Academic career skills and wellbeing workshops
for teams and organisations

  • “Clare's workshop was outstanding and has had a profound effect on how I support my group and colleagues, and my own approach to life as a clinical academic.”

    - Dr Nick Evans, Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Cambridge

Off-the-shelf workshops for researchers and academics

My off-the-shelf workshops cover three overlapping themes:

Research communication, engagement and impact

If you want your research to have a real-world impact, you'll need to be able to get the attention of people who don't already care about it. This isn't something researchers typically get taught how to do - which is exactly why I offer these workshops.

 Workshops in this theme support researchers to:

  • Understand the benefits of effective research communication

  • Develop effective plans for communicating about research

  • Feel more confident communicating with all kinds of audiences in person, in writing, and online.

Taking care of ourselves and each other

Academia can be brutal, especially in the early stages: job insecurity, cross-continental moves, overwork, blurred boundaries - and an environment that treats research as more important than the people doing it. No wonder there’s a mental health crisis among early career researchers.

Workshops in this theme empower researchers to:

  • Engage with the emotional load of academia in a safe and supportive space

  • Develop and implement effective techniques for coping with stressors

  • Feel less alone in their challenges and more connected to others around them

Career skills for academia and beyond

An academic wears many hats (including the nice squashy one you get when you graduate your PhD). In any given day you might be a project manager, data analyst, teacher, mentor, public speaker, job applicant, grant writer, colleague, friend, parent, partner, and more. That’s a lot for anyone to contend with!

Workshops in this theme help researchers to:

  • Develop practical skills for a career in academia

  • Consider how to apply these skills in other environments, both work and personal

  • Feel more confident in navigating the varying demands of academia

Get in touch

  • "Clare's own experiences as an academic really influenced how she was able to empathise and value our lived experiences which was refreshing and very insightful. I would heartily recommend Clare to deliver your workshops as she really cares about your personal journey and supporting you in getting there on your own terms."

    - Dr Emma Ferguson-Coleman, Lecturer in Dementia and Ageing, GIAM, University of West London

Need something a little different?

Awesome – I love a creative challenge!

I’d be very happy to have a chat about your community’s needs and work with you to develop workshops or other activities that can meet them. Get in touch!

Some ideas to get you started:

  • Writing about research for specific purposes – media comments, The Conversation, plain English elements of grant applications, and more

  • Empathy, emotional safety and authenticity in research communication

  • Creative and artistic approaches to communicating research

  • Power dynamics in the workplace

  • Emotional self-regulation and co-regulation

  • Understanding procrastination and motivation

  • How and when to say no – and stick to it

  • Letting go of your ego

  • "Clare's workshop set me up with key skills for coping with academic life. What I learned that day has been tremendously helpful to me in the years since."

    - Sam W, wellbeing workshop participant

  • "Clare handles workshops beautifully, with confidence, humour and a great deal of knowledge about teaching others."

    - NB, collaborator

What you get when you work with me

I'm Dr Clare Jonas: skills trainer, research communicator, and former academic.

When you work with me, you get:

  • My 10 years' experience of working in research communication and 20 years' experience of teaching, training, coaching and mentoring adults

  • My extensive education in psychology and neuroscience

  • My first-hand knowledge of working in academia as aPhD student, teaching fellow, postdoc and lecturer

  • My ability to assess research evidence and distil it into tangible ideas that you can use in your everyday life

  • My genuine delight in learning who you are and empowering you to develop skills to support your career and personal wellbeing

  • My deep personal commitment to kindness, honesty and integrity

  • And a lot of dad jokes, because my sense of humour is an important part of who I am (and gentle humour can be make it easier to learn new things and to regulate emotions when you’re talking about potentially challenging topics like wellbeing)

My workshops are focused on supporting attendees to develop knowledge and practical skills based on research evidence from psychology and related fields. I lead with care, compassion, honesty, and gentle humour, using my professional background in psychology research and research communication to inform content and delivery. I include lots of interactive elements with options for attendees to engage in different ways depending on their own needs and preferences.

If you want to know more about me and my approach, check out my About Me page.