Workshops
Mind Your Way offers a range of workshops designed to help academics with grant writing and promotion applications, as well as working with mentors to advance their careers and well-being.
Nail that story, win that grant: How to craft a compelling proposal
If your grant application is to have a chance of success, then you must build the strongest possible connection between your text and its readers. Your colleagues and assessors will not only judge your work by the quality of your ideas; they will be swayed by how you tell the story.
This workshop aims to build the skills of researchers as persuasive communicators in their writing to improve the quality of their applications and make them stand out within the highly competitive field of research grant funding.
We offer the workshop in two formats.
In the personalised version of the workshop, participants submit a short sample of their own draft application content. We then prepare tailored exercises around participants' drafts for discussion, feedback, and development during the workshop.
In the standard version of the workshop, we don’t work on participants’ own texts.
Across both formats, participants will have access to winning grants from clients we have previously worked with across a number of ARC and NHMRC funding schemes. The workshops teach high-level writing methods and tools that can be applied across all types of proposals.
The workshop is delivered in-house as either a full-day event or across two half-days.
Crafting a case for academic promotion: How to boost your leadership and impact story
Our two-part promotion workshop draws on years of experience crafting promotion applications with academics at all career levels and coaching applicants for their promotion interviews.
The workshops are tailored to the university’s or faculty’s specific promotion process, template, and guidelines to ensure the needs of sponsors and participants are met.
In workshop 1, we provide participants with practical tools for thinking through the impact of their achievements, clearly defining their vision, confidently narrating career disruptions, and other factors relevant to their university’s or faculty’s promotion process. Such tools aim to build the strongest possible connection between an applicant’s text and members of the promotion panel.
Participants will then use these tools to craft or rewrite sections of their own promotion application and send samples of their revised text to the workshop facilitator or organiser prior to the next workshop.
In workshop 2, which typically takes place at least a month after the first workshop, we develop tailored content and exercises using some of the samples provided by participants. We discuss how the tools have been applied, what challenges participants encountered during the process, and what opportunities for improvement remain.
The workshop is delivered in-house as two half-day events.
Career constellations: How to build your circle of mentors and collaborators
Whether we like it or not, successful careers often depend on who we know and how well-connected we are.
Mentors and collaborators can open doors, advocate for opportunities, and provide crucial advice that changes how we see the world. But mentors and collaborators don’t fall from the sky: While some may be “given” to us or appear in our lives by happenstance, relying on luck alone leaves many without vital career support when they need it most.
To build resilience and broaden opportunities, a proactive approach to building a career-supporting network is best. This workshop equips participants with the relational leadership skills and strategies needed to curate their own, unique career constellations, no matter their career stage.
This workshop is delivered in-house as a half-day event.