Project Management Essentials for Researchers - November 2023
Applications Now Closed!
Applications Closed: Friday 20 October 2023 at 12 Noon.
Applications are via an online Application Form and places will be awarded on a first come first served basis. You will need to have the permission of your PI/Manager/Supervisor to attend and commit to all four sessions to complete this course (see dates below).
Please note: this is a 4-part programme - attendance at each webinar is required - see dates and times below.
The course is aimed at early career researchers but postgraduate researchers are also eligible to apply.
Aimed at research-active staff in the early stages of their careers (or as a refresher), this four-part series introduces key tools and techniques for managing any research project. Delivered by Fistral Training and Consultancy Ltd (Dr Fraser Robertson), this series follows best practice project management principles linked to establishing good project foundations and scoping research projects, creating a robust and evidence-based project plan, and tried-and-tested ways to plan for uncertainty and risk.
Sessions combine and build on each other to provide an introduction to the process of managing projects and the tools to assist in planning and tracking progress within the landscape of research projects. This is particularly important where time constraints (e.g. funding period), limited budget (e.g. awarded grant), competing priorities (e.g. research, teaching, team or line management support) and scarce resources (e.g. individual or small team, access to equipment/facilities/data) compete to provide a challenging backdrop to the ‘real work’, i.e. the research itself.
Participants will begin to apply PM tools and techniques directly to their own work and thereby create ‘live’ outputs. Application and reflection to individual work ensures the series will be relevant and practical with opportunities in each webinar for hands-on activities. Sharing individual experiences and reflection will be actively encouraged in each session, and participants will be asked to provide contributions throughout the series in the main forum and via the chatroom.
Webinar 1: focuses on establishing good foundations for your project and plan and by the end, participants will have:
- Learned the importance of formally initiating every project regardless of size
- Been introduced to the fundamental and ubiquitous concept of the project triangle
- Considered the influence that stakeholders can hold over the work and how this will affect the direction and outputs of the project
Webinar 2: the focus is the scope and outputs of the project, and the focus on understanding the tools and techniques, and on personal application. By the end of this session participants will have:
- Considered techniques for defining the scope of a project
- Learned methods for identifying and managing differing project expectations
- Been shown techniques to establish goals and deliverables to guide them through the project execution phase
Webinar 3: brings together all of the learning from previous courses, to create a rigorous and robust, evidence-based, project plan. By the end of this session, participants will have:
- Been introduced the work breakdown structure tool which is fundamental in the planning process
- Considered methods that allow the introduction of uncertainty into task estimates
- Been shown sequencing and resourcing techniques, and how to create a Gantt chart “properly” so it becomes a useful tool and not just a paper exercise!
Webinar 4: considers uncertainty, something inherent to research. The focus is on presenting tools and techniques to proactively identify and respond to risks during the planning process, rather than reactively during the project. By the end of Webinar 4, participants will have:
- Learned various techniques for identifying sources of potential issues and risks in their projects
- Considered methods to deal with problems proactively and before they happen
- Been shown how to integrate these solutions into a usable project plan and calculate time contingency for unforeseen events
Date and times as follows:
- Thursday 2 November 2023 – 13.00-16.00
- Thursday 9 November 2023 – 13.00-16.00
- Thursday 16 November 2023 – 13.00-16.00
- Thursday 30 November 2023 – 13.00-16.00