Workshops & training
Photo: Joanna Pianka
My workshops are built on 14 years of experience with editing and writing coaching. From editing, I've learned what it takes to get manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals and research proposals funded. From coaching academic researchers on their writing projects, I've learned what researchers struggle with.
This experience, combined with knowledge about the academic publication and review process, both from the researcher side as well as from the editor and reviewer perspective, provides workshop content that is immediately relevant for participants.
Participants in my workshops see real editor and reviewer comments and follow manuscripts and proposals as they develop from initial draft to publication and acceptance. These insights give participants valuable, concrete, practical content.
Photo: Joanna Pianka
Workshop Highlight
I've been a trainer at the Winter School for four years, since its start in 2021. This week-long retreat for PhD students and postdocs in medicine and the natural and social sciences is the highlight of my year. Click below to learn more about my workshop sessions and experience.
Feedback from LBG Career Center Winter School participants
LBG Winter School 2024
"Even though I am very familiar with academic writing, there were lots of things I learned during the input sessions. I particularly liked the incentives to take a different approach to what is familiar to us, to be bold and to focus on conveying the messages we want to get across. Having an academic editor as a writing coach is a real gem!"
LBG Winter School 2023
"What a blast to have Marc there...He was genuinely enthusiastic, helpful, honest. He prepared slides specifically for us, made connections to other sessions we had and it was impressive how he always kept the audience (young shy academics!) in mind. Approachable person...One can feel that he knows the LBG, its target group and other LBG programmes very well."
LBG Winter School 2022
"Extremely commited to give us the best possible insights and helpful experience. Very applicable hands-on training. Very authentic presentation style."
"Marc was fantastic on so many levels! Especially during the 1:1 session, where he helped me set up an adequate strategy for writing my paper and gave me specific advice for structuring my arguments."
Experience
Working with hundreds of manuscripts and research proposals for the past 14 years, I know what researchers struggle with when writing journal articles and funding proposals. I use this experience to build workshop modules that get to the heart of what researchers need to successfully publish in peer-reviewed journal and obtain competitive funding.
Photo: Joanna Pianka
Below are some of the modules and session titles from my past workshops
The Discussion section is one of the most important in a journal article, but most researchers struggle to articulate their contribution and the significance of their work. Using published examples and samples from my editing projects, in this module I show participants how to identify what is unique about their work and why other researchers in the field should care.
In this expert talk, sponsored by the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft Career Center, I shared with researchers in the natural and social sciences and the humanities five of the most-common mistakes I see every day when editing academic texts. I discussed which pitfalls most researchers make, why I think they make them, and what they need to do to correct them in their next journal article or application.
Researchers struggle with deadlines, productivity, and procrastination. They also have a hard time getting past their blank-page syndrome and knowing where and how to start. This workshop module introduces participants to microtasking - identifying all the many individual tasks involved in writing, from first draft to submission, so that researchers can see the universe of tasks they need to do (which reduces their anxiety) and helps them decide which tasks to tackle today (to match the time and energy they have available).
