Why soft skills workshops and talks for scientists?

Everyone agrees that scientists are highly valuable in the labour market. But that’s not the whole story. There is growing recognition that hard skills (technical/ research lab skills) are only one part of the value of a scientist. Soft skill development for scientists, also called transferable skills, has recently received increasing attention. Graduate schools and similar institutions have sprung up to provide guidance and workshops in these areas.
At NaturalScience.Careers, our mission is to provide the best possible soft skills training specifically for scientists. When we started this journey in 2012, we felt that many scientists didn’t reach their full professional potential. We can make today’s PhD and postdoc experiences richer and broader by providing workshops covering unique topics.

Scientists for scientists

All trainers and speakers at NaturalScience.Careers are scientists with years of work experience in academia and/ or industry. By sharing the same educational background as our workshop participants, we can ‘speak their language.’ Therefore, our value to our customers is: Scientists for scientists. We know the challenges that young researchers face during their PhDs and postdocs as well as those that lie ahead of them.

Online and offline

Almost all of the workshops and talks for scientists that we offer are available as online- and in-house events.
We started in early 2019 to build our online courses. When covid-19 hit Europe in early 2020, we didn’t have to do a hectic switch to online formats but had the luxury to work on our content without time pressure.
We see online and offline workshops as equally strong formats, each with its own ups and downs. When we get a request for an event, we interrogate the target group’s needs. Together with the customer, we then decide which format makes the most sense from a purely didactic perspective.

Which topics do we offer?

All our events fall into three categories: Career development, (Science) Communication and (Self-) Management. Our Talks focus on specific sub-topics from our workshops. Let us give you a brief tour of the topics we cover.

Career development

When it comes to Career development, we don’t have a bias for or against academia or industry. We aim to facilitate decisions by the researchers we work with so that they can make individual and informed decisions.
PhD! And, next? gives orientation about your own aims, career options and how to increase your employability. Job application and interview strategies enables our participants to score the job that fits their interests and values. Goodbye academia? brings the content of these two workshops together.
Learning about these topics is a good idea for pretty much every scientist during early career stages. On top of that, the diverse backgrounds of our trainers allow us to offer workshops for more specific wishes.
How to be more employable in the private sector shines a light on the transition from academia to industry.
The academic track gives an orientation about the path to a professorship. Participants can make a better-informed decision whether or not to pursue this career path.
Women & career highlights the challenges that many women face due to their gender.
Startup basics for scientists deals with the career paths of joining or founding a startup.

(Science) Communication

Storytelling for scientists allows you to craft your own science story, which is the vital backbone of any paper, presentation and grant application.
Be your own journalist lets you take the perspective of a non-specialist who gets in contact with your work. By having their needs in mind, you can craft more powerful messages for social media and public engagement.
The workshops Self-presentation and Social media both focus on different aspects of networking.
The main presentation formats are Oral and Poster presentation. In both cases, we take a look at online and offline presentation formats.
Convincing and debating allows you to craft (scientific) arguments, which is helpful for discussions and Q&A sessions.
Intercultural communication and awareness lets you understand the complexities of working in international teams.

(Self-) Management

Leadership skills introduces you to essential tools you as a scientist will need as a (future) leader.
Women in leadership addresses the specific situation of female bosses.
Time and career management is about giving the most important aspects of your life the priority and time they deserve- both professionally and privately.
Introduction to quality management systems (QMS) lets you explore the world of regulated environments like pharma companies.
The workshop Negotiation teaches you principles, which can be used to negotiate your salary and contract, but also to address conflicts.
Staff selection is about crafting your own hiring process: you learn to focus on finding the best fit for a given position, not just follow your biases and stereotypes.

We have two workshops specifically designed for (future) group leaders.
How to start your own lab is conducted together with one of the professors in our team. We combine their experiences of starting their own lab in academia with Philipp’s mixed industry/ academia perspective on leadership.
How to get research funding from industry explores if and how you can add this funding stream to your research programme.

How it works: how you can book us

We offer our workshops and talks directly to Graduate schools and similar institutions.
We do not offer open courses. These are courses where individuals can sign up by themselves.
Suppose you are a researcher yourself and find (one of) our topics interesting, then it’s best if you talk to people like your Graduate school Coordinator and propose a topic to them. You will find out that they are happy to hear about this: it’s part of their job to learn about the needs of the scientists they are supporting.
Please contact us if you have any questions, whether you are a coordinator or an individual.