From bench to patient benefits: core skills and steps to realising impact
Translation Manchester is pleased to announce the launch of the new training programme “From bench to patient benefit”, developed in collaboration with training consultancy how2glu and funded by the Wellcome Trust Translational Partnership Award.
This series of workshops focuses on developing the skills, capabilities and confidence that will help you embark on the process of translating your research findings to achieve practical solutions that improve patient health. You can choose to attend individual workshops or the whole series.
Who can attend?
If you are a researcher at the University of Manchester working on health innovation projects and you want to enhance your soft skills and capability to translate your research then this programme is for you!
Why should you attend?
The programme will help you approach impact in different ways, support you to identify and move beyond mindset barriers to getting started and accelerate research translation, and understand ways to make and measure impact. It will enable you to gain insights to develop your approach to research translation to maximise its potential impact and build-in this thinking from the get-go.
What to expect?
The programme consists of eight 1.5-hour online graphically-facilitated workshops. The workshops will guide you through the process of translating your research including how to engage with stakeholders early, do business development, influence others, acquire commercial awareness, build relationships and collaborations, work with policy makers and measure success. Each workshop is designed to function independently, allowing participants to attend individually. However, they are also interconnected, and attending all sessions provides the opportunity to earn a certification upon completion.
More details on each workshop and links to register are provided below. Click on the title of each session for more information on the focus of the workshop and a link to the registration page. Please use your University of Manchester email address to register. Any registrations from personal email addresses will not be accepted.
If you wish to attend more than one session you will need to complete multiple registrations. If you are able to attend at least 6 out of 8 workshops you will receive a programme completion certificate upon request.
Failing early and engaging with stakeholders early
When: Thursday 30 January 2025, 10.00-11.30am GMT
Focus: Engaging with businesses, practitioners and patients to understand the ‘problem’ and develop options in response, how to optioneer, and the benefits of ‘failure’ and iteration in the very early stages of research translation. More details and how to register here.
Business development and how to do it
When: Thursday 13 February 2025, 1.00-2.30pm GMT
Focus: Business development skills and how to harness or develop them, where to start and how to get started in identifying business growth opportunities and potential markets, and how to make strategic decisions and communicate your ‘offer’. More details and how to register here.
Influencing others and being open to negotiation
When: Thursday 27 February 2025, 1.00-2.30pm GMT
Focus: Understanding different negotiation styles and how to respond to specific contexts and desired outcomes, how and when to influence when negotiating, and research translation benefits of being open to influence and how to be open to influence. More details and how to register here.
Commercial awareness and how to acquire it
When: Thursday 13 March 2025, 10.00-11.30pm GMT
Focus: Understanding the ‘commercial awareness’ skillset, how to practise and cultivate it, how to understand financial sustainability and profitability, and what to consider when approaching commercially-sensitive stakeholders. More details and how to register here.
Building strong relationships to mitigate risk
When: Thursday 27 March 2025, 10.00-11.30am GMT
Focus: How to build trust and scale relationships needed for research translation, understanding risk appetite differences, and how to reduce, mitigate and control risk through your approach to relationship building. More details and how to register here.
How collaboration underpins innovation and how to do it
When: Wednesday 30 April 2025, 1.00-2.30pm BST
Focus: Understanding different forms of innovation, how collaboration underpins innovation, mapping collaboration touchpoints to the innovation cycle, and how to build in diverse perspectives. More details and how to register here.
Working with policymakers to accelerate impact
When: Wednesday 21 May 2025, 1.00-2.30pm BST
Focus: Understanding policy drivers and priorities, mechanisms for influencing policy, how to identify and centre relevant beneficiary outcomes, importance of timing, and how to choose who to reach out to, identify and articulate opportunities. More details and how to register here.
Knowing what success looks like and how to measure it
When: Wednesday 4 June 2025, 10.00-11.30am BST
Focus: Benefits of building-in evaluation from outset, designing back from long-term outcomes / impacts, how to identify progress indicators, taking a proportionate approach to measurement, and identifying key / first priority steps. More details and how to register here.
Explore the full list of workshops with their respective registration links here.
More information about the training and the facilitator are accessible below. Please note that spaces on this training course are limited and offered on a first come first served basis.
What resources will I have access to?
You will have access to all the programme resources and bespoke tools demoed or referenced in the workshops through a dedicated Google Drive folder throughout the programme and for four weeks afterwards (so to 4 July 2025). All workshop-generated content – such as your responses to polls / questions, feedback and live-scribed sketchnotes – will also be shared with you. If you are able to attend at least 6 out of 8 workshops you will receive a programme completion certificate upon request.
Short clips from each workshop, key tools and references will be uploaded to the Translational Research Skills Training Portal within 2 months of each live workshop where we will also signpost further support for your research translation journey.
Who is delivering the training and what is their style?
Dr Sabina Strachan -How2Glu
Your training facilitator, Dr Sabina Strachan has first-hand experience of research development, impact evaluation, innovation programme design and business advisory services. As a consultant she works with public and private sector clients to build collaborative relationships to maximise public benefits.
Recent how2glu projects include facilitating the Scottish Gut Project research network which examined the links between gut disorders and patient wellbeing, supporting engineering and physical sciences researchers from different cultural backgrounds through Northern Power Inclusion Matters, developing innovative research culture through ‘Co-lab’ development programme at Northumbria University, co-leading a research commercialisation programme ‘The INCA Trail’ for SHAPE researchers at the University of Manchester, and developing an interdisciplinarity and impact-focused career and leadership development programme for postgraduate and senior fellows at RMIT Melbourne.
Sabina was previously a University of Glasgow research developer, headed up the Scotland office of international creative economy consultancy BOP Consulting, and a heritage environment professional in the public sector. Sabina is a trustee of SWAN Autism and a M4RD researcher development programme mentor.
Sabina designed this programme to be proportionate and responsive, mindful of your needs, capacity and your particular starting point. It is therefore practical and action-oriented – i.e. ‘What works in the real world, not the ideal world’ – graphically facilitated and modular in format, composed of workshops and supported by tools. It is not webinar-style and slides-based.
Sabina will take an inclusive and sensitive approach and understands that the research translation process can be challenging for a wide array of reasons (e.g. fear of failure, imposter phenomenon, rejection sensitivity, social anxiety, and confidence). The steps and guides provided will therefore respond to potential and perceived barriers throughout.
Contact Us
Email:
0 Comments