Training Cancellation Policy

Due to an exceptionally high rate of last-minute cancellations and no shows for training activity being organised by Warwick Institute of Engagement we are implementing a cancellation policy as of August 2023. Our series of masterclasses is led by expert trainers who are paid a fixed fee to deliver the workshops they put on for us. There is a significant cost to running this activity and last-minute cancellations and no shows means that the university’s investment is wasted as no one else can use that place due to lack of notice. It is also disrespectful to the trainers we’re working with who have prepared sessions based on the numbers booked and must quickly reformat their plans to account for low attendance.

Going forward attendees will be required to cancel their booking at least 7 calendar days in advance or a receive a strike against their record for the remainder of the academic year. Those with two strikes against their name will be barred from attending further WIE training activity. They will also be disqualified from leading applications to any funds run by Warwick Institute of Engagement, such as our Collaboration and Co-Production Fund or our Module Development Fund. We will remove strikes and any resulting sanctions at the end of each academic year, resetting the count each August.

Exceptions

We appreciate there are sometimes genuine reasons why people cannot attend at the last minute. If you are not able at attend due to illness or an emergency, then please send us an email to let us know this is the case and we will remove the strike from your record. Please don’t feel you need to share any details with us, we will take you at your word. We do not accept the need to attend other meetings or a high workload as a reasonable excuse for a last-minute cancellation, by booking a place on the training course you are agreeing to prioritise attendance. You can of course still cancel up to 7 days in advance without penalty if meetings are put into your diary.

Development opportunities in 24/25

Warwick Institute of Engagement runs sessions throughout the year. We will be releasing the programme for October-December around September. If you're looking for the types of opportunity that may be available next year, particularly thinking about your PDR, then we normally run sessions covering topics such as:

• Presentation skills/ storytelling skills
• Creating engagement activities and events around your work
• Evaluating public engagement
• Engaging people on social media
• Impact and Engagement
• Podcasting
• Working in Partnership

In addition we have the WIE Skills Festival which provides resources to support you with skills to do with engagement - e.g. toolkits to support evaluation or audience development. We also have the WIE Personal Development Fund which allows you to apply for up to £200 to enable you to attend public engagement training relevant to your own area of interests (e.g. someone from our SEM faculty may use this to attend a conference on science communication).