Increasing collaboration and connection between think tanks
Smart Thinking’s Membership Network offers its member think tanks the opportunity to collaborate, be part of a community, access training and share knowledge across the sector. We host multiple training sessions, webinars and networking events throughout the year, building the think tank community and enabling knowledge sharing, pooling of resources and peer-to-peer support throughout the sector.
Our membership also enables think tanks to provide regular professional development for their staff. With over three years experience of providing training to UK think tanks we have now developed a comprehensive, think tank-centric, series of courses. These are specifically designed to improve your professional skills in the core competencies you will need as you progress through your think tank career.
Both our training and events programmes have been designed so that there is something for you whether you work in research, communications or operations and whether you are a junior researcher or a think tank Chief Executive.
Pricing is based on the number of full time employees. To find out more about becoming a member, visit our ST Member website or email Emily on emily@smartthinking.org.uk
Benefits
- Monthly expert webinars on topics across research, comms and operations
- In-person intensive training sessions
- Member website and knowledge bank
- Salary benchmarking
- Networking events for all staff including heads of research meeting, operations network, events network, senior comms network and early careers network
- 15% off all job adverts on Smart Thinking Jobs
- Buddy system to informally build your professional network
MEMBER ONLY
Upcoming training
The in-person training sessions are the only part of the membership available to both members and non-members however, members have priority booking, receive complimentary tickets to training in their annual subscription and are entitled to a heavily discounted member-only ticket price after that. Our core training topics are media training, public speaking, writing for impact, fundraising fundamentals, people management and research project management. Find more details on our training programme here.
Strategic comms training (part 1)
18 December 2025
9.30am – 1.30pm
Do you work in think tank communications? Do you want to become more strategic in your work? Are you looking for some ideas on how to professionalise and boost the impact of your work? Then this course is for you!
Members £220 (+VAT) Non-members £395 (+VAT)
Fundraising fundamentals
28 January 2026
9.30am – 4.30pm
Do you have to undertake fundraising in your role? Are you likely to have to start fundraising for your work in the future? Do you want to be confident pitching and asking for money? Then this training is for you!
Members £295 (+VAT) Non-members £495 (+VAT)
MEMBER ONLY
Upcoming webinars
AI tools for think tankers
17 December 2025 11am – 12pm
AI tools are increasingly being used by think tankers for a number of different purposes. In this practical webinar two think tankers are going to show us how they have effectively used AI tools in their current work.
Member only (FREE)
How think tanks can use Big Data for research
22 January 2026 11am – 12pm
Big data has changed what’s possible for think tanks but more data doesn’t always mean better data. Paul Swinney, Chief Economist at The Data City, will explore how big data is changing policy research and how to make the most of it.
Member only (FREE)
ST membership curates interesting opportunities to connect, share experiences and learn
“We are very pleased to have joined Smart Thinking. This year it has definitely proved to be the best
value of all our memberships. Think tanks are different to other organisations in many ways and Smart Thinking understands that and curates interesting opportunities to connect, share experiences and learn. All the events we’ve attended have been useful and sharply run. A major plus is the variety. People across the organisation at different levels, from our senior management team to researchers to comms, are benefiting.”
Karen Crane, Head of Communications, Green Alliance
Join our current members and access all the latest think tank training and events
