How can researchers harness generative AI to develop stronger research ideas, without outsourcing the scholarly thinking that makes research credible and worthwhile?
In this interactive three-hour workshop, Professor Robert Faff will introduce a responsible, researcher-led approach to using GenAI during the critical early stages of research development. The workshop unfolds in three connected Acts:
ACT I: Setting the GenAI Scene
We explore the opportunities, limitations and dangers of AI-assisted scholarship. GenAI can powerfully accelerate ideation, critique and refinement—but only when combined with domain knowledge, healthy skepticism, careful factchecking, transparency and responsible ownership.
ACT II: A Primer on PRF-Based Prompting
Participants are introduced to Faff’s Pitching Research Framework (PRF) and its underlying design logic: the Research Question as the core anchor; Key Papers, Motivation, Idea, Data and Tools as foundational choices; and novelty, significance and contribution as the resulting research narrative. Practical prompting principles show how GenAI can help interrogate and strengthen each element.
ACT III: Groupwork, Report-Back and Wrap-Up
Working collaboratively with a structured suite of prompts, participants will generate and compare alternative research questions, select and sharpen a promising direction, create a complete PRF-based pitch, and iteratively refine its Idea-Data-Tools foundations and potential research impact. Each group will conclude by sharing its emerging design through a short “lightning pitch”.
What You Will Gain
• Practical prompting strategies for responsible GenAI use
• A repeatable PRF-based research ideation workflow
• Stronger, better-structured research ideas and pitches
• Greater confidence in using GenAI as a research partner while keeping scholarly judgement in control
