U21/PwC Innovation Challenge Pre-Application Awareness Session
Duration 0.5 days
Team Researcher Academy

This face to face course is run by the Researcher Academy

The Researcher Academy courses are very popular and the majority are run in both semesters to give you the opportunity to attend at a time of the year that suits you. 

Target Audience: Competition entries are invited from Doctoral and Postgraduate Taught Masters students from all disciplines who is registered at the University at the time the competition is run.

This face to face session is aimed at Doctoral students.

Session Description:

 U21/PwC Innovation Challenge is an International University competition and global opportunity to showcase researcher skills to Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) and its client base, via a short 3 minute video clip response to a pre-set challenge.

 U21/PwC Competition winners will unlock and have access to unique training and professional development opportunities with one of the world’s leading employers.

Aims/ Objectives:

The aim of the competition is to help research students

  • develop their academic, critical thinking, presentation, and research communication skills
  • support them to distil and effectively explain their research or insight into contemporary, globally-important work-related issues within a three minute window, in a language appropriate to an intelligent but non-specialist audience
  • prepare for and produce a self-made 3 minute video addressing global work-related challenges.

We encourage interested PhD Students from all disciplines to attend this one hour session and enter the competition. Session attendees are however not obliged to enter the U21/PwC Innovation Challenge competition. 

This preparatory training session will aim to do the following:

  • Provide information about the competition, its timescales and requirements
  • Provide tips about putting together your three minute video presentation
  • Provide general presentation skills information and support
  • Provide you with the opportunity to reflect upon your own research project or ideas around contemporary, globally-important work-related issues and how you might deliver a three minute summary for the competition.

Additional information about the competition

Researcher Academy are looking to identify 4 finalists from across our UK, Malaysia and China campuses, to go forward into the U21/PwC Final competition.

Researcher Academy will provide additional support for all 4 University of Nottingham finalists to produce a professional video of their winning presentation which will be used as an entry for the U21/PwC Final. This video will be recorded at the University's Video Hub once the finalists have been identified.

Are you an Innovator? Are you looking for a chance to prove this on an international stage?

Please visit the U21/PwC Innovation Challenge Moodle page for further information.
On this page you will also find a webinar recording from the November 2019 awareness raising session.

Process: Awareness raising and information session.

Course Accessibility

The following table shows a summary of what is needed to participate in the course. 

If you feel you will experience any difficulties participating, please let us know via the ‘special requirements’ tab, providing as much information as possible. The special requirements tab can be completed when you book your place. Alternatively, you can contact us directly at ra-training@nottingham.ac.uk.

Print off pre-requisite paperwork/ resources & bring them to the course (optional)
Bring your own laptop/ PC to the course (optional)
Access seminar room on campus
Attend the course at the specified date and time
Watch and listen to the course tutor(s) and/or other attendees
Follow presentation slides during the course


Booking Guidelines

Latecomer policy
Researchers should plan to arrive prior to the advertised course start time. Except for exceptional reasons, there will be no admittance to a Researcher Academy or Faculty Training Programme (FTP) course 15 minutes after the advertised course start time.

Importance of booking commitment
 When booking on to a Researcher Academy short course you are entering into a commitment to attend. If you find that you are no longer available to attend you MUST cancel your place (on the system if more than three days before the course) or if at short notice by emailing pg-training@nottingham.ac.uk. This will ensure that your place can be offered to another researcher on the waiting list. Failure to cancel a place results in other researchers missing out on places through the waiting list process.

It is unacceptable for researchers to just not attend when booked onto a course. The Researcher Academy maintains records of those who repeatedly do not attend courses they have booked. This may affect future eligibility to book onto further Researcher Academy courses and will affect considerations for Researcher Academy funded opportunities.

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