Professional development and training
Current training courses offered to NCAS staff
View all of the professional development courses for NCAS staff on our Learning Management System, or by expanding the information sections on this webpage. You can also view your completed or ongoing training courses (as well as additional e-learning resources) on the Learning Management System.
NCAS Essentials and NCAS Fundamentals
NCAS Fundamentals is the National Centre for Atmospheric Science’s welcome programme for new colleagues. Completed within your first 12 months, it combines a short online module (NCAS Essentials), available via the NCAS learning catalogue, with a two-day, in-person event at NCAS Headquarters in Leeds. Invitations to attend the event are sent directly to eligible colleagues. Together, the programme introduces NCAS, our scientific work, and how individual roles connect to the wider organisation, while supporting new starters to meet colleagues and begin building their NCAS network.
Get AI Ready
Get AI Ready is a short, practical course designed to help colleagues use AI tools safely and effectively at work. It introduces what AI is, how tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot work, and how they can support everyday tasks when used appropriately. Through a series of short, self-paced online modules, the course builds confidence in writing effective prompts, recognising the limitations of AI outputs, and using AI responsibly to protect privacy, intellectual property, and workplace data. The course is available via the NCAS learning catalogue and requires no prior experience.
Project Management Training
Ideal for those without formal project management training, this will provide an understanding of what projects are, how project management works and why each step matters. Participants will also develop understanding and techniques that are useful for managing small project and day-to-day work.
If you would like to attend the next session in Leeds on Friday February 27th, please register for a place
Chairing Effective Meetings
If you would like to attend the next session online, March 5 2026 10:00-13:30, please register for a place
Learn how to chair meetings with clarity, confidence, and purpose. This practical, skills‑focused course will help you move beyond routine “update loops” and into productive, engaging conversations that lead to real outcomes.
You’ll explore what makes meetings work, how to define their purpose, and how to plan them for success. Through simple models and practical techniques, you’ll build confidence in guiding discussions, managing group dynamics, and keeping meetings on track.
By the end of the course, you’ll be able to:
- Set clear agendas and outcomes
- Facilitate balanced, purposeful discussion
- Navigate common chairing challenges
- Shift from passive updates to active, meaningful dialogue
- Keep meetings focused on decisions, actions, and progress
- Create your own action plan to apply these skills immediately
This course is ideal for anyone who chairs meetings—regularly or on a rotating basis—and wants to make them more engaging, efficient, and outcome‑driven.
Active Bystander Training
Active Bystander training provides you with the tools to handle sensitive issues, approach difficult situations in the workplace, and simple steps for treating people fairly and respectfully. This training forms a part of our inductions for new starters.
Upcoming course dates:
October 2026
If you would like to attend this course please register using the Learning Management System.
Assertiveness in Communication
Whatever your role in the workplace, a clear and assertive communication style will prevent misunderstandings and ensure that your message is heard. This workshop, most suitable for those looking to increase their personal effectiveness, will help participants to adopt a professional and assertive approach to communications. It provides tools and techniques to help adapt your style to suit the audience.
Participants will be able to fully understand the audience to provide context for communication, use the most appropriate communication style to secure
commitment, express themselves assertively, use active listening skills to ensure they understand what the speaker is really saying, position their own communication for maximum impact, use their knowledge of body language to read sub-texts and gain a more accurate impression of what the speaker is feeling, plan for and manage ‘difficult’ conversations.
If you would like to attend this course in the future please register your interest
Reasonable Adjustments Training
This course is designed to add to/refresh existing knowledge on the Equality Act and build on previous learning on inclusive recruitment and inclusive leadership.
By the end of this course you will:
• Have an increased awareness of legal responsibilities and good practice in the context of recruitment.
• Be equipped to be more proactive and supportive for adjustments, and more flexible in considering adjustments to work patterns and responding to significant life changes.
• Be enabled to encourage employees to initiate requests for adjustments during onboarding and the use of disability passports.
• Have a better understanding of what adjustments good practice might consist of.
If you would like to attend this course in the future please register your interest
Proactively managing your career
Finding true job satisfaction and developing a career plan take proactive reflection, focus and action. In this highly interactive course, delegates will have the opportunity to explore what they want from their career, learn how to hold constructive career conversations with key stakeholders and make full use of internal resources to drive their career paths in line with personal and company aspirations.
If you would like to attend this course in the future please register your interest
Successful teamwork
A successful team rarely “just happens”. This module is for anyone working within a team. It focuses on understanding team dynamics and working with others in the way that gets the most from them. It will also help you to understand your own preferred role, enabling you to play to your strengths and put in place a safety net to ensure that potential team weaknesses are covered.
If you would like to attend this course in the future please register your interest
Our approach to professional development and training
At the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, we support staff to continue their own professional development and encourage discussions about training needs and goals setting to take place as part of an annual review.
As part of this, staff should take advantage of any training and development opportunities that are available locally, at host institutions.
If training isn’t available to staff locally, or would be more effective to be delivered across multiple locations, we will investigate the best way to meet the needs and the funding mechanism. This may include organising a National Centre for Atmospheric Science training event for staff, or helping staff to identify suitable training providers. Training needs that can only be met through external providers, such as Health & Safety, MBA or PGCE, will be considered on a case by case basis.
Please share details of any identified training needs through the NCAS Training Needs Form and we will work with you to identify the best route to meet this need.
Where staff wish to apply for funding to pay tuition fees, they should complete a Training Case which must be supported by your line manager. Relevance of training, and funding decisions, will be dependent on the role held by the staff member. Applications will rank more highly where the training is directly relevant to your present role, will develop you in that role, or will gain new skills for our organisation.
Our full NCAS Professional Development and Training Policy 2023 outlines the level of approval needed and source of funding for each proposed course. Where there is a clear benefit to your career and our organisation, we will consider cases for partial funding. All allocations are subject to funding being available as there is a finite budget. Applications may be unsuccessful due to lack of available funds, rather than due to lack of merit.
Where there are training needs that cannot be met at a host institution, or if you need support to complete a training case, staff should contact our Workforce Development Manager.