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As a member of SynAGE, this subscription grants you access to all available online training courses on the Nature Masterclasses On-Demand platform.

Access to all the courses listed below is provided via a personal access code. We have a limited number of spots available, and access will be granted on a first come, first served basis. 

Make the most of this opportunity and sign up now. Please email us at contact@wordpress.med.uni-magdeburg.de if you would like to get access to this great resource.

Getting an Academic Research Position: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. For researchers in the natural sciences looking to take their next career step, either as a new postdoc or in a new faculty role
  2. Easy-to-use with short 10-30 minute lessons
  3. Taught by 11 experts in research career development including experienced academic researchers, Nature journal Editors, and coaching and careers specialists

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Exploring your values, interests, skills and career goals

How to consider and use the values, interests, skills, and personal and practical priorities that are most important to you

Module 2: Finding a research position

How to research potential roles and build up a thorough understanding of what they would entail

Module 3: Applying for a research position

How to construct an impressive CV and write a tailored cover letter

Module 4: Excelling at the interview

How to prepare for the interview process and present yourself at your best during a formal interview 

Experiments: From Idea to Design: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. For researchers in the natural sciences who want to develop their experimental design skills
  2. Easy-to-use with short 10-30 minute lessons
  3. Taught by 9 experts in experimental design including experienced researchers and Nature Portfolio Journal Editors
  4. Receive a certificate when you complete this 4 module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Foundations of experimental design

How to define the core concepts of experimental design

Module 2: Developing your motivation, assumptions and hypotheses

How to prioritise research motivations, formulate hypotheses and make testable predictions

Module 3: Assembling your experimental plan

Strategies to identify the information that you need to collect to test your assumptions, hypotheses, or predictions, and fulfil your research motivation

Module 4: Utilising your experimental design

How to refine your experimental design after receiving feedback from other researchers and conducting preliminary experiments

Finding Funding Opportunities: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  • For researchers in the natural sciences who want to find funding opportunities, or mentor others through the process
  • Easy-to-use with short 10-30 minute lessons
  • Taught by 5 experts in obtaining research funding including a former program director at a major funder, experienced researchers, and a research management consultant
  • Receive a certificate when you complete this 1 module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Finding Funding Opportunities

  • Understand the funding landscape and the importance of finding the best-fitting opportunities
  • Identify your funding requirements taking into consideration your personal and professional circumstances
  • Search for and keep track of suitable funding opportunities
  • Select the most appropriate funding opportunities based on your needs

Interpreting Scientific Results: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  • For researchers in the natural sciences who want to interpret their scientific findings with more confidence, or mentor others through the process
  • Easy-to-use with short 10-20 minute lessons
  • Taught by 5 experts in interpreting results including a Nature Portfolio journal Editor, and experienced researchers, statisticians and data scientists
  • Receive a certificate when you complete this 1 module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Interpreting Scientific Results

  • Select appropriate approaches to visualise and prioritise your findings in order to identify the key message
  • Identify the ways in which your data interpretation helps you to address and answer your scientific question
  • Add context to your findings by considering the wider research field 
  • Summarise and communicate your findings with a focus on your key message, and how to best express caveats and future directions

Data Analysis: Conducting and Troubleshooting: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  • For researchers in the natural sciences who want to develop their data analysis skills or mentor others through the process
  • Easy-to-use with short 10-20 minute lessons
  • Taught by 10 experts in data analysis including experienced statisticians and data scientists, journal editors and early career researchers
  • Receive a certificate when you complete the 3-module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Introduction to Data Analysis

Understand the importance of conducting effective data analysis

Module 2: Exploring Your Data and Reviewing Your Analysis Plan

Identify the range of analytic methods available and understand which is

most suited to your data

Module 3: Analysing Your Data

Learn strategies for obtaining feedback, troubleshooting and expressing

the limitations of your analysis

Data Analysis: Planning and Preparing: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. For researchers in the natural sciences who want to develop their data analysis skills or mentor others through the process
  2. Easy-to-use with short 20-minute lessons
  3. Taught by 10 experts in data analysis including experienced statisticians and data scientists, journal editors and early career researchers
  4. Receive a certificate when you complete the 2-module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Introduction to data analysis and the importance of planning

How to create a data analysis plan and get feedback

Module 2: Preparing your data for analysis

How to apply best practice to collate and merge the data you’ve collected

Advancing Your Scientific Presentations: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. For researchers in the natural sciences who want to improve the quality of their peer-to-peer scientific presentations with both virtual and face-to-face audiences
  2. Easy-to-use with short 15-minute lessons
  3. Taught by 10 experts in scientific presentations including researchers and professionals such as the Editor in Chief of Nature who excel at presenting their work, renowned presentation designers & trainers and experts in narrative tools
  4. Receive a certificate when you complete the 4-module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Overcoming your research presentation challenges

Identify techniques that can help to overcome the challenges that researchers commonly face when creating and delivering oral presentations

Module 2: Developing the story behind your talk

Build compelling research stories to use as the foundation for your presentations

Module 3: Building an engaging slide deck

Create professional slide decks that effectively communicate your research findings to your audience

Module 4: Preparing and navigating your talk

Apply strategies to help you deliver your presentation effectively on the day, in both virtual and face-to-face environments

Networking for Researchers: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. For researchers in the natural sciences to identify and use career and research goals to develop their networking strategy, and acquire key skills to build and maintain a professional network in person and online to advance their research and their career
  2. Easy-to-use with short 15-minute lessons
  3. Taught by 10 experts in networking including researchers, experienced academic networkers, fellows, networking consultants and communications specialists
  4. Receive a certificate when you complete the 4-module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Why network?

How to examine the different purposes, challenges and opportunities related to building your network

Module 2: Getting ready to work

How to prepare key resources to help you build an effective network

Module 3: Connect with new networking contacts

Strategies to approach and connect with potential network contacts, both in-person and online

Module 4: Nurturing and harnessing the power of your network

How to follow up on initial approaches and how to apply strategies to leverage your network that will advance your research or career

Persuasive Grant Writing: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. For researchers in the natural sciences who want to use narrative tools to improve the quality of their grant applications to make them more informative and persuasive
  2. Easy-to-use with short 15-minute lessons
  3. Taught by 9 experts in grant writing including researchers, program officers from funding bodies and the Chief Editor of the Nature Research Editing Service
  4. Receive a certificate when you complete the 3-module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Before starting your grant application

How narrative tools can improve the overall quality of your grant application

Module 2: Targeting your audience

How to align your grant application with the requirements and objectives of its audience – your chosen funder

Module 3: Creating a narrative

Learn to apply narrative tools when writing your grant application to make it more informative and persuasive

Scientific Writing and Publishing: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. Offers guidance on how to write and publish a great research paper
  2. For researchers in the natural sciences who want to get published 
  3. Easy-to-use with short 10 minute lessons
  4. Taught by Nature Research journal editors – so you hear tips from the experts
  5. Receive a certificate when you complete each part of the course 

What’s in the course? 

Part 1: Writing a research paper

How to write clearly, write a great title and abstract, and structure your paper — as well as how to manage and present your data

Part 2: Publishing a research paper

How to select a journal for publication, submit your article, and navigate the editorial process — including how to write cover letters, the peer review process, and editorial decisions

Part 3: Writing and publishing a review paper

What makes a great review paper, how to plan and write a review, and how to referee a review paper

Effective Collaboration in Research: what is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. Offers guidance on how to join in, set up or lead collaborative projects
  2. For researchers in the natural sciences who want to make the most out of collaborative   research projects
  3. Easy-to-use with short 15 minute lessons
  4. Taught by experts in collaboration including researchers, funders, editors and professionals
  5. Receive a certificate when you complete each part of the course 

What’s in the course?

Part 1: Introducing collaboration

Why collaborative research is becoming more prevalent

Part 2: Participating in a collaboration

The pros and cons of collaborating

Part 3: Leading a collaboration

How collaborative projects can help advance your research and career

Managing Research Data to Unlock its Full Potential: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. Offers guidance on how to develop one’s data management skills or mentor others through the process
  2. For researchers in the natural sciences who want to learn about acquiring practical lifelong skills to manage their data efficiently and comply with evolving requirements, including from funders
  3. Easy-to-use with short 15-minute lessons
  4. Taught by experts in data management, including researchers, funders, data publishing and institutional data management specialists
  5. Receive a certificate when you complete the 4-module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Welcome and introduction

Why effective data management is beneficial to your research and your career

Module 2: Creating and maintaining your data management plans

How to create and maintain a data management plan

Module 3: Managing data in the short and long term

How to apply best practices for organising, storing, archiving and quality checking your data

Module 4: Sharing your data

How to ensure that your data is understandable to yourself and others

Narrative Tools for Researchers: What is the course about, and who is it for?

  1. Offers guidance on how to enhance your communication to your peers by using narrative tools to tell your research story
  2. For researchers in the natural sciences who want to learn about how to communicate their research to the scientific community in an effective, compelling and memorable way
  3. Easy-to-use with short 15-minute lessons
  4. Taught by 10 experts in using narrative techniques in scientific communication, including researchers, Natureeditors and science journalists
  5. Receive a certificate when you complete the 3-module course

What’s in the course? 

Module 1: Why use a story?

The benefits of using a compelling story to communicate your research to your peers and stakeholders, such as funders or industry partners

Module 2: Building your story

How to build and combine different narrative elements that can help you create a more compelling scientific story

Module 3: Refining your story

How to refine your story by soliciting feedback and implementing edits

How can I get access to the courses?  

Please email us at contact@wordpress.med.uni-magdeburg.de if you would like to get access to this great resource.