Why this course?

Your PhD trajectory is a large-scale research project spanning several years. Attaining project management skills to effectively manage the required tasks is found to be a crucial factor in PhD success (Hardre et. al, 2019).

By the end of this course, participants are more capable of using their PhD experience thus far, to actively take the lead in their project and positively influence stakeholders in order to come to a fruitful, efficient and healthy final phase of their PhD trajectory.

Participants learn to:

• Master different methods to secure long-term goals and relationships in schedules and project management tools;
• Proactively evaluate the progress of their project based on the project management tools and involve relevant stakeholders, both in case of (un)expected negative events (setbacks) as well as positive events (success, results);
• Identify possible problems and (future) bottlenecks in an early phase, and to intervene adequately;
• Be aware of both conscious and unconscious processes in multi-stakeholder project management, which increases the perspective for action and the ability to (timely) adjust.

Format

The backbone of this course consists of four 3-hour group sessions, where we together explore different techniques, share inspiration, practice skills and prepare and reflect on on-the-job project management assignments. The sessions are meant to facilitate participants in acquiring the necessary skills and trust to put their project management improvements into practice between sessions. In the run-up to the first meeting and in between the meetings, participants are invited to explore relevant theoretical resources to deepen their knowledge on project management for researchers.

ONLINE VERSION: In the online version, all four group sessions are facilitated online.

OFFLINE VERSION: In the offline version, the first and the fourth session are facilitated offline. The second and third session are online.