation that will be the talk of the conference, we’ve put together a... Read More
21
Mar
2018
Structuring a Winning Presentation
Choosing the right structure for your presentation, sometimes referred to as the “flow”, is critical to effectively achieving your desired result, whatever it may be. Additionally, by having a clear structure in mind, it will help you to more efficiently design and prepare your presentation. The structure provides the framework on which you can build... Read More
21
Mar
2018
Your Guide to Giving Engaging Presentations
There’s nothing worse than giving a presentation where the audience is completely disengaged. Now, your instinct may be to blame it on the audience members. After all, how rude is it for them not to give you their full and total attention? Well, the reality is it's a shared responsibility. While they should be giving... Read More
16
Mar
2018
Designing & Managing a Complex Research Project – Keys to Success
Designing and managing complex research projects is a challenging task for even the most experienced researcher. As part of our on-going exploration into “soft skills” that deliver big impact for researchers and scientists we’ve discovered some interesting and highly relevant research for anyone involved in a large, complex research project.The research was assembled by Beverly... Read More
8
Mar
2018
Stop Wasting Time!
Have you ever wondered how some people are able to get so much more done than the rest of us, when we all have the same amount of time? The secret is time management. In this blog post, I'll outline some of the most common time management mistakes and provide some tips for avoiding these... Read More
8
Mar
2018
9 Effective Influencing Strategies
Influencing others may be as simple as asking a colleague to do something or as complex as building multi-party coalitions. Whatever the situation, success depends on the strategies you employ. In this blog, I'll outline 9 strategies, when each strategy is most effective and least effective. You can find more detail on each strategy in... Read More
20
Feb
2018
Networking 101
Networking is a critical skill required for developing your career or growing your business. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said, "Skill is fine, and genius is splendid, but the right contacts are more valuable than either." In this blog post we outline a set of tips that will help you immediately become a better, more... Read More
6
Feb
2018
Your Guide to Confidently Resolving any Conflict
Conflict is a part of life. But how many of us have ever been taught how to effectively deal with conflict in a structured, reasoned manner. In this blog, I highlight the five main strategies for conflict resolution. You can also download the a Skillfluence guide for knowing which approach is the most appropriate... Read More
1
Feb
2018
Brainwaves: from the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics
One of the most enjoyable parts of what we do at Skillfluence is getting the opportunity to work with some ridiculously brilliant people who are doing world-changing work. Through our involvement with the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics we've had the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds in robotics. Last week the BBC caught... Read More
31
Jan
2018
Talent Pipeline Programme Prepares Next Generation of Aquaculture Leaders
Through a series of tailored development sessions, graduates are learning skills that will amplify their impact on the aquaculture sector.The sessions are part of the new graduate programme announced by the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) and industry partners back in June.In the months since, 10 BSc and MSc graduates have secured 18-month paid placements... Read More
25
Jan
2018
Making it Concrete: Lean Canvas for Startups
I’m on the train, heading back to Glasgow after a brilliant day in Aberdeen where I co-delivered the “Making it Concrete” workshop with Heather Asiala, Programme Manager at Strathclyde Entrepreneurial Network. I thought I’d take the time to reflect on the fantastic experience I had with the 5 inspiring women entrepreneurs who I had the opportunity... Read More
17
Jan
2018
The Magic of Multidisciplinary Research
Multi-disciplinary research is being actively encouraged and promoted throughout the UK, and the world. This is largely due to the acknowledgement that a multi-disciplinary approach is required to solve many of the challenges we currently face.. At Skilfluence we happen to feel the same way. There are countless examples of how bringing together multiple disciplines... Read More
15
Jan
2018
Follow the Money
Have you ever tried predicting the future? What will our world look like in 10, 20, 50 years? I was recently browsing the EPSRC grant website where you can see all of the funded research projects, organized by theme, organisation, research focus and a number of other criteria. You can dig deeper and see the... Read More
11
Jan
2018
Creativity@Home with Edinburgh Centre for Robotics
Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Working closely with Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Skillfluence designed a 2 day EPSRC creativity@home workshop for their PhD students. The Centre’s main programme is the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Robotics and Autonomous Systems. Its goal is to train innovation-ready robotics researchers to be part of a multi-disciplinary enterprise. Participants... Read More
10
Jan
2018
Designing & Managing a Complex Research Project – Keys to Success
Designing and managing complex research projects is a challenging task for even the most experienced researcher. As part of our on-going exploration into “soft skills” that deliver big impact for researchers and scientists we’ve discovered some interesting and highly relevant research for anyone involved in a large, complex research project.The research was assembled by Beverly... Read More
15
Nov
2017
5 Reasons Why Researchers Love Creativity@Home
We often talk about the benefits of creativity@home for the research project itself, which can be significant. But, we sometimes forget that the biggest benefits are for the participants. In this short blog post, we wanted to take a moment to remember it's about the people as much as the project. Here are the top... Read More
20
Jul
2017
10 Steps to Resilience for Entrepreneurs
How entrepreneurs can build personal, team and company resilience in their startup. Resilience is important because mistakes will be made, there will be failures and it’s likely to be a hard slog along a very rocky path. For a startup to survive and flourish resilience is a necessary trait; for the individuals involved, the team... Read More
17
Apr
2017
Lean Startup & Tech Hub in Uganda
Last month I traveled to Uganda on business, it’s the most entrepreneurial country in the world* and as someone who works with startup companies and trains entrepreneurs I really wanted to meet Ugandan entrepreneurs to find out more. I had a couple of free days and through local connections I had the chance to visit... Read More
12
Mar
2017
7 Quick Product & Service Innovation Techniques
Do you want to quickly come up with a lot of new ideas for your product or service? SCAMPER is a mnemonic of 7 useful creative thinking techniques developed by Bob Eberle. Simply choose one of the techniques and brainstorm ideas on your own or in a group. Don’t discard any ideas while you’re brainstorming,... Read More