Print This PostAlzheimer’s Society wants to play a part in supporting Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to reach their career goals (all researchers, and not just the ones they fund).
On the 26th / 27th June Alzheimer’s Society held its annual ECR Retreat at the Crowne Plaza hotel, Newcastle upon Tyne. The retreat is designed to be a networking opportunity and skills development event, offering an opportunity to meet fellow ECRs, gain peer-to-peer advice and learn practical skills that will aid you in your career progression.
Below is a small selection of session recordings from the event, talking about presentation skills, how to progress in an academic career, improving representation in research, and research into human memory.
YouTube
Speaker Profiles
Professor Fiona Denney, Professor of Leadership and Business Education, Brunel University London.
Fiona is a Professor of Leadership and Business Education in the Organisations and People division in Brunel Business School at Brunel University London. In a career spanning over 25 years, Fiona has been a business studies academic in the areas of marketing and general management and leadership and she has held a number of central university leadership positions. Between 2003 and 2019, Fiona worked in academic staff and researcher development, including being the Assistant Director of the Graduate School at King’s College London and heading up the Brunel Educational Excellence Centre at Brunel University London until 2019. Both of these positions plus national and international work in researcher development have involved Fiona in strategic leadership and operational management including managing people, projects and resources, which now form her research interests in the area of leadership. Fiona has also provided external consultancy work in the areas of online skills development and leadership training, and she is an executive coach for The Iversen Practice, where she specialises in working with women who seek a space to find their true direction, and anyone who needs help in navigating unhealthy power dynamics. Fiona has also designed and facilitated numerous leadership programmes and workshops for those who are seeking to progress in their careers and she has particular interests in researching and supporting the development of compassionate leadership approaches and mentoring women in their career progression.
Simon Hall, Course Leader, Jesus College, University of Cambridge.
Simon is a Course Leader in writing, public speaking and storytelling skills at the University of Cambridge, and a Senior Research Associate at Jesus College, Cambridge. He also runs his own business communication agency, Creative Warehouse, and is a journalist, author, and business coach. Simon has a series of books on communication published, including – public speaking and presentations – writing blogs – how to secure media coverage – and leadership communication – along with eight thriller novels. His current project is working on a book for Cambridge University Press, provisionally entitled Compelling Communication Skills, as a complement to his University course. Previously, Simon was a broadcaster for 20 years, mostly as a BBC Television, Radio and Online News Correspondent. You might also be interested to know that he once played football for the same manager who coached the legendary Pele (although to far less impressive effect.)
Professor Chris Bird, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience (Psychology) School of Psychology at University of Sussex.
Chris has been using neuropsychology and fMRI to investigate memory and other cognitive processes since 2000. He joined the University of Sussex in 2011. Prior to this, Chris worked in the Neuropsychology Department at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and for nearly 10 years at UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in London. He is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Sussex and teaches Cognitive Psychology and FMRI to undergraduate and postgraduate students. Chris is a recipient of a 5-year European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant and a 5-year ERC Consolidator Grant. He is a winner of the Elizabeth Warrington Prize from the British Neuropsychological Society and is an elected member of the Memory Disorders Research Society.
Dr Shadreck Mwale, Senior Lecturer, University of West London.
Dr Shadreck Mwale is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Health and Illness within the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory, University of West London. Central to Dr Mwale’s research programme is the goal of reducing health inequalities and improving equity of access and inclusion for diverse populations by examining technological, socio-economic, institutional cultures and practice within health and social care services, in both the UK and global contexts. He is currently leading a large-scale study exploring the use of restraint and restrictive practices in the care of people living with dementia within acute care settings (funded by the National Institute of Health Research). More widely, his programme of research examines the experiences of ethnic minority older people living with dementia in the UK with a focus on the acute hospital setting and social care services. This builds on his programme of work exploring clinical trials and genomic medicine, funded by the Economic and social Research council and Welcome Trust respectively.
For more information on Alzheimer’s Society and its support for early career researchers visit – https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/
Dementia Researcher
