More and more, universities are encouraging – requiring, even – that academics think at the next level of creativity and develop more innovative and multi-disciplinary research proposals. Yet for academics there are so many demands on time and resources; it can be difficult to find practical ways to develop the skill set necessary to solicit and induce more innovative proposals.

The Catalyst Innovation Programme is designed to address the needs of research managers and officers at Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs), as well as other academics who’d like to sharpen their creative skills.

Based on Knowinnovation’s experience leading Sandpits, Ideas Labs and other academic innovation workshops, the Catalyst Programme covers the fundamentals of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) and highlights how to facilitate specific tools and techniques that help to generate more novel ideas and evaluate them more productively.

The Catalyst is an intensive 2-day residential programme. The first day introduces the key concepts of creative thinking and focuses on the key process and tools to support innovative output. Day two focuses on applying these creative thinking tools and concepts and gives participants a chance to practice facilitating activities that can be incorporate into their own innovation programs, or just used to make day-to-day meetings more productive.