What do people say
about working with me?
Workshop participants
“The induction was truly amazing. Thank you for the way you are clearly active in pursuing the optimal way to equip us as research staff. Many thanks again for everything. I've been so energised and inspired. “
- Participant of workshop “Making the most of your research contract”
“Very insightful.... Allowed spaces for individual reflections as well as collective and made the sessions really engaging.”
“Bring ideas together, encourage open and honest discussion in her demeanour.”
“Sandrine did a great job corralling everyone and the exercises were engaging. She was enthusiastic and great with the group. “
“She encouraged us without it being obvious, it was constant acceptance. She could listen to any nonsense that came to the discussion and put it into a sensible learning context. Her willingness to be so honest with us all was a joy to hear.”
- Springboard for Women Workshop participants
“I just wanted to thank you for all of your help over the past three years. I definitely learned a tremendous amount from you and I am really grateful for that.”
- 4 Photon ITN Early Career Research
“Thank you ever so much for inspiring us. We were privileged. “
“Thank you ever so much for yesterday's session and for sharing these materials. I have been doing a lot of reflection on my decisions and actions since the meeting.”
"There was a lot to learn. Knowledgeable, elaborate and passionate facilitator"
“It was a great pleasure you taught us, you may not know, but am particularly humbled that someone so knowledgeable can be so humble and fun sharing knowledge freely. When l grew up l want to be just like you.”
“I join my colleagues to sincerely thank you for all the sacrifice made to have today's training happens. The design and aspects covered by the training are things one can never learn in a classroom, yet critical in our daily lives."
"It was a much-needed reminder that besides the official assignments, reflecting on what is going on in my personal environment is as important."
“Your presentations were so enlightening and so comprehensive. I like the way you look at things. I benefited from them all. Thank you. We had an exceptionally useful interaction. The discussion in the groups was extremely useful and mind stimulating. Listening to the way ladies are coping during this period was enlightening. The challenges discussed were cutting across many of the women.”
- Women in research network in Uganda
“I took many useful messages away from today, including the need to avoid negative self-talk, the requirement for regular time slots to devote to looking for funding and the need to provide adequate justification as to why my research competes with the rest of the agenda of a funding body or government.”
Take away message: “It's never too early to start applying for grants - applying for travel grants is a great first step for PhD candidates. Starting off simple and building up to applying for more prestigious grants is the best approach. Consider who will be reviewing your grant - are they experts in the field? Assume every grant reviewer doesn't have expertise in your field. Don't be afraid of failure.”
- UKRMP network grant workshop
“Thank you again for the wonderful workshops you’ve designed for us. They were illuminating, and bring a very positive impetus to what sometimes feels like a maze of information. Thank you for all the attention you put into making the workshops interesting and engaging.”
- Dr Moyra Lawrence, University of Cambridge, Cambridge Stem Cell Institute
“Through the activities and conversation with others I was able to think, in an organised way, about dissemination on social media in a way which I had not been able to achieve before.”
Strength: “the capacity of Sandrine to summarise everyone point of view and building the narrative of the day.”
“It made me think about how I can expand my academic network.”
“The interactions fostered by the lecturer as well as the content were of great value.”
Liked: “The introspective elements of the practical activities.”
“I felt inspired by the lecturer because she has the ability to involve us. I like her methodology to conduct the workshop.”
“Thank you for keeping the workshop in an impartial manner (especially in a world and society where people think anything and everything needs to be published in social media) and making the audience realised why and when collaboration is needed and that collaboration is always a choice and something you earn with respect (and knowledge of course).”
- Participant from Retrace ITN workshop
“Her sense of humour and personality is perfectly pitched to the nature of the course. It was a privilege to be part of it.”
“Sandrine is fabulous and highly skilled at what she does. She makes you think and pushes you.”
“She was very friendly and put the group at ease.”
“She had a good understanding of what the attendees were feeling .”
“Maintained everyone's interest and motivation.”
“Training can be arduous and dull but the sessions were never either of those things and that is massively due to Sandrine's sense of humour, her inspiring manner and her honesty.”
“She has a very nice and warm spirit.”
“She is in control although very flexible when it comes to the natural pace of things discussed.”
- Springboard for Women Workshop participants
“The ingenuity of the facilitators who tirelessly were willingly to go that extra mile to share with us what is dear to them.”
“The homework and pre-workshop activities; Sandrine demonstrated adequately the concept of continuous learning integrating all the different learning styles.”
“Developing routine writing habits and creating writing/accountability groups.”
“The motivation was very high. Very inspirational.”
- 5-day live virtual programme on writing for the NEMRA network
“The most useful workshop so far. I really appreciated the trainer’s effort to make herself crystal clear and to make sure that we all leave from this meeting having changed a bit the perspective of the proper preparation for the job interviews, CV's, values etc.”
“Sandrine, thanks a lot for this workshop and the previous ones. You did really great work, which changed my mind & thinking.”
“Thank you! It was amazing! All workshops were good and I got something from every one of them, but this one was on point. This was exactly what I required to calmly continue with my career.”
- Career workshop for 4 Photon ITN network
“The course delivered by Dr. Sandrine Soubes was very well structured and a lot of effort has been invested by her in its designing. Although delivered virtually, she made sure the sessions were interactive through discussions in breakout rooms and group activities. Each session was accompanied by a live pre-discussion board and post-session self-learning which gave us an essence of what to expect from the course. I can already see myself applying what I learned from the course to my daily life. If you want to strengthen your personal development and to deliver your ideas to a wider audience without worrying of being heard, do give her sessions a go!“
- Ankita Duseja , Fidelio ITN
Coaching clients
Sandrine’s questioning style made me reassess certain situations and helped me to realise my strengths/abilities, instead of focusing on the negative.
The coach’s unbiased critique, feedback and support on the situation was of immense value.
Strengths: impartiality, friendly rapport, and most importantly her knowledge and experience in HE.
Her empathy helped me to understand that I was not alone in thinking as I did, and in the struggles, I was having – but on the other hand she spoke candidly and was able to point out areas where I could be making things far easier for myself! I hadn’t previously been able to see how to break out of certain cycles – thoughts and actions – but she was quite clear that there were ways to do this.
The quality of the listening and the empathy displayed. The feedback on my CV. The action plan that we agreed at the moment.
Talking about my issues with Sandrine helped me realise that I was already taking important steps to improve my networking. For example, I had started to talk about the need to exchange experience with other colleagues as part of a postgraduate group in my department. Having realised that gave me confidence to continue improving.
Sandrine is easy to relate to and empathic. She’s also good at keeping coachees focused.
The coach identified and broke down some imaginary obstacles. These originated partly in my lack of knowledge of the UK HE landscape, but also of my own methods.
I felt that Sandrine was a good listener and pointed out the strengths and weaknesses in what I described was my experience. Rather than putting herself in my shoes, she asked me what I think that I need to do better. Sometimes, these kinds of questions are exactly what is needed because one already knows what they want to improve. Stating the goals to the coach makes it harder to ignore the problem!
Coach showed empathy, asked the right questions, showed support, listened and wanted to understand the problem in order to deal with it effectively
The sessions were extremely useful and helpful. The time intervals between sessions allowed for reflection and implementation of goals.
The coach’s knowledge and experience in HE (careers).
The main thing was the possibility to express in loud voice my fear and anxiety in a safe environment, with someone that knows very well the pros and cons of academia, so I felt completely understood and supported
Having someone to talk to from outside my department – and faculty – but who seemed to take me seriously. I had felt – and can still feel – that part-time female academics were not only a very rare breed but also quite side-lined in decision-making, departmental activities and staff promotion. Having this coaching helped me to work through some of the difficulties I was having, and to know that my frustrations were not insignificant. It also helped me to work out both immediate and longer-term objectives, thinking about how to shift my priorities and to start negotiating for a better balance at work. It was useful that Sandrine pointed out some of the areas I could improve in terms of how I communicate with people at work (again linked to assertiveness) and how to position myself as a useful member of the team. Academia is such a male environment in many ways and is certainly not supportive of women who try to be mothers too, but via this kind of initiative we can start to see that even if we don’t want to be game-players, there are ways to play the game without compromising our integrity!
Programme managers
“We have been working with Dr. Sandrine Soubes in our EU-funded Innovative Training Network “FIDELIO – Bone health in diabetes“, for which she designed an Online Professional Training Programme tailored specifically to the needs of our early stage researchers. In this programme, Sandrine covered a variety of pressing topics such as effective working with supervisors, peers and collaborators, research leadership as well as mastery in research presentation and put a particular emphasis on imparting skills that enable students to take charge of developing the career they envision and to help them grow both personally and professionally.
Not only did Sandrine showcase her expertise in the field of research dissemination and communication, but proved her adaptable approach by converting a physical training course into a very interactive and versatile online format in a limited amount of time. We were especially impressed by the way Sandrine included every individual, encouraging participation and stimulating the mind through pre-workshop activities and carrying the discourse into the training. In this, Sandrine really is on top of her game as she remained positive, empathetic and encouraging throughout, made use of modern communication tools to their full advantage and enjoyed an excellent track record with our early stage researchers.”
- Theresa Knothe, Fidelio ITN network
Sandrine designed an innovative training programme for a Doctoral Training Centre that I manage (Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of Sheffield). Sandrine is deeply committed to the training and development of PhD students and Early Career Researchers (ECR) and is an inspiration about issues of leadership. Years later key elements of her training programme still stand particularly her idea called 'Methods@Sheffield'. This is where first year PhD students studying sustainability give presentations about research methods from another faculty at the University challenging them at an early stage to think about new perspectives. We get really good feedback from our students and academic supervisors about this every year.
- Deborah Beck, Grantham Centre Manager
I worked with Sandrine on the DTP Management Board and with the Training and Development Managers across the White Rose Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York. It was clear from our first meeting that Sandrine had extensive skills and experience in developing early career researchers within the academic environment and beyond, with a particular focus on career development and transferable skills.
More than that, she was totally committed to the PhD students across the partnership, and this was matched by the energy and enthusiasm she put into developing programmes to meet their needs. She has much experience and many skills to draw on.
- Catherine Liddle, White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership
Academics
Sandrine played a pivotal role in helping us to develop a bespoke training programme for PhD students at the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of Sheffield. Her creativity and experience led to innovative ideas that greatly helped to foster interdisciplinary working in successive cohorts of students.
- Prof. Colin Osborne
Sandrine has always brought knowledge and expertise to the projects that we have worked on, in a way that has been truly impactful. Rooted firmly in the evidence, her ideas have been innovative and ground breaking. In particular, her idea for an online journal club that would facilitate cohort building among postgraduate research students based in four different UK cities was ahead of its time, and paved the way for the online skills training that we currently deliver. Where she has led, in terms of early career researcher development, others have followed. She is passionate about researcher development, and her commitment and energy inspires others.
- Prof. Martina Daly
Sandrine was always committed to her work developing early career researchers. Her workshops and sessions always received great feedback and her network was such that true experts were made available to the students to augment the work that Sandrine did. It wasn’t enough that she was committed to providing the best experience, but also it is important to note that she truly cared about the benefit that her work provided to the students.
- Professor Mark Geoghegan
I worked closely with Sandrine when I was Faculty Head of Research Training and looked to Sandrine for leadership in key training events, something in which she excelled, always carrying the students with her through her energy and enthusiasm. She is hyper-organised, conscientious and empathetic, always paying attention to detail, yet imaginative, innovative and inspirational in her delivery. Her knowledge of training practice is extensive and always used. I commend her highly. If you need coaching yourself, or you need help in delivering training, then Sandrine's services should be considered seriously.
- Prof. Andy Furley
Others who have experienced my work
“I admire your fleet-footedness, and your ability to adapt, create, and reinvent training programmes and activities within a fast-changing landscape. Your commitment to evaluating your own practice and the experiences of participants is laudable, and something from which many academics could learn. Your interweaving of research data and evidence is excellent, and testimony to the thoughtfulness of your professional approach.”
- Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy Reviewer
“The participants shared their reflections on your input, I thought you'd like to know that they said -* you spoke with passion * you inspired them * you shared very helpful practical tips * they valued your honesty and openness about the realities, challenges and joys of running programmes * everyone liked your examples of special touches for the Resource Table, crafts and creativity * the 3 HE trainers especially valued your experiences within the university context. In addition, Liz and I really valued your real-life examples which reinforced the messages we have been giving, for example, trust the process, open up yourself, etc. so thank you for this important contribution. I picked out three words from your talk to re-visit at the end of the day - Trust, Power, Joy - Trust the process, Power of the programme, Joyous workshop 4 celebrations. Thanks again for generously sharing your time and experience.”