CIRCLE events

Past events

2018

CIRCLE ISP Champions Workshop #4 17-19 October 2018, Accra, Ghana

This workshop will be based around experiences in implementing the ISP action plans, challenges and achievements since the last Champions Workshop, and examination of strategic and organisational approaches to conducting climate change research. This workshop will be delivered by the ACU and Vitae, with support from NRI.

Cohort 3 Post-fellowship Workshop February 2018, The Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

At the end of their fellowship, each cohort of Fellows will come together for a post-fellowship workshop to de-brief and share experiences of their time away. The workshop for the second cohort CVFs was held in parallel to the pre-departure workshop for Cohort 3, thereby enabling a sharing of experience and advice between cohorts. For more details of the workshops, see descriptions for previous cohorts, below. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

2017

CIRCLE ISP Champions Workshop #3 December 2017, The Amber Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya

This workshop was based around experiences in implementing the ISP action plans, challenges and achievements since the last Champions Workshop, and examination of strategic and organisational approaches to conducting climate change research. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

Training of Trainers Workshop #3: CIRCLE Supervisors and Mentors Workshop May 2017, The African Academic of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya

The CIRCLE programme is very grateful to the supervisors and mentors who provided such critical support to the CIRCLE fellows over the course of the programme. In recognition of this contribution, we ran a workshop to enable supervisors and mentors to meet and discuss the scientific output of the CIRCLE programme, and how it can be further developed. It also examined good practice in academic mentoring and developing the next generation of climate change researchers.

The programme covered the following themes: Developing researchers and maximising their potential through mentoring and supervision; Use of a career development tool to help support researchers and strengthen their competencies for success in research; Working collaboratively to support CIRCLE researchers; Enhancing research/scientific output and making it responsive to local and global needs. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

Cohort 2 Post-fellowship Workshop February 2017, The African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya

At the end of their fellowship, each cohort of Fellows will come together for a post-fellowship workshop to de-brief and share experiences of their time away. The workshop for the second cohort CVFs was held in parallel to the pre-departure workshop for Cohort 3, thereby enabling a sharing of experience and advice between cohorts. For more details of the workshops, see descriptions for previous cohorts, below. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

Cohort 3 Pre-departure Workshop February 2017, The African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya

Prior to commencing their fellowships, each cohort of CIRCLE Visiting Fellows attended a pre-departure workshop to prepare for their year away. See description for previous cohorts below. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

2016

CIRCLE ISP Champions Workshop #2 December 2016, The African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya
The workshop was based around the institutional gap analysis and action plans and drew on consultations undertaken by Vitae. It also examined strategic and organisational approaches to conducting climate change research. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

Training of Trainers Workshop #2: Developing CIRCLE institutional researcher development programmes July 2016, The Alisa Hotel, Accra, Ghana

The workshop will address capacity building in Principles 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Vitae Concordat to support the careers of researchers and will enable a strategic approach for institutions to establish or extend their researcher development programmes linked to the Researcher Development Framework. Participants will return from the Training of the Trainer workshop enabled to develop, deliver and evaluate an experiential learning workshop, to train others in this approach, and to establish an institutional action plan to increase overall institutional provision of researcher development workshops. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

Briefing Webinar for Supervisors and Mentors of Cohort 2 CVFs March 2016

The purpose of this Webinar was to bring together host supervisors and home mentors participating in CIRCLE to clarify roles, responsibilities and mentoring approaches, and to identify ways to work together to support the development of the fellows and their research. This webinar was delivered by Vitae.

Cohort 1 Post-fellowship Workshop February 2016, The African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya

At the end of their fellowship, each cohort of Fellows will come together for a post-fellowship workshop. The workshops for Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 were held in parallel, thereby enabling a sharing of experience and advice between cohorts. The aims of the workshop were to: Consolidate the learning and achievements from the fellowship experience; Explore options for maximising the impact of the fellowship experience, in terms of academic outputs, inputs to policy, education etc.; Provide further opportunities for networking and interaction among members of the cohort, with an eye to potential future research collaborations; Provide a first opportunity for fellows to showcase their research through poster sessions; Review levels of expertise and capability through the RDF Planner as a result of the fellowship; Create career development plans and strategies for returning to the home institution. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

Cohort 2 Pre-departure Workshop February 2016, The African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya

Prior to commencing their fellowships, each cohort of CIRCLE Visiting Fellows attended a pre-departure workshop to prepare for their year away. See description for previous cohorts below. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

2015

CIRCLE ISP Champions Workshop #1 February 2015, The African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya

The inaugural Champions workshop introduced the strategic context, objectives and logistics for CIRCLE and the Institutional Strengthening Programme (ISP). Discussion was held on the design and implementation of an institutional needs analysis framework, and action plans were designed to address gaps in support at participating institutions. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

RDF Coordinator Webinar November 2015

The webinar explored activities that can be used when training others in use of the RDF and RDF Planner and to understand the responsibilities as RDF Coordinator. This webinar was delivered by Vitae.

ISP Engagement Webinar June 2015

This webinar was the first part of the consultancy provided by Vitae to institutions participating in the Institutional Strengthening Programme. This webinar was delivered by Vitae.

Training of Trainers Workshop # 1: Mentoring May 2015, The Indaba Hotel and Conference Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

Training of Trainers sessions will be organised to begin a process of institutionalising professional development support within the home and host institutions. The individuals to be trained will be selected by their institution’s Champion following guidelines set by the programme, however, the intended participants for the training of trainers would be individuals with a professional responsibility for staff development. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

Cohort 1 Pre-departure Workshop February 2015, The African Academy of Sciences, Nairobi, Kenya

Prior to commencing their fellowships, each cohort of CIRCLE Visiting Fellows attended a pre-departure workshop that covered the following objectives: Establish the cohort of fellows and set up a peer support network; Introduce the Fellows to the process of providing evidence of capabilities and reflective learning; Assess current levels of expertise and capability and identify career development priorities through use of the RDF Planner; Benchmark fellows’ career development needs to inform the wider programme; Set up the expectations around the fellows mentoring scheme and provide guidance in how to make the most of this opportunity and of their relationship with their mentors; Create individual strategies and plans for maximising impact and value from the fellowship experience. This workshop was delivered by the ACU, the AAS, and Vitae, with support from NRI.

The Research Development Framework (RDF) Planner for Supervisors and Mentors Webinar January 2015

Introduction to the value of Personal and Professional Development, how to use the Vitae RDF for researchers, and how the RDF has been used in the African context. The webinar covered the following objectives: Further explanation of the RDF and how the framework was developed; Online demonstration of the RDF Planner tool; Using the RDF and Planner in mentoring/supervising conversations with CVFs; Using RDF Planner reports for discussion; Activities and techniques to help researchers use the RDF Planner (Prioritisation, Benchmarking, Building evidence portfolio, Action planning). This webinar was delivered by Vitae.

2014

Briefing for Supervisors and Mentors Webinar December 2014

The purpose of this Webinar is to bring together host supervisors and home mentors participating in the CIRCLE project to clarify roles, responsibilities and mentoring approaches, and to identify ways to work together to support the development of the fellows and their research. This webinar was delivered by Vitae.

Briefing for senior representatives Webinar November 2014

This webinar provided an essential introduction to the CIRCLE programme for senior representatives of all the participating institutions, outlining the background, structure and key objectives of the programme as well as clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the principle stakeholders within the programme. This was the first institutional engagement event of the CIRCLE programme. This webinar was delivered by Vitae.