Welcome and overview
Welcome to the School for Thinktankers! In this section, you will find all the necessary information and documents to help you understand how the school will be run and start preparing for it.
Programme and overview
Please download and read this document which details the structure, form of delivery of the course and the programme that it will follow.
Starting January 24 the programme will be delivered Monday to Friday for three weeks from 12:30 GMT to 14:30 GMT (some days until 15.00 and one day until 15:30)
Slack
We will be using Slack for day to day communications. All participants and trainers are part of the Slack channel, as well as past participants of the School for Thinktankers, so please take advantage of the platform and use it to connect with your new network. In it, you can ask questions about the contents of the course, engage in discussions, answer questions etc, make suggestions, or simply share your views and opinions.
Please make sure to visit it regularly, you can also download the app to your phone or computer. For more guidance on using Slack please click here.
Materials
We have prepared a background document and videos to give you an overview of the key issues in each topic.
The background notes cover each of the modules of the school: defining think tanks and evidence-informed policy; governance and management; policy-relevant research; monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL); communications; and fundraising and financial management. These notes do not follow a textbook approach. Rather, they aim to provide an overview of the key issues in each topic by offering essential definitions and highlighting fundamental questions.
Videos are available only in some of the modules, and you will access them in each module.
About yourself
We have set aside one session (Jan 25) for participants to get to know each other and the work each does. As you will see on the website all attendants have remarkably interesting profiles, coming from all over the world and focusing on different issues. To be able to get to know each other better please prepare a short 1-2 minute presentation about yourselves and your current work (like an elevator pitch) (could be spoken or using any other format) for those sessions.
Daily recap
Each day will start with a summary (recap) of the day before by one of the participants. The summary should be short and highlight the presentations, discussion, or anything interesting from the sessions or discussions. If you want to sign-up to do a recap, please complete this form.
Learning journal
The learning journal is a personal tool to help you plan and reflect on your learning experience, and we encourage you to complete it on your own.
Small talks sessions
The small talks session will be held on Feb 4 from 13:40 to 15:00 GMT
The objective of this session is to promote engagement and connections between participants and trainers. They are a space to speak more freely, ask questions and just let the conversation flow.
The schedule is the following:
13:40. Welcome – main room
13:50 Small talks – breakout rooms
14:40 Group plenary – main room
14:55 Close
Please choose which speakers you would want to speak with. Choose up to three options as the groups will be made based on sign up order.