Written by Em Prestige

In March and May of 2024, I was given the opportunity to attend two training sessions from Jacqueline Defferary. These sessions were provided to members of Women in CMMID (WinC) as a part of the funding received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve career progression opportunities for women and gender non-conforming individuals in CMMID.

The first session was on negotiation. As an Early Career Researcher (ECR), I was especially interested in learning about this. Negotiation can be an area in particular where minorities are disadvantaged, and I was keen on learning the tools to be better equipped to handle these situations. Jackie encouraged those of us in attendance to learn above the levels we entered negotiations and how we can take these important steps during negotiations: match, pace, and lead.

This means that you are: matching the level of the person you are negotiating with; pacing the negotiation at a rate you desire; and leading the discussion in the direction you need. In addition to learning about the techniques we could use in negotiation, the training session allowed us to share scenarios where we have previously struggled with negotiation and hear from others how they would now handle that situation. This was important as it allowed us to hear the perspectives of other WinC members and create a supportive network that all of us could reach out to at a later date.

Public speaking was the focus of the second training session. The session gave us tools which we could use to build into day-to-day life, such as belly breathing, that would feed into public speaking in the long term. Jackie also spoke at length about grounding oneself while speaking to audiences, the importance of releasing energy before public speaking, and taking appropriate pauses during presentations. Throughout the training, I realised that these small changes during my presentations would help with my public speaking skills.

These sessions were a wonderful opportunity to increase my ability to progress as a researcher within academia, and science as a whole. The sessions have made me feel more confident in my ability to do my role, and have given me a better network where I can share any questions that I might have around negotiation and public speaking.