Conquer your challenges! The secrets of self-empowerment
In this 2 hour 15 minute workshop we will identify a range of different challenges you may face during your PhD research experience and ways you can generate more positive outcomes.
The workshop is led by Dr Sabina Strachan. Sabina works with individual PGRs to develop their confidence and will share her own experiences of affecting positive change from her PhD journey and post-PhD career.
Working through graphic glucard™ tools individually and in small groups, we will look at how to harness or develop key skills such as self awareness, expectation management and learned optimism.
We will capture different kinds of PhD challenges and explore skill strengths and how these can be used to overcome barriers and develop other skills. We will also look at ways you can reframe challenges as opportunities.
A key step will be to identify how you can influence your experiences and how you can shape your own responses and actions to move forward towards your desired outcomes.
You will be guided through glucard™ tools by Sabina who will graphically illustrate concepts, demonstrate tools by sharing live visualisations. Sabina will also signpost follow-on resources.
Past participant feedback includes: “It was useful to reflect on how things are going and also turn things around mentally so that challenges can be perceived as more positive. Thanks!”, and “I really like the workshop’s interactive style – the use of drawings and Sabina’s understanding approach…. It really helps me think outside of the box and reduces my worries :)”.
Learning outcomes:
Share examples of challenges you might experience during your PhD journey and learn strategies to overcome these from your peers and from practical examples.
Identify your intrinsic motivations and align them with how you approach your PhD.
Identify your skill strengths that will help overcome barriers and use these to develop other skills that will support this.
Practice tools that will help develop two ‘soft skills’ – managing expectations and self awareness.
Identify specific manageable and near-future actions to develop your confidence and assertiveness and grow your agency.
About how2glu / Dr Sabina Strachan:
- Sabina is a partnership developer, collaboration expert and entrepreneur who founded how2glu in 2018, a consultancy and training provider that helps people work together better to achieve greater impacts (www.how2glu.com). She is a strategist and expert problem solver, who has worked with strategic stakeholders for over 20 years.
- Recent projects include design sector growth strategy for the V&A Dundee and partners, a business case for a £55m+ national centre for music, and cultural strategies for Glasgow and
Sheffield. Sabina has delivered training to over 1,700 participants. Topics include collaboration, freelancing, networking and post-PhD careers for universities in the UK and Australia. As a business advisor Sabina has worked with over 40 organisations, SMEs and freelancers and has firsthand experience of product development.
- Sabina was previously a University of Glasgow research developer and headed up the Scotland office of an international research & management creative economy consultancy. She is on the board of an autism mentorship charity and a researcher developer mentor, a business advisor for cultural and heritage organisations, a graphic facilitator, and coach. Sabina studied architecture and architectural history and was awarded a PhD from the University of Edinburgh.