With over four years experience of providing training to UK think tanks and other policy organisations we have developed a comprehensive, policy-centred series of courses, specifically designed to improve you or your team’s professional skills in the core areas needed in a research or policy-adjacent career.
Each of our training courses includes both theoretical and practical activities designed to guide you through the key elements of each topic. You will leave each course more confident, with a greater understanding of how to apply these skills in your day to day job and with ideas that you can action in your role immediately.
Our trainers are chosen for the energy and knowledge they bring to our training sessions as well as deep experience of the topics they teach on. They are also chosen to complement those working in third sector and policy environments.
Upcoming training
Do you have to undertake fundraising in your role? Are you likely to have to start fundraising for your work in the future? Our all-day training session takes you through the fundamentals of fundraising in a UK think tank from why and how donors like to fund and where to find them through to how to plan your approach and make the ask as well as how to maintain your donor relationship to ensure repeat funding.
Think tank communications teams play a crucial role in successfully disseminating the research, events and policy ideas of their think tank. But in a fast-paced role there is often little time to think more broadly about whether the current way of doing things is the most effective. These two half-day training sessions are to give comms staff at all levels of experience the chance to think more strategically, to check in with new ways to approach media and comms and to learn from other professionals in the sector.
Do you want to make your writing more compelling? Are you interested in understanding the fundamentals of good writing? Do you regularly work with data but want to practise and understand how to weave that into a narrative? In this half-day session we will cover the basics of good writing focusing specifically on mechanics and style. We also look at how to incorporate data into your writing – an area particularly important for think tanks. This session offers a thorough grounding in what makes good writing and forms the building block our other writing training sessions are built on.
Core topics
These courses form the core of our training and are aimed at those in the first 5 – 7 years in a policy career although, if you have never undertaking formal training on these topics, they will be relevant and useful to all policy professionals. Each training session consists of distinct ‘skills blocks’ focusing on the core skills to be developed for each topic, with a mix of theory and practical exercises.
Attendees will use examples or projects that they are currently working on to give the training as practical an application as possible and will get a chance to put into immediate practice what they have just learned to consolidate the teaching. Included in all training courses is also the space and opportunity to hear from others in similar roles and to share current best practice.
Would highly recommend!
“I found the ST management training much more useful than previous management training I have attended. Rather than spending the day listening to a presentation we had practical sessions that enabled us to put the learning into practice and made the learning much more relevant for everyday management challenges. I came away with a clear understanding of how to improve my management skills and, importantly, things that I could implement immediately.”
Dr Kerris Cooper
Senior Researcher, Education Policy Institute
Further details
The sessions
Each training session is made up of distinct skills blocks that take attendees from the theory to the practical application, building up those skills throughout the day. At each session attendees will use examples or projects they are currently working on or planning to work on to give the training as practical an application as possible.
But the training is not just about developing professional skills it also provides the opportunity to get to know your peers across the UK think tank sector. We provide refreshments and lunch and encourage the networking to continue during break times.
The trainers
Our core team of Smart Thinking trainers are faces you will see again and again, helping build trust and great working relationships. Selected for their experience and energy our new team of Smart Thinking trainers all have current experience in both the topics they are teaching and in making learning dynamic and accessible.