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 Staff Training Support Policy 2020 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 Education and Staff Development Manager.
One day training courses for staff
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.
Upcoming one day courses:
21 June 2023, Leeds, Manchester, or York –
apply to attend
27 June 2023, Reading –
apply to attend
Running Successful Meetings
Well run meetings save time and help to make teams and organisations effective. Traditional training often offers cumbersome frameworks that are difficult to implement within a busy schedule. This module, for anybody who has to run meetings, offers a workable model and practical guidance for both face-to-face and hybrid meetings.
Participants will be able to challenge the need to hold a meeting, fully understand the challenges and implications of hybrid meetings for participants wherever they are based, understand the preparation required before and during the meeting, use differing meeting structures to ensure a more successful outcome, set up the meeting to encourage contribution and commitment, run engaging and inclusive meetings in a hybrid environment, select the most appropriate technical tools and have an awareness of technology challenges, manage the dynamics of a meeting to draw contribution from quieter participants and manage the enthusiasm of the dominant contributor, gain commitment to action.
19 September 2023, Online –
apply to attend
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.
Your Trainer – Sanchia Moraes from Bitesize Learning
Sanchia delivers Leadership Development programmes with a particular focus on high performing teams and culture change. She is a talented L&TD consultant, facilitator and executive coach with specialist expertise facilitating workshops for leadership teams, management development, culture and behaviour change, career conversations, and building high performing teams. Sanchia has held senior L&TD roles at global professional services firms including Baker McKenzie, Miller Insurance, and Legal & General Investment Management. Sanchia follows a personal mantra to ‘never repeat a year’. She is a Master NLP practitioner certified to use a wide range of psychometric assessment tools. Sanchia has coached and trained people at all levels, including Board Executives and holds an impressive portfolio of more than 27 years’ experience, demonstrating her track record for consistently adding value and solving people problems.
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.
Your Trainer – Sanchia Moraes from Bitesize Learning
Sanchia delivers Leadership Development programmes with a particular focus on high performing teams and culture change. She is a talented L&TD consultant, facilitator and executive coach with specialist expertise facilitating workshops for leadership teams, management development, culture and behaviour change, career conversations, and building high performing teams. Sanchia has held senior L&TD roles at global professional services firms including Baker McKenzie, Miller Insurance, and Legal & General Investment Management. Sanchia follows a personal mantra to ‘never repeat a year’. She is a Master NLP practitioner certified to use a wide range of psychometric assessment tools. Sanchia has coached and trained people at all levels, including Board Executives and holds an impressive portfolio of more than 27 years’ experience, demonstrating her track record for consistently adding value and solving people problems.
If you would like to attend this course in the future please register your interest
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. By taking part in this training, you will become part of our Community for Change at NCAS, and will be added to our mailing list and slack channel, as well as receiving a welcome pack.
Your Trainer – Andy Snowball from Active Bystander
Upcoming course dates:
TBC