Event Details

Event Details 

Collaboration is a key part of a positive research culture and being able to facilitate successful collaborations underpins many of the core competencies for research managers and administrators.  

Whether you are bringing together researchers to develop a funding bid, building partnerships with industry, policy makers or other academic institutions or engaging people in research policy or strategy, this programme will help you to design and facilitate sessions that build trust and enable effective discussions. 

Facilitation for Successful Collaboration will focus on giving you the skills and approaches you need to support groups of people with different perspectives and expertise to have constructive conversations, develop their thinking and work together in a way that delivers the outcomes you need. 

This programme is designed to give you the time and opportunity to reflect on your own experiences, learn from hearing the experiences of others and to give you simple frameworks and practical tools that you can tailor to your context and apply in both virtual and face-to-face settings. 

How will the programme work? 

We will send you a pre-programme questionnaire so that we can tailor the content of the sessions to your experience and needs 

You will participate in five 2-hour interactive online modules held weekly, on the following dates:

24th February 2026, 10am – 12pm

5th March 2026, 10am – 12pm

10th March 2026, 10am – 12pm

17th March 2026, 10am – 12pm

21st April 2026, 10am – 12pm

There will be time between modules to apply your learning to your own real-world collaborative meetings and events – developing a plan over the course of the programme. 

By the end of the programme you will have: 

• A clearer understanding of the role of the facilitator 

• Explored the key ingredients of a successful collaborative meeting or event: 

• A clear, shared purpose 

• Getting the right people in the ‘room’ 

• An effective process – whether online, in person or hybrid 

• Considered what we mean by a collaborative climate and how to build it 

• Talked through how to handle it when things don’t go to plan 

• Had the chance to ask questions and discuss the kind of facilitation that you need to do 

Find out more about what to expect from the sessions here.

Target Audience 

Anyone who is interested to learn more about how to facilitate partnerships and collaborations, meetings and workshops.  For example, individuals looking to build their capability and confidence in: 

• Bringing people together as part of preparing proposals, whether cross-discipline, multi-institution or with non-academic partners.  

• Enabling collaborative working and embedding a positive research culture 

• Bringing people together to inform, develop or disseminate research policy and strategy 

Who are ‘The Collective’? 

We are a facilitation company specialising in working with academic researchers and their collaborative partners both in the UK and internationally.  We bring our experience of what works – and what doesn’t – and our appreciation of the challenges of working across disciplines, with multiple stakeholders, all with busy diaries, and in the current financial climate.  

Previous Session Feedback

“Great facilitators! Really enjoyed the course.”

“Given me more confidence in facilitating events as I’m quite inexperienced at it.”

Professional development sessions are adapted based on member and delegate feedback.