Testimonials

What our clients and participants say about Cofactor’s scientific writing and publishing training

What organisations say about our training

A selection of testimonials from some of our satisfied clients.

You’ll also find some of these reviews on our Anna Sharman’s LinkedIn page.

Reviews from researchers who’ve attended Cofactor training are further down.

Anna has been running full-day workshops on ‘Writing a research paper’ for us for over two years now, with more planned for the coming months. These are aimed at PhD students, postdocs and permanent lab staff, and the feedback we received from them has always been very positive. Anna is knowledgeable, well organised and needs minimal help to set up and run a successful training day.

Dr Maria Jose Martin

Training and Career Development Project Manager, The Francis Crick Institute, UK

We booked two Cofactor workshops on publishing a research paper per year for our Fellows for the past two years and as they were so well received we will book more for the next two years.

The workshops are clearly needed by our Fellows as they need to be updated after their career break about scientific publishing as it has changed considerably in recent years.

Our Fellows have given excellent feedback on Cofactor workshops and Anna is easy to deal with and helpful. Anna has in depth knowledge of the publishing process as well as very relevant first hand experience.

She is more than able to bespoke the courses to the individuals’ needs and creates a relaxed atmosphere so questions are encouraged. I would thoroughly recommend her courses.

Dr Helen Marsh

Trust Manager, Daphne Jackson Trust, UK

As training course organiser for the Daphne Jackson Trust, I work with many facilitators and Anna is one of the best, she is helpful and easy to deal with.

We have had four Cofactor workshops on publishing a research paper over the last 2 years and our fellows have given great feedback. I plan to book more for the next two years.

Deirdre McMahon,

Trust Administrator, Daphne Jackson Trust, UK

Based on the excellent feedback provided by the researchers who attended the two recent workshops run by Cofactor Ltd., I am delighted to invite Anna and her team back to Medical Sciences Division at Oxford University, to run further meetings in 2018-19 for our DPhil and researchers, who I am sure will benefit from Anna’s interactive workshops on Writing & Publishing Research Papers.

Dr Afsie Sabokbar

Director of Divisional Skills Training, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, UK

We started working with Anna/Cofactor this year in February 2016 and we always have positive feedback from her workshops, which is great. This aside, working with Anna from an organisers point of view has been very pleasant, professional and friendly. Any questions and queries are dealt with promptly and Anna, is true professional in the field – I would definitely recommend Cofactor for any publication/writing workshops.

Workshop organiser

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

We approached Anna/Cofactor to deliver a writing workshop for our doctoral students following a personal recommendation. Due to her background and expertise it was agreed that she was the ideal person to deliver what our students were looking for and it has proved to be the right decision.

The workshop was well received by our students, who are based at universities from across the UK, and we have decided to make it a formal part of our annual training programme This gives our students access to a resource they may not have had the opportunity to take up otherwise.

I am looking forward to continuing to work with Anna and her team, who are extremely efficient and responsive which makes the logistical aspects of organising a workshop at a distance straight forward and uncomplicated.

Jennie Eldridge

DTA Manager, University Alliance

Anna has been delivering workshops to our Doctoral students on publishing their work for a few years now and we are very happy with the student feedback. Anna is reliable and organised and clearly understands the needs of our researchers.

Our students benefit from the valuable insight from someone who has been a journal editor. We continue to work with Anna for the foreseeable future.

Dr Laura Christie

Educational Development Officer (Researcher Development), Royal Holloway, University of London, UK

Anna has run our Writing for Publication in the Sciences workshop for five years. Feedback from PhD students after the session is consistently excellent.

Students really appreciate the practical exercises and personalised comments on their writing that they receive. As a former journal editor, Anna brings a wealth of experience which she can draw on in responding to the specific needs of each group.

Dr Nigel Eady

Director of Research Talent, King’s College London, UK

Anna is a great person to work with, which makes organizing workshops for our doctoral school a lot easier for me. Her “writing and publishing a research paper in the life sciences and medicine” workshop that she gave last year here at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel was greatly appreciated by all the participants.

They loved her clear presentations, the exercises and the personalized feedback, In fact, we booked the same course again for next year!

Prof Leo van Grunsven

Director, Doctoral School in Life Sciences & Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Anna worked with us before the session to understand our needs and tailor the workshop to the right field and set of journals. The students have given great feedback and we would recommend Cofactor to university departments or PhD programmes.

Dr Jenny Love

Workshop organiser, UCL Energy Institute, UK

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What participants say about our courses


A selection of testimonials from satisfied course participants, in their own words.

I liked the discussions, especially in the smaller groups, the amazing tutors, readily available course material on the Moodle and the youtube videos (listening to someone speak/teach is always better than text).

Rebecca Nzawa

Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Malawi

The course was very participatory and the breakout sessions provided a platform to reflect on lessons we drew out of the reading materials and discuss emerging issues to improve on our writing and I think that was very hands on and helpful.

Melody Sakara

Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, Malawi

Content is very relevant and clear, good ideas on how to structure thoughts and ideas. There were many things I was not aware of before I took this course

Sowiabh Bhide

EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany

Useful to do the practical exercises and think critically about how to make my papers clearer for others

Hannah Ralph

Oxford University, UK

Very clear and straightforward approach from an experienced speaker

Darlan Candido

Oxford University, UK

It was really useful to go through all the writing style parts. I had picked up various habits and it is good to know which are good practice and which are not! Also a lot of information regarding choosing where to publish and what then happens which is great. A lot seemed like things supervisors assume you know. 

Anna Jackson

University of Kent, UK

This has dramatically improved my understanding of the publishing process

Stuart Smith

King’s College London, UK

It contains a lot of information that researchers are typically expected to learn by ‘osmosis’

Victoria Boyes

King’s College London, UK

Very thorough overview and explanation behind scientific writing and publishing

Garan O’Grady

University of Kent, UK

It covered a lot of aspects regarding research papers and issues that I hadn’t previously considered such as copyright.

Participant

University of Cambridge, UK

This workshop was practical oriented. And I got so important constructive comments for my own abstract that improved it a lot.

Participant

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

This course was superb!

Dylan Feldner-Busztin

The Francis Crick Institute, UK, Online course

I liked the video presentation. It was clear, perfect and completely sound. The trainers exhibited a great deal of professionalism too.

Isaac Oppong

University of Kent, UK, Online course

A very thorough workshop which has made the process of paper writing less daunting

Andrea Snelling

Nottingham University, UK

Incredibly informative & useful, in particular the introduction of new tools

Jessica Renzella

Oxford University, UK

It helped clarify and build upon things I already partly knew but now have more confidence in my knowledge

David Armstrong

European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, UK

A good blend of presentation and on-hand experience. Quality was excellent

Nirov Thacker

Institute of Cancer Research, UK

Provided information on publishing that could not be found online

Arinaitwe Emmanuel

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Course had the right amount of information and combination of theory and practice

Liana Gynn

University of the West of England, UK

It provided useful insights on how journals are ranked and interesting information on how to publicise my paper

Sophia Oikonomidou

University of Kent, UK

To anyone trying to get a paper published, it talks through the entire process very well

Matthew Boakes

University of Kent, UK

I have gained a lot of new knowledge about the journal submission process/review etc, about how to choose journals and what to write in abstracts/papers.

Participant

Open University, UK

Very informative, full of practices and take home study materials for future references, and in clear English

Interactive and strongly linked to papers that are going to be written by the participants themselves

Participants

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

This course was delivered very differently from others that I’ve been on. Most courses provided very vague, intuitive tips that sound sensible but provide a very limited idea of the publishing process.

The course… was full of useful, realistic information and was delivered in a very direct way. It felt as if they were getting to the real ‘meat’ of the process. It was also very refreshing to be reminded why we do science in the first place – for passion and the good of the public – in the midst of an obsession with impact factors.

Mireya Cristina Vazquez-Prada Ansald

University of Kent, UK, Online course

Very informative, challenged assumptions about how and what to write

William Hayden Jones

Royal Holloway University of London, UK

Very well structured with a wealth of knowledge. Easy to follow with good examples on how to plan and write a paper

Tim Church

University College London, UK

Very comprehensive introduction about publication in science journals

Yongjian Wang

King’s College London, UK

The course improved my skills on how to write a persuasive abstract and instructions on how to choose a journal

Fabiana Corsi-Zuelli

King’s College London, UK

I didn’t understand open access before or certain concepts, I do now

Marcia Costa

Institute of Cancer Research, UK

Filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge … should be compulsory

Iain Watson

King’s College London, UK

Relevant and specific to my research area and appreciated the personal feedback on my abstract

Loryn Halliday

Kingston University, UK

It provided invaluable information in both writing papers and choosing journa

Jamie Pont

University of Kent, UK

The course was excellent and very well-delivered. There was a real sense of professionalism – it would be difficult to improve on this course.

Nice to have a professional with an in-depth industry knowledge offer training and advice.

I think this course will make you a better researcher and not just help you get published.

Participants

King’s College London, UK

Find out more

If you’d like to book training for your organisation, or have questions about Cofactor training, including how we can customise course to meet your needs, please get in touch.

You can use our contact form, email us direct or call us:

+44 (0)20 8819 3233

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