Lectures and seminars A Toolkit for Career Success in Academia and Beyond: Audience-Centered Communication for Grants & Publishing, and Respectfuk Assertiveness for Personal Growth

Target Group 

Primarily postdocs & researchers but also spots available for PhD students

About

I. Career development - building blocks- and personal growth workshop

This workshop consists of structured presentations to introduce key concepts, combined with interactive sessions for peer learning. 

The main topics include:

• Audience-centered communication for grant and publishing success - look at communication as a means for achieving goals. Key principles include understanding audience motivation and processes, using grant applications and journal publishing as key examples.
• Grant portfolio planning - key principles to identifying funding opportunities and how to plan strategically for key career-building grants such as VR and ERC
• Respectful assertiveness to personal growth - how to set personal boundaries at work and how to manage managers, leading to better work-life-balance and resilience for a long-term sustainable career.
• Personal growth and resilience coaching - practical strategies to strengthen confidence, address imposter syndrome, and enhance well-being.

Agenda

12:00 - Light Lunch & Mingle

12:30 Introduction to trainer and setting the scene

12:40-13.10 Buidling Blocks to Academic Success

• Group discussion on what is needed for academic career success
• A portfolio approach to grants and how to diversify funding sources
• How to use research funding database to identify and keep track of relevant funding opportunities

13.10-14.10 Strategic Audience-Centered Communication

• Communication versus strategic, audience-centered communication
• Before you start: who is the audience, what is important for them, how do you and your work bring them value?
• Writing styles and writing tips for effective communication
• Examples with grant writing and journal publishing

14.15-14:30 Coffee & mingle

14.30-15.00 Group exercise for Strategic Audience-Centered Communication

15.00-15:45 Respectful Assertiveness for Personal Growth

• Understanding assertiveness in academic environments: differences between passive, aggressive, and respectful communication
• Why high-performing researchers struggle with boundaries and overcommitment
• Managing your manager: aligning expectations, raising concerns constructively, and communicating workload limits professionally
• Setting boundaries with clarity and confidence: how to say “no” strategically while maintaining collaboration
• Practical communication frameworks for difficult conversations in
  hierarchical systems

15.45-15.55 Quick Break 

15.55 - 16.30 Group Exercise: Applying Assertiveness in Academic Contexts

16.30  Wrap up

Limited participation: 30 spots

II. Consultation & Coaching Sessions

After participating in the Workshop a number of you will have the opportunity to schedule at least 1hour individual consultation or/and coaching sessions with the trainers depening on your needs. Each participant may receive up three individual sessions in total. Further information will be provided upon registration. 

Note: The number of individual sessions are limited and participants will be selected on a first come first serve basis.

About Trainers 

Judy Mielke, PhD. Founder & CEO of scientifyRESEARCH

Judy is the Founder and CEO of scientifyRESEARCH. With almost 20 years of experience in the research services sector, Judy is passionate about empowering researchers, recognizing that they are the driving force behind societal advancement. She is dedicated to helping researchers expand and reach their fullest potential and thereby make significant contributions to the UN’s sustainable development goals. Judy's approach emphasizes effective learning based on first principles, fostering adaptive knowledge that can be applied in any situation.

Gulhis Sarap, Personal Growth Coach at scientifyRESEARCH

Gülhis Şarap is a Personal Growth Consultant and ICF-accredited Coach who helps researchers and professionals navigate their careers with clarity and confidence. With more than eight years of international experience, she has led initiatives on well-being, mental health, and diversity & inclusion, guiding individuals and teams through change, growth, and transformation. Her approach emphasizes the integration of career development and personal growth, ensuring that participants build both the skills and the resilience needed to thrive in demanding and competitive environments.

Organizers

KI Career Service in collaboration with scientifyRESEARCH.

About scientifyRESEARCH 

Scientify Research Solutions AB (scientifyRESEARCH) is a Stockholm-based research services company. Our mission is to empower researchers to reach their fullest potential and thereby advancing solutions for social challenges. We offer a premium research funding database that includes all major research funders in the EU, Sweden and those funders that fund internationally. To complement our grant-discovery services, we provide a range of grant and career-success services, including grant and academic writing, grant interview training, diversity training, and our newly launched coaching & consultation services designed to strengthen researchers’ career development, confidence, and personal growth.

Registration 

Please use your @ki.se email when signing up to this event. Non @ki.se email domains, will not be admited to the event. Information on how to join the event and schedule individual sessions will be provided upon registration. 

Registration is open until Friday, March 20^th, 2026, at 10.00

Sign up 

Contact

Please contact us at career-service@ki.se if you have questions regarding this event.