What to expect from May’s peer-learning ‘advanced’ research development session

Adam Forristal Golberg provides more detail on what you can expect from the upcoming training workshop on Relationship Management: Building Relationships, Increasing our Influence.

I’m excited about the fourth running of Building Relationships, Increasing our Influence, for which places are still available after sell-outs in the first and second years.

When we designed this session, I thought there was a need for an ‘advanced’ research development session. ARMA’s other courses were aimed at newer research development managers, but there was little or nothing available for experienced RDMs or colleagues in similar roles.

ARMA’s existing research development/pre-award events focused on ‘how-to’ and practical tips from experienced research development managers. We wanted to offer something new. Our premise that it is not enough to offer technically correct advice and guidance to grant applicants in terms of appropriate target schemes and improving drafts – we need that advice to be acted on to be effective. But because everyone is different (and a lot of our roles are slightly different), what works for me might not work for others. Also… although I’m a very experienced research development manager, I didn’t want to put myself forward as an authority on relationships and persuasion. Especially as the target audience would likely have a lot of experience and expertise themselves.

So rather than chalk-and-talk (or PowerPoint-and-Post-It), how about a peer learning format?

Something I’d noticed attending ARMA conferences, workshops and other events was that people in similar roles at different institutions tend to bond quickly and form relationships of trust. We all have similar challenges and frustrations, and to my initial surprise, I found it was often easier to talk to people at other institutions than at my own. My own ARMA Research Development SIG sessions during my first stint as co-champion tried to harness that, and focused very heavily on peer group discussion on topics nominated by delegates.

These seemed to be well received, and I wondered whether we could replicate this in an online environment with small group discussion. While I don’t think Zoom can replace real life, budget and time constraints have put in-person training beyond meagre budgets. But our experience over three iterations of this course is that it can and does work well. We set up different small groups for discussions, carefully keeping (former) colleagues apart and trying to get a mix of different levels of experience, and institution type in each group. Whenever we dropped in on our breakout groups in previous iterations, we’ve found discussions in full flow and some great ideas produced as a result.

We run proceedings under the Chatham House rule – that is, everyone can use the information and insights they learn, but cannot name individuals or institutions. We preface each round of small group discussions with a series of (short) provocations from me, or my fellow facilitators, Deryn Evans and Clare Edwards. These serve to set the agenda (and the tone) for the discussion that follow, as we discuss both what we think we’re doing well and what we’re still working on, or finding difficult. We hope these reflections will be useful in themselves, but their main purpose is to set the scene for open, frank, and respectful discussions.

Because this course presumes a level of experience, we expect that participants will already have achieved the learning objectives of ARMA’s two other courses in this area (Supporting Research Proposals and Raising the Quality of Research Proposals), obtained through attending those courses, practical experience, or a mixture of the two. While it might be useful to very new RDMs, we think that RDMs with less than two-three years experience may not be able to contribute to the peer learning aims of the session.

Places are still available for the May 2025 session, and I hope you’ll be able to join us. You can book the event here. And if you’re coming, please come ready to share! If you have any questions about the content or structure of the course, please contact me at adam.golberg@nottingham.ac.uk