Training course · Google Gemini · Research & Science

Google Gemini for Researchers

Make productive use of Google Gemini and Gemini in Workspace: Docs, Sheets, Gmail, Meet, custom Gems and NotebookLM for your sources.

Duration
1 day (7 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

This course connects Google Gemini with the everyday processes of Research & Science. Participants work on realistic scenarios and leave with prompts, workflows and checklists they can use straight away.

For organisations running on Google Workspace, Gemini is the natural AI assistant: it is available as a standalone app and is also built directly into Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive and Meet. In this practical day you learn to combine both access points deliberately. You summarise email threads and draft replies, create document drafts based on existing files in Drive, structure and analyse spreadsheets in Sheets and have Meet take meeting notes automatically – always with a focus on your own day-to-day workflows.

You also build your own Gems: specialised assistants with fixed instructions and knowledge files that standardise recurring tasks across the team. With Deep Research you produce well-founded research reports, and you use NotebookLM as a source-grounded workspace that answers only from your own documents and cites the relevant passages. A dedicated module covers data protection and administration in Workspace environments. You leave with tested prompts, a working Gem and a clear picture of which Google tool suits which task.

Academic work is shaped by literature reviews, data analysis, grant writing and publication pressure. Generative AI can help at every stage: navigating and summarising the literature, sharpening research questions, writing analysis code, polishing manuscripts and preparing funding applications. AI agents can automate recurring steps such as data cleaning or cross-checking references. At the same time, AI touches core questions of research integrity: who is an author, how is AI use disclosed, how do you prevent fabricated references? Researchers therefore need more than prompting tricks – they need a methodologically sound, transparent and reproducible way of working with AI tools.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • Doctoral candidates
  • Research associates and postdocs
  • Professors and research group leaders
  • Research offices and grant managers
  • Corporate R&D teams

Typical challenges we address

  • An ever-growing body of literature that is hard to keep up with
  • Heavy writing load for proposals, reports and papers
  • Data analysis that requires programming skills
  • Uncertainty about AI rules set by journals, funders and universities

What you will be able to do

  • You use Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Meet for your recurring tasks.
  • You write prompts that bring existing Drive files and emails into the context.
  • You build a custom Gem and share it with your team.
  • You work source-grounded in NotebookLM and obtain referenced answers from your own documents.
  • Use AI for literature work and writing without breaching research integrity standards.
  • Produce traceable analysis code with AI support and document it reproducibly.
  • Disclose AI use transparently in line with journal, funder and institutional requirements.

Course outline

Module 1 Gemini fundamentals and effective prompts
  • The Gemini app and Gemini in Workspace: access points and use cases
  • Prompts with task, context, format and references to Drive files
  • Web search, Deep Research and checking sources
  • Limitations, hallucinations and critical evaluation of output
Module 2 Gmail, Docs and Slides
  • Summarising email threads and drafting context-aware replies
  • Drafting, rewriting and tailoring documents in Docs
  • Pulling in and combining content from Drive files
  • Creating presentation content and images in Slides
Module 3 Sheets and Meet
  • Structuring tables, generating formulas and cleaning data
  • Analyses, summaries and charts in Sheets
  • Letting Meet take meeting notes automatically
  • Deriving action items and decisions from meeting notes
Module 4 Gems and NotebookLM
  • Creating custom Gems with instructions and knowledge files
  • Testing, improving and sharing Gems with the team
  • NotebookLM as a source-grounded workspace for your own documents
  • Generating summaries, study aids and audio overviews from sources
Module 5 Data protection, administration and rollout
  • Privacy commitments for Workspace customers versus personal accounts
  • Drive sharing settings and how they affect Gemini results
  • Handling personal and confidential data in line with GDPR
  • Usage policies and quality assurance within the team
Module 6 Practice lab: Research & Science
  • Navigating the literature
  • Sharpening research design
  • Writing analysis code
  • Revising manuscripts
  • Preparing grant proposals
  • Analysing qualitative data
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Codes of research integrity apply: AI cannot be an author, its use must be disclosed and all references must be checked against the original. Personal research data, for example from studies involving participants, is subject to the GDPR and ethics approvals; unpublished results and peer reviews must be treated as confidential.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Navigating the literature

AI summarises abstracts and full texts, extracts methods, samples and findings into comparison tables and helps formulate search strings for scholarly databases – every source is then verified in the original.

Sharpening research design

Research questions, hypotheses and operationalisations are stress-tested with AI as a critical sparring partner to spot gaps, confounders and alternative explanations early. Control conditions and limits to generalisability are discussed as well.

Writing analysis code

Researchers without deep programming skills use AI to produce Python or R scripts for data cleaning, statistics and visualisation, documenting them clearly to ensure reproducibility.

Revising manuscripts

AI supports language editing, structuring and shortening of academic texts, checks terminology for consistency and helps draft responses to reviewers without taking over authorship. Your argument stays your own.

Preparing grant proposals

Funding guidelines are turned into checklists, work packages and milestones are structured, and sections such as impact plans or lay summaries are drafted in several versions.

Analysing qualitative data

Interview transcripts and open-ended responses are pre-coded and grouped thematically with AI; researchers review, refine and document the coding frame according to established methodology. Inter-coder checks remain essential.

Prerequisites

Confident everyday use of Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets); no prior AI knowledge is required. Experience of academic work in a discipline; programming skills are helpful but not required.

Technical requirements

A laptop with an up-to-date browser and a Google Workspace account with Gemini features enabled; alternatively a Google account for the Gemini app and NotebookLM.

Data protection & compliance

Codes of research integrity apply: AI cannot be an author, its use must be disclosed and all references must be checked against the original. Personal research data, for example from studies involving participants, is subject to the GDPR and ethics approvals; unpublished results and peer reviews must be treated as confidential.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Wed, 25 November 2026 Online Request
  • Mon, 30 November 2026 Hanover Request
  • Fri, 18 December 2026 Online Request
  • Mon, 11 January 2027 Online Request
  • Tue, 19 January 2027 Munich Request
  • Thu, 28 January 2027 Online Request

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the Gemini app and Gemini in Workspace?

The Gemini app is a standalone chat assistant for research, writing and analysis. Gemini in Workspace works directly inside Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Meet and can draw on your emails and Drive files. In practice they complement each other: the app for open questions, the integrated version for work on specific documents.

Why would I use NotebookLM in addition to Gemini?

NotebookLM restricts its answers to the sources you upload – policies, studies or project files, for example – and points to the relevant passages. This reduces hallucinations and works well for getting up to speed on a topic, building internal knowledge collections or preparing training material. Gemini is broader in scope and can also draw on the web.

Is my Workspace data used to train Gemini?

For Google Workspace customers, Google commits that content from Gmail, Drive and other services is not used to train models outside your domain without permission. Different rules apply to personal accounts. Either way, GDPR and your internal policies remain decisive – in the course we review the relevant settings together.

Can I use AI to write my PhD thesis?

That depends on your doctoral regulations and institutional policies. AI is often permitted for language editing and brainstorming if its use is disclosed and your own intellectual contribution remains clear. In the course you learn to document use properly and assess common grey areas with confidence.

How do I avoid fabricated references?

Language models can produce plausible-sounding citations that do not exist. Work with tools that query real databases, ask for DOIs and verify every source in the original. The course demonstrates a workflow that combines AI-assisted searching with reliable reference management.

How much does “Google Gemini for Researchers” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 1 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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