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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. 

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 wish to complete a training case or read the full policy, staff should contact our Education and Staff Development Manager.


One day training courses for staff

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.

Upcoming one day courses:

Thursday 2 March 2023, Cranfield

Monday 9 March 2023, Leeds

Apply to attend

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.

Upcoming one day courses:

Friday 9 December 2022, STFC, Harwell, Oxfordshire

Apply to attend

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:

Thursday 2 March 2023 – 13:30 – 14:30 via Zoom
Tuesday 14 March 2023 – 09:30 – 10:30 via Zoom

Email communityforchange@ncas.ac.uk and check your Google calendar for more information.