Governments and funding bodies around the world are increasingly aware that a ‘skills gap’ exists within higher education in relation to the outwardly facing skills and capacities of academics to take their research and its social significance into the public sphere. This represents a major opportunity for the Crick Centre to become a major learning or training hub in terms of engagement, relevance and impact activities. The Crick Centre is planning to work with RCUK and a host of broadcasting and training organisations around the world to design, accredit and deliver a range of high-value courses that offer practical help to building the skills and culture of political and policy engagement that will be increasingly needed across the academy. This will include specialist courses on ‘Managing the Media’, ‘Engaging with Parliament’, ‘Demonstrating Impact’, ‘Creative Risks’, ‘Writing for the Press’, etc. with the format being specialist small-scale one-day workshops with pre-reading and post-workshop assessments. Every training module will involve external specialists coming to the Crick Centre to contribute to the training. It is hoped that the first training courses will begin early in 2014. Please contact the Crick Centre for more information.