Feedback and Testimonials

We like to think that we offer exemplary quality and we are constantly examining our own practice to improve our programmes. However, in order to help you get a feel for the quality that we offer, here are just some of the comments and feedback from previous clients.

Please pass on to the session leader that this was brilliant. I learnt a lot ... But it was his energy that was amazing. I feel really empowered and more confident about doing future online presenting.


HC University of Sheffield

"The workshop struck the perfect balance between informative and interactive. All the tips that were given felt directly applicable and often gave me that 'aha' moment where everything finally clicked. The facilitator did a great job to engage everyone - there was a lot to learn from him just by example - while never pressuring us to participate more than we were comfortable. I enjoyed this session very much!"

SB Univerity of York

I’ve been drowning in my PhD and this webinar felt like ninety minutes of hope.

Details Withheld

I attended your project management training this week and I just wanted to say thank you. I really enjoyed it and I thought it was absolutely great --- way better than many of the dragged out courses that I've gotten qualifications for. I learned so much so thank you.I wish every PI on every funded project was required to do your training as I think it would save money, quality and staff burnout.

CC

Thank you so much for coming and delivering such a useful and engaging session. It was certainly in the spirit we intended. The buzz in the room was a great sign - it was just what we wanted to have people talking to one another and getting back to networking again after a long two years of sitting at home! We have had really positive feedback and people mentioned to me how valuable they found your session specifically.

KM University of York

I just wanted to say thank you - I attended your 'Creating and presenting effective posters' workshop, created my first poster for a conference and won best poster last week! Everyone commented on how it looked much more enticing than other posters, easy to follow, and I told them all about your workshop.

HG

Thank you so much for the workshop earlier today, so glad I was able to book . I just wanted to let you know this was extremely helpful. A big thank you for making things clearer and for all your wonderful tips! Feels like getting through my course will be a lot calmer now, once I put things into practice.

NV University of Edinburgh

The best and most engaging workshop I’ve ever attended.

YP-C Edinburgh University

I just wanted to write and say a huge thank you for the fantastic induction session you ran last week. I was delighted with how the well it went and provided the perfect start to our Programme. The feedback has been incredibly positive with a couple of participants stating that they wished the day had been longer!

LW

I have been receiving coaching from Dr Steve Hutchinson and wanted to share my experience. Steve has been an extraordinary coach. All sessions have been very productive and I have learned a lot from him. He is very professional, gives fantastic guidance and constantly encourages and challenges me. I wanted to thank you and your team for providing this opportunity.

SD KCL

Thanks so much for such a great session! (I don’t normally write follow up emails to webinars!) So much of your presentation was just what I needed to boost my change in mindset and working practices. I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your structured approach to such a wide topic with some fantastic take aways which I can put into practice. Thanks again.


CB IOP

Thank you for the interview coaching. Many thanks for your insight, input and support. It was really helpful to go through the interview with you and have the questions to work on. I thought I would share the good news ...I had the interview today and found out that I got the role! I am absolutely thrilled.

CB Institutional Details Withheld

Thank you for the webinar today. It was a pleasure to attend, and you helped me articulate parts of my role well and consider new aspects of leadership. I will be able to carry the lessons learnt there going forward. Thanks again for your knowledge!

JC - Research Fellow Institutional Details Withheld

Your session today was amazing! Thank you! It did make a difference...and made me feel like trying to face this PhD once again, from a different perspective....Keep disseminating your brilliant work.

PT - Researcher Cambridge University

I cannot thank you enough for your time, for the suggested reading and for the very helpful and thought-provoking session. It has been invaluable.

CB - Associate Professor Durham University

Thanks for a great training course. Your enthusiasm and humour were very motivational and you’ve given me a lot to think about.


JS - Research Officer KCL

A big Thank You for the leadership session this afternoon. It was a great pleasure to listen to your talk - highly inspirational and perfectly pitched to the audience, as always.

SE Imperial College London

Just to appreciate the course, it has been very useful for me. I would like to highlight the dynamic of the sessions, very active, interesting, and well organized and great to share experiences. Many thanks!


LM - Clinical Assistant Professor LSHTM

I just wanted to thank you for your excellent inputs [on various courses] over the last 9 months, and more recently this morning. Your specific inputs have been insightful and have really helped me focus my approach to research leadership in my University. This has been invaluable to me and I will bring this knowledge with me when meeting with my research team in the future.

JR - Associate Professor / Centre Director DCU

The webinar was excellent and it really made me stop and think about where I'm going and how I am using my time.

DM - Lecturer Technical University, Dublin

Thanks very much for your course yesterday. I’ve attended similar courses before; yours was by far the most useful, memorable, and thought-provoking. I think it also showcased how education via Zoom can (and ought to?) be managed.

TL – Researcher Institutional Details Withheld

I found your session very fascinating and insightful and I have definitely received some tools that I will implement both when on the receiving and giving end of feedback.

AB – Researcher GeoMar - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research – Kiel

I just wanted to reach out and say a big thank you for your talks at the induction events last week. I found them extremely beneficial and enlightening. I feel that I am in a far better position to tackle my PhD after listening to you what you had to say.


TY - Researcher Cardiff University

About the leadership session for the conference...The feedback was outstanding, all who attended only had positive comments to make about it and you helped to create a real buzz around the event.

CF University of Manchester

"Looking at the feedback, all the participants rated the session as "excellent", and some of the words they used to describe it include; thoughtful, inspiring, fun, meaningful and motivating."

MR Edinburgh Business School

The presenter Steve was amazing. Excellent presentation, organization, and energy. Bravo!

CH University of Cambridge

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G ! I was quite impressed about the energy and devotion of the presenter, you could tell that he was truly passionate about what he does and that itself is captivating!!!

GY TUD

I am hearing some fantastic feedback about yesterday's workshop.  One student even said that you are the best presenter they have ever heard.

JS EAO DTP

One of the best classes I've attended...ever.

RN RHUL

Thank you so much for the training session...I really enjoyed and learnt lots from it.
This is quite refreshing...as we are often 'forced' to undertake statutory training sessions that are completely useless and irrelevant to what we do. This was an optional session, but it was the most useful I've had in the last eight years! So thank you!

MG (Senior Lecturer) University of Westminster

The most interesting, productive and enjoyable staff development event that I've ever been to. Thank you.

MD Lecturer Brunel University

Thanks for the inspiring talk and the wonderful workshop. It was given in a very visually appealing form. Who doesn't like to read interesting illustrations? It was very well designed, practical and valuable for anyone who wants to enhance their understanding about writing.


LZ Confucius Institute for Business and Communication

Just a few quick lines to thank you for the excellent seminar – Giving Presentations. It was absolutely superb. I’ve been to quite a number of these seminars on doing presentations (in a University as well as a business context) – but yours was the best one so far, by a long margin.

MK Durham University

This was an extremely informative, enjoyable and above all valuable session and I look forward to putting some of the techniques I've learned today into practice.

SM City University London

Many thanks for the seminar today; I found it very interesting and incredibly useful. I’m about to transition from a senior PDRA to a tenure-track fellow so found everything particularly relevant to me. I will definitely put the ideas into practise.

NL PDRA University of Liverpool

Just wanted to say how good your workshop was. In fact, it's the best I’ve ever been to.

MA Programme Leader University of Dundee

You could clearly see that Steve was passionate about the subject and it reflected in the quality of teaching. Faultless.

EC Researcher KCL

Thank you for sharing an inspiring learning experience.

KA PDRA University of York

Many thanks for your brilliant session today. It must have been the best training session I've had throughout my study here.

NM Researcher University of Nottingham

Would I recommend this session? Unequivocally - to any academic.

FM Principal Investigator

This was the most successful training event I have attended; your understanding of the challenges of our particular project and your skill in engaging the participants was outstanding.

RN Research Professor

It don't remember ever going on a course here where I stayed awake and alert and interested all day. I know this seems doesn't seem like much, but this was a great session. Thank you.

RF Program Administrator

I just wanted to jot you a note of thanks to say how much I enjoyed your workshop on Conference Posters this morning. It was certainly more lively and engaging than I had hoped for - how did you manage to bring such charisma to poster design?!

SP Researcher

Just wanted to thank you for a great session - it has helped me focus and will be a great asset to me. I very nearly didn't attend because of a looming deadline , but I believe the hours spent will be repaid many times over!

RS Research Supervisor

Your first opening question changed my perspective on things entirely. Real insight and complete focus. Thank you.

GC Section Head

Thanks so much for your session. It really motivated me to change my approach to networking and academic conferences this summer. I can honestly say that putting your tips and tools into practice made me feel more confident, helped me to get more feedback on my work from senior people and allowed me to figure out a networking style that I'm finally comfortable with.

AB Judge Business School

Thanks again for today's workshop. I have attended several similar sessions in recent years. Yours is by far the best. Your approach has caused me to ask myself how to derive personal lessons from the material, and that has not happened very often before....

GC Research Professor

Thank you so much for the most interesting and inspiring workshop! I didn't only enjoy it but have tried to practise it. I felt lost in the midst of things and not sure what I was after. Now I feel more confident to do something. It's such a great feeling!

SML Research Student

What struck me most was how aware he seemed to be of everything that was occurring in the room. The real benefit came where he managed to help us open up discussions of what everyone was thinking… but no one was saying.

JPR Project Manager

I learned more in one afternoon with you than in the entire “Academic Development” programme that we are forced to do here. You’ve made me question my views on training. Thank you.

RG Lecturer and PhD Supervisor

I found your session on Saturday very useful indeed, to the extent that I haven't stopped thinking and rethinking so much of what you said. I am already working on some short term objectives which I have set myself and have organised another meeting with my supervisor. I feel so much more positive and optimistic now and certainly have managed to get rid of that dreaded feeling of isolation which can really pull me down

PR Research Student

I wanted to email you to say how interesting and informative I found the Giving Conference Presentations course yesterday. It was supportive, fun, answered all of my queries and provided more information on top. I would recommend this course for any academic

PB Research Staff

Thanks for the thesis course that I came on before the summer. I learned stuff that morning that I guess I really should have known before. I just submitted my thesis, so I’m celebrating! Your course should be compulsory – and I’ve told that to my supervisor!

MP Post Doc (Pending)

I’m just writing to say that, of all the sessions I’ve ever been to, this was by far the best.

DW Research Technician

Thanks for a really interesting day yesterday. I've been on two of your courses now and what works for me is the fact that they are different to the usual course format- more interactive and tailored to what individual participants want.

NK Research Student

The workshop was directed with real efficiency and yet, in the space of that relatively short time, you managed to achieve a warm and genuine relationship with each student, making us feel relaxed about airing problems and helping us arrive at possible solutions.

MO Research Student

Last year I took part in your Managing Research course and I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for it. I found the questions you asked and tasks you gave us very inspiring. I gained so much from it and my first half year of my PhD programme certainly would not have been the same without it! I kept minutes from the workshop which I still use.

JP Research Staff

… thanks for the course that you ran about finishing the PhD. I was having a hard time and wondering if it was worth it. The ideas, tactics, techniques and support that I got from that afternoon were probably the difference between quitting and staying. Anyway, I got through my viva successfully yesterday – and I wanted to thank you.

LM Post-Doc