Working together to promote excellence in Physics Consultancy Challenge Dr Dawn Duke, Dr. Julie Reeves, Dr. Laura Christie and Prof. Pam Denicolo

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Developing Employability Skills Discussion: What skills do you think you will develop throughout your PhD?

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Skills that are developed to a unique extent during a PhD  Analytical thinking skills Ability to find patterns and relate seemingly unrelated information. Ability to process large amounts of information effectively.  Critical thinking skills Able to follow complex arguments and find strengths and weaknesses Able to construct sound, critical arguments.  Ability to conceptualise and create new ideas.  Problem solving abilities

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Other skills you gain doing a PhD  Subject specific knowledge  Research Skills  Perseverance  Time Management  Ability to work independently  Responsiveness to change  Project Management  Risk Management  People Management  Written communication skills  Presentation skills  Argument construction

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Skills that you could develop during your PhD FFinancial management & grant getting skills TTeaching Skills MMentoring UUnderstanding of H&S, ethics, IPR and copyright. CCommunicative with diverse audiences CCollaboration IInnovative Thinking LLeadership TTeam working

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Is leadership as skill?  Leadership as a role  Leadership skills  Influencing  Motivating  Persuasion  Getting the most out of people  Ensuring things get done

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Leadership skills can be developed despite not being in a leadership position.

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Today’s Challenges  4 employers have offered case studies of challenges their company faces. 1)Pentagon Plastics 2)NPL 3) Selex 4) Symetrica  Some are technical, some are business related.  These are challenges that the employers are currently working on and don’t have a satisfactory solution to yet.

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Your Task  Your task is to work in teams to develop proposals on how to tackle these challenges.  Provide fresh eyes and new insight.  Work in a team, using the skills you are developing during your studies, and develop your leadership skills.  On Thurs, you will present your proposals to the companies. The best proposals will win prizes!

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Learning Objectives  Increase your understanding of business challenges.  Develop your commercial awareness.  Learn to communicate with a broader audience.  Enhance your team working and leadership skills.  Use your project management skills and problem solving skills in a different context.  Enhance your creativity and analytical skills, applying these to a novel situation.

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Outline of Afternoon  Each consultancy case is assigned to a specific room.  Once in the room you will get into your assigned teams.  You will be given your consultancy case and taken through a structured form of idea generation.

Working together to promote excellence in Physics A strategy for fostering creativity “Disney creative strategy” based on the way Walt Disney worked …

Working together to promote excellence in Physics The “Disney Creative Strategy” Dreamer: visionary, thinks big, fantasises, brainstorms, “dreams” Realist: pragmatist, turns dreams into concrete ideas Critic: evaluator, checks ideas, spots “holes”, challenges All three elements are needed to generate workable, yet truly creative, ideas

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Implementing the strategy Allowing distinct time and space for each stage - dreamer, realist, critic IN THAT ORDER Suspending behaviours (even suspending thoughts) at the “wrong” stage of the process - example: not being critical (even not THINKING as a critic) in the dreamer stage Many people are naturally drawn to one of the roles, so use your team to maximum efficiency -play to your strengths -let others play to theirs

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Ideas generation Suspend your inner realist and critic Anything goes! At least 4-6 dreams 15 minutes

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Realsit: Narrowing down your options Suspend your inner critic Ask if the dream is achievable, often it is! Aim: To develop potential approaches to your challenge (1-3) based on your dreams You should be asking questions: “What is preventing these dreams from being reality” “How can we achieve these dreams” “What is possible?” "How will we know if the goal is achieved?" 60 minutes + break

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Critic: choosing an approach, identifying strengths and weaknesses Develop your chosen idea Strategic objectives To generate approaches to your challenge which are highly innovative and show your creativity and analytical skills. Use the strengths within your team. To take into account your particular business’ goals and stakeholders, demonstrating your commercial awareness. 60 minutes

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Presentations Pitch your proposal (1-2 minutes) Discuss and answer questions at your posters Employers and SEPnet facilitators will provide you feedback. Prizes for the best!

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Prizes & Judging Criteria  Best proposal- one per challenge  Employers are the judges  Innovative, yet realistic  Shows awareness of customers/stakeholders  Takes into account commercial risks and gains  Shows you used your team’s strengths well (must be a team effort).  Best Presentation & Poster  One overall, mixed employer and facilitator judges  Clarity, timing, exciting, demonstrates benefit of proposal.  Visually attractive, good balance of image and text, defines proposal clearly and concisely.  Shows you used your team’s strengths well (must be a team effort).

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Planning Your Proposal  What do you need to put together?  What jobs need to be done to design and pitch your proposal?  Think about the strengths within your teams and assign jobs to different members.  Plan when and what needs to be done. 45 minutes

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Concluding remarks This is your opportunity to get a glimpse into problems that matter to employers. This experience can go onto your CVs to demonstrate the transferability of your skills. You will have a chance to expand your network and impress employers. Take full advantage!

Working together to promote excellence in Physics Now, assemble in your groups to receive your challenges