Full-day in-person workshop for PhD students and Postdocs

Workshop Description

An implication of competitive research metrics is that there is a ‘one-size-fits-all’ ideal career that we should aspire to. More recent research evaluation initiatives however highlight the value of diverse career paths and career profiles. In any career path, we do our best work when we are working on topics we care about, that energize us, that connect to our values and make use of our strengths, and when we are in supportive collegial environments. This means that even where people have the same job title or role, they can play it out in very different ways. So, what could be a good career for you? A critical first step towards thinking about this is knowing who you are as a person/researcher/professional. In this workshop we will explore ways to understand your own research identity and how to use that insight to proactively shape your research choices now and for your future career.

Workshop content

Part 1: Know yourself

• Your values, energizers, and strengths; the important dimensions of your life
• Why these matter
• What are these for you (and seeing these in others)
• Recognizing when they can work for you or not

Part 2: Lead yourself

• How to use these insights to make better choices aligned with your values,
• using your strengths:
• To craft your everyday work choices – what you work on and how
• To decide what to say yes and no to
• To identify key characteristics for future career paths

Workshop Approach

The overall approach will be highly interactive, interweaving seed content, individual reflection, group activities, hands-on practice, and participant topics. The above gives indicative content; the actual flow of the sessions will be responsive to topics raised by the participants and content adapted accordingly.

Schedule

Part 1:

09:30-11:00 Welcome & Introduction; Who are you at your best?
11:00-11:30 Break (Lobby)
11:30-13:00 Making sense of your values, strengths, energizers
13:00-14:00 Lunch (Lobby)

Part 2:

14:00-15:30 Crafting work choices
15:30-16:00 Break (Lobby)
16:00-17:00 Crafting career choices
17:00-17:30 Participant topics, review of the day

Facilitator

The engagements are undertaken by Geraldine Fitzpatrick: Full Professor Technology Design and Assessment, Head of Human Computer Interaction Group, Faculty of Informatics, TU Wien; Emeritus Professor, TU Wien, as of Oct 2023. Geraldine is passionate about how we can craft better research cultures and enable researchers to bring their best selves to their great work. She is in a unique position to do this as an awarded researcher, teacher, and leader, with international experience leading groups in academia, industry, and healthcare. This is underpinned by a PhD in CS&EE (Uni of Queensland) and an MSc in Applied Positive/Coaching Psychology (UEL). Her scientific credentials are recognized by awards such as an ACM Distinguished Scientist, an IFIP Fellow, and an IFIP TC-13 Pioneer Award. Her leadership and communication/teaching credentials are evidenced by a SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award, a TU Wien Informatics Best Teacher Award, and having been a sought-after ACM Distinguished Speaker. She is an experienced facilitator/speaker/coach, delivering academic career and leadership development consultancy, speaking, training, and coaching internationally for over 15 years, including co-facilitating Academic Leadership Development courses for Informatics Europe. She also hosts the Changing Academic Life podcast series.