An Imperial researcher demonstrate a robot at Imperial Fringe

What engagement training opportunities are available?

Imperial delivers a range of societal engagement-related training opportunities, which are designed to support our staff and students in developing high quality engagement work. 

The College's central societal engagement team will be developing and piloting further opportunities during the academic year – so keep an eye out for new sessions coming soon and sign up to our newsletter.

Can’t decide which training would best suit your needs? Contact us.

College training for students

Imperial College Union

  • Imperial Plus is the Union’s student development programme that recognises volunteering efforts, helping students to identify and articulate the skills and experiences gained through volunteering that graduate recruiters’ value. All ICU training workshops can be accessed by any student recording their volunteer hours toward Imperial Plus - they’re free to attend and run regularly throughout the year.
  • The Skills Development Programme (SDP), which is Endorsed by the Institute of Leadership & Management, goes one step further and recognises the skills you have developed alongside your volunteering hours through short, reflective assignments following the training workshops. Upon completing the Skills Development Programme you will received an ILM Endorsed Certificate, which clearly demonstrates to graduate recruiters the practical skills you have developed. 
  • The Pimlico Connection - The Union support students to volunteer to become Pimlico Connection Tutors, providing a half-day training session that aims to impart information about the English school system and the National Curriculum, address importance of clear communication as a tutor, introduce responsibilities and finally plan and deliver tutor sessions. This has also previously included a workshop on public speaking. 

Imperial Horizons & I-Explore

The Imperial Horizons programme offers a wide range of courses for all Imperial College undergraduates. It is designed to broaden education, inspire creativity and enhance professional impact.

I-Explore is a broad portfolio of for degree credit modules, providing an opportunity for students to broaden their knowledge and tackle a subject area outside of their core discipline. Depending on their department, students will take their I-Explore module in either their second or third year of study at Imperial.

Graduate School

Engagement Masterclasses - Our masterclasses (for staff and doctoral students) are a low-commitment, easy way to get familiar with engagement and kickstart your engagement activities. Find out about what public engagement is, why it's important and how to evaluate activities in our Core Masterclass. Then explore our further masterclasses that enable you to build on the knowledge and skills gained in the core sessions such as communication and engagement with controversial issues.  Several of these courses are also accredited by the Graduate School. 

You may also be interested in:

  • Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT) challenges PhD students to present a compelling oration on their thesis topic and its significance in just three minutes. 3MT develops academic, presentation, and research communication skills and supports the development of research students' capacity to effectively explain their research in language appropriate to a non-specialist audience. 
  • Postgraduate Student Coaching Programme - The Graduate School's Postgraduate student coaching programme has been established to provide you with an opportunity to talk, independently from your academic department, about challenges you may be experiencing during the course of your studies. The programme primarily focuses on building effective working relationships and there may be other self-development issues that you wish to explore.

Student Recruitment and Outreach

  • Postgraduate Student Coaching Programme – this scheme provides an opportunity for Post Graduates to work with local schools and inspire young audiences to consider studying science, technology, engineering, mathematics and business subjects. There are currently approximately 30 ambassadors enrolled on the scheme.
  • Royal Institution’s Primary Maths Master Class - hands-on and interactive extracurricular sessions that are designed to improve the way staff communicate with primary school children, provided by the Royal Institution and hosted by the Outreach team.