Practical Thinking for Researchers 1 - Creative Thinking by Company of Mind

Presenter: Dr Adrian West, Company of Mind

"Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of the car is separate from the way the car is driven.” Edward de Bono

Research is about thinking - without thinking, there is no research. Your work is largely judged on the quality of your thinking. Yet "how to think" is rarely part of our formal studies.

Those facts together mean we can raise ourselves up several levels by studying the topic of “thinking” directly: the vocabulary, tools and approaches - and putting that learning into practice.

Company of Mind are providing a series of 3 online workshops about “thinking” and the different ways we can approach it systematically to be more effective as researchers. The sessions will include a mixture of presentation and interaction.

They will look at the different kinds of thinking needed and practical tools for thinking rigorously, systematically and creatively. The sessions take a broad sweep in order to touch on approaches that will be valuable for your particular situation now, and in the future.

Sessions are as follows: You don't have to attend all three (***see below)

Session 1 – Creative Thinking: How to have original ideas (online workshop) on Tuesday, 10 November 10:00 - 12:30 hours (UK Time); A requirement for the PhD qualification is to have original ideas - how do you do that? Please complete a short registration form here to register for this session!

Session 2 – Constructive Thinking: How to organise thinking (online workshop) on Tuesday, 17 November 10:00 - 12:30 hours (UK Time); Clear thinking means a systematic approach. Yet we have few words even to describe thinking. Here we look at the kinds of thinking and how we can structure them as needed for a given time and task, when we need to.

Session 3 - Critical Thinking (online workshop) on Tuesday, 24 November 10:00 - 12:30 hours (UK Time); PhD examiners are asked whether a thesis demonstrates adequate rigour (academic papers too). This is the topic of 'critical thinking', which is a skill you will be expected to have as someone with a Ph.D.

***In these unusual times, we appreciate some people are understandably having difficulties and challenges that take priority. Hence, even though this is a series, our intention is that each event will stand alone, so you don't have to attend all three, although you are very welcome to.

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Facilitators:

Dr Adrian West co-founded the shared virtual reality research group at The University of Manchester. He has held UK and EU research grants, leading both Technology and Psychology contributions, and has also been an expert reviewer in technology for the European Commission. He went on to lead a team of engineers at a U.S. Venture capital funded technology company which was sold off to IBM in 2008. Adrian has been Research Director for The Edward de Bono Foundation which specialises in thinking as a skill and has inspired over 200 cross-discipline innovation teams in academia and industry. His research interest in perception and thinking developed into Company of Mind, which facilitates thinking skills for corporations, Government bodies, and Universities. He is routinely voted best Lecturer by technology students, and by business leaders when he presents on innovation and thinking skills.

Ms Sophie Brown – Adrian is joined by Sophie who co-founded Company of Mind, and held the position of Creative Director at the Edward de Bono Foundation UK. Sophie studied Fine Art at Edinburgh, before moving to larger canvases of Landscape Architecture designing environments and running construction contracts across the North West. She co-designs and facilitates Company of Mind programmes, and develops graphics and techniques for the Canvas of the Mind in the thinking and facilitation arena.

Comments

“The idea generation methods from Adrian and Sophie were instrumental in helping us to immediately embark upon developing lots of research ideas - without them I am sure we would still be working on them now. The format was excellent, keeping us focused and the experience of working online is something we are all grateful for, considering the evolving working climate currently. I'd like to take this opportunity to say what a truly excellent and incredibly enjoyable experience this has been.” Laura Salisbury, Postgraduate Researcher, Royal College of Art, about an online UK-wide Research Sandpit Event for The Henry Royce Institute for advanced materials research and innovation.

"Many thanks for a great course. I found it really useful and I feel I took a lot away from it. I think it has been the most interesting and useful of all the CPD courses we've done." Dr Ross Beesley, Nuclear Research Engineer, Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery Ltd, Glasgow

“Your session was wonderful. Not only did you deliver the tools and approaches we were after, but you backed it up so well with theory in such an entertaining, engaging and accessible way, giving people who have never done this before, insight into the leadership and thinking arena.” Prof Georgina Moulton, The Wellcome Trust, National Institute of Health Research and Health Data Research UK Incubator Launch, London.