Trek Program, peer-led program for industry engagement

Trek is presented by Cruxes Innovation 

The Trek program is a hands-on, multi-week experiential learning program delivered online, with a strong emphasis on peer coaching.  The Trek Program gives impact-focused researchers a structured methodology to discover and validate the potential real-world impact of their research. It builds researchers’ skills and habits to extend investigator-led, curiosity-driven research into end-user/consumer-led, impact-driven research.

📚 What to Expect:

The Trek Program builds on Cruxes’ Base Program, and equips you with:

• Frameworks and communication skills to rapidly test and refine the value of your research with stakeholders.
• Relationship-building and stakeholder management skills including tools to develop and execute targeted engagement plans.

The Trek Program helps you become adept in the use of the tools and frameworks introduced in the Base Program and also introduces new tools and frameworks including:

• Problem and customer discovery: identify your most important assumptions about the value of your research to stakeholders, and formulate these assumptions in a way that is clearly testable.  
• Ecosystem map: develop a comprehensive understanding of the sector and stakeholders in the “industry” into which your research is likely to be adopted or translated.  Who cares most about the problem your research aims to solve?  What drives the adoption of innovation in this sector?
• Early adopter pyramid: of all the people whose problems your research might solve, who will you engage with first?  What type of engagement will this be?  

In The Trek Program, you’ll learn about these tools, and get hands-on experience applying them to your research project and talking to real stakeholders. 

 🕒Commitment: 

The Trek Program runs over eight weeks.  It involves participation in online cohort-based peer coaching sessions, completion of self-paced online modules, and discovery conversations with external stakeholders.  After the Trek Program, each participant presents their research impact vision and the insights they have gained during the program at a face-to-face “showcase” event.  The total time commitment is approximately 30 hours over the eight weeks.

🎓Who Can Apply?

Trek is open to early to mid-career researcher staff across all Academic Units and Centres. 

 🎫 Register Now:

To participate in the Trek program, please complete this brief application by Monday 29 April 2024.

Participants are selected based on their readiness to learn, judged by their application, and on the University’s endorsement.

The program is designed and delivered by Cruxes Innovation who will confirm whether your application was successful shortly after the close of applications.

 

The next iteration of Trek will run in 2025. 

 

📧For inquiries, contact Researcher.Development@unisa.edu.au