Sharing knowledge, contacts and best practice

The Science Park's Special Interest Groups are invitation-only meetings. The aim of the SIGs is to bring together people with similiar roles in order to facilitate the sharing of best practice, experience and contacts, and to promote education and training. Discussions between members of the SIGs outside the formal meetings will be enabled via the Park's new intranet. 

• Human Resources
• Facilities Management
• Transport
• Finance
• Executive Assistants
• Business Development
• IT Management
• Communications and Marketing

Human Resources

The ability to attract and retain staff at all levels of seniority is critical for  all the companies on the Park. The aim of this SIG is to provide a platform for people performing an HR function to discuss the issues they face, and to share experience, contacts and best practice.  Topics for discussion include:

• Recruitment
• Retention
• Training
• Mentoring
• Agile working
• Schools outreach
• CSR
• Apprenticeships
• Health & wellbeing
• Employee benefits
• Employment law
• Language classes
• Housing
• Immigration
• Staff relocation
• IR35

Mental Health & Wellbeing Slides by Adelle Shaw-Flach

Facilities Management

• Business resilience/security
• Waste management
• Health & safety
• Lab equipment - maintenance and sharing
• Energy consumption

Finance

A priority topic for this SIG is access to regional, national and international grants. Knowing what grants are available, how to apply for them, and hearing practical advice and tips from others who have been successful (or otherwise) in securing grant funding will form the basis for the first meeting.

• Best practice
• Purchasing
• Grants

Executive Assistants

This popular SIG provides a vaulable platform for  EAs to get to know one another, to exchange views, contacts and methods of working.

• Best practice
• Knowledge sharing

Business Development

This SIG is likely to be the least formal of all the SIGs and may also incorporate an element of marketing and social media.

• Best practice
• Events
• Training

IT Management

A number of IT managers on the Park have requested that we organise this SIG.

Corporate Communications and Marketing

Corporate Communications and Marketing is a set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications in order to achieve the company’s planned objective(s).

The aim of this SIG is to provide a platform for sharing ideas, contacts and challenges. Each quarter the group will meet to discuss a key topic, deep dive into a current challenge, and make connections. This SIG is exclusively for Communications, Marketing and PR personnel of Cambridge Science Park businesses.

Along with other company departments, the reach of topics are broad. The list below is indicative and items discussed will be driven by the members.

Topics covered

• Strategic Marketing
• Marketing Communications
• External Communications
• Corporate Affairs
• Internal Communications
• Employee Engagement
• Branding
• Product Marketing

• Best practice