PhD Symposium - Navigating your PhD study: turning over the leaf

PhD symposium Fall 2020: Navigating your PhD study: turning over the leaf

Organizer(s):

Sisse Finken, Associate professor, Head of PhD School, the ITU

Lecturer(s)

Gitte Wichmann-Hansen, PhD, Associate Professor, Centre for Teaching and Learning, AU
Nanna Gorm Boman, PhD, Management Consultant, Implement

Panel of ITU PhD supervisors:

Professor Kasper Støy, CS,
Associate Professor Barbara Plank, CS,
Associate Professor Christopher Gad, BIT,
Associate Professor Torill Mortensen, DD.

Panel of ITU PhD students:

Mille Edith Nielsen, CS,
Hasib Ahsan, BIT,
Nina Mesing Stausholm Nielsen, CS,
Mads Johansen Lassen, DD.

Date(s) of the course:

Due to COVID-19 the course was postponed until 22-23 April 2021

Deadline for registration:

29 March by sending an email to phdsupport@itu.dk.

The PhD school supports sustainable thinking by having the number of reservations equal participation, hereby we can hopefully partake in minimizing waste of resources. With this, your registration is considered binding. In case of illness please notify PhD support as soon as possible.

Time

Start: 9:00 22^nd April

End: 14:30 23^rd April 2021

Location

The course will take place online via Zoom. Meeting link will be shared with participants before the course begins.

Course description

The symposium is generic in topic. Beyond catering to PhD-students across departments and disciplines, it is also aimed at PhD-students in all stages of their studies, from newly enrolled to graduates.

This year the symposium centers on the developmental aspect of doing a PhD. With this, the purpose of the symposium is to advance PhD students’ skills to better navigate the PhD process. The symposium, hereby, brings awareness to how PhD students proactively can take charge of their study in terms of supervision (Managing your supervisor on day 1) and the very management of the PhD process (PhD Boost Workshop on day 2). The symposium is hands-on based and includes lectures, exercises, and plenum discussions. The program is composed with the purpose for PhD-students to actively engage in their own and their peer’s practical experiences in relation to the theoretical parts of the symposium.

Evaluation: Upon completion, attending PhD students are invited to evaluate the symposium.

Learning outcome:

Having completed the full symposium successfully, PhD students will:

Be able to account for and use different techniques that can aid navigating the PhD study and its process
Be able to delineate resources available and make realistic plans accordingly
Be able to identify aspects of the PhD process that proactively can turn over the leaf to further autonomy generation

Programme can be found below

Programme

Day 1: Managing your supervisor

With the purpose of advancing skills of navigating the very PhD study, the symposium serves to train PhD-students’ skills managing the PhD process by way of learning tools that can aid the daily management and planning, e.g. by way of managing the supervisor(s). In line with this, and upon arrival where Sisse Finken shortly introduces the symposium, Gitte Wichmann-Hansen takes the lead of the day with ‘Managing your supervisor’. The day is composed of lectures relating to different aspects of PhD supervision, herein: roles and relations; the proactive process, and constructive feedback. The lectures are followed by exercises for you to reflect on and articulate the topics vis-à-vis your own PhD studies. The day ends with a closing panel composed of ITU PhD students - Mille Edith Nielsen, Hasib Ahsan, Nina Mesing Stausholm Nielsen, Mads Johansen Lassen – who will answer questions together with Gitte Wichmann-Hansen.

Day 2: PhD Boost Workshop

We start the day with a panel composed of ITU's supervisors, Kasper Støy, Barbara Plank, Torill Mortensen and Christopher Gad, who will discuss and help solve dilemmas submitted by attending PhD students. Hereafter Nanna Gorm Boman continues with a PhD Boost Workshop concerned with the specificities of a PhD process and how it can be managed both with respect to a long-term perspective and on a daily basis. After lunch, you will be introduced to essential tools and do an exercise related to locating challenges and helpers during a PhD study. We end the symposium with room for reflections and questions about its topics.

Day 1 – April 22^nd

09:00-09:30: Bring your coffea/tea. Introduction to the symposium (Sisse Finken)
09:30-10:30: Making supervision work for you (Gitte Wichmann-Hansen. This workshop addresses key issues in supervision, and it offers practical tools for navigating the supervisory process
10:30-10:45: Coffea break
10:45-11:45: Making supervision work for you. Workshop continued (Gitte Wichmann-Hansen)
11:45-12:45: Lunch break
12:45-13:45: Making supervision work for you. Workshop continued (Gitte Wichmann-Hansen)
13:45-14:00: Coffee break
14:00-15:00: Closing panel. Q&As, sharing experiences, tips, etc. related to PhD supervision (Mille Edith Nielsen, Hasib Ahsan, Nina Mesing Stausholm Nielsen, Mads Johansen Lassen and Gitte Wichmann-Hansen. Chair: Sisse Finken)

Day 2 – April 23^rd

08:45-09:00: Good morning
09:00-10:00: Share your dilemma about PhD supervision and let ITU's panel of supervisors help solve it (Kasper Støy, Barbara Plank, Torill Mortensen and Christopher Gad. Chair: Sisse Finken)
10:00-10:15: Coffee break
10:15-10:25: Welcome and agenda for the day (Nanna Gorm Boman)
10:25-11:00: What is a project and what is special about a PhD project + exercise
11:00-12:00: Milestones during the project and in the everyday work
12:00-13:00: Lunch
13:00-13:45: Essential tools + exercise on challenges and helpers in the PhD study
13:45-14:00: Summing up on the day
14:00-14:15: Coffee break
14:00-14:30: Q&As on the very PhD study

Prerequisites

To attend, you must be a PhD student enrolled at the IT University

Exam

3 pages reflection note on the topic of the symposium ‘Navigating your PhD study: turning over the leaf’ with emphasis on aspects you find relevant for your work and how they are relevant. The reflection note will be evaluated and approved by Sisse Finken.

Exam submission date

May 10^th at 9 AM (09:00)

Credits

2 ECTS for full attendance

Amount of hours the student is expected to use on the course

Participation: hours 37

Preparation: hours 18

Preparation for the symposium:

Prior to the Symposium (or during, but preferable prior to), the PhD School asks attending students to email dilemmas of concern (theme: supervision) to the PhD support (phdsupport@itu.dk). You are welcome to send a dilemma on your own or group up with a fellow PhD student to formulate a dilemma. Since your dilemma might be discussed at the Symposium, we ask you to be aware of pseudonymity when submitting it to the PhD support. Julie and Vibe will do their utmost best to further preserve privacy of the dilemmas and you, proposer(s), before sending them to Sisse who will select and present a few chosen dilemmas for the panel at the Symposium. For newcomers to this format, we ask you to find inspiration in various Agony aunts or in the broadcasting show ‘Sara and Monopolet’ (DR). You’ll not be the only one finding inspiration outside ITU, i.e. for this panel session the PhD School has found inspiration in a PhD supervision conference at Aarhus University.

Also, as part of the preparations for the symposium, you must read the literature listed and get acquainted with the online resources provided below.

Reading material

Inspirations for Day 1: Managing your supervisor:

Wichmann-Hansen G, Wogensen L, Eika B, Mulvany MJ.(2012): Successful PhD supervision – a two-way process. In: M.A.R.K Castanho & Gül Güner-Akdogan (eds). The Researching, Teaching, and Learning Triangle. 10. 1st Edition, New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2012;55–66
Arvanitakis, J. 7 Steps to a Positive Relationship with your PhD Supervisor. The speaker in this brief YouTube video is the Dean at Graduate Research School Western Sydney University. Please forget that he is speaking as a representative of a specific institution. His advice is universal and he is (besides being a Dean) a recognized international researcher within the field of PhD supervision.

Inspirations for Day 2: PhD Boost Workshop:

Fiona Saunders (2014): How Can You Treat Your PhD Like a Project? The Thesis Whisperer. Just like the horse whispers – but with more pages: https://thesiswhisperer.com/2014/11/05/how-can-you-treat-your-phd-like-a-project/
Olsson, Ahrengot & Attrup (2019): An introduction to project, program, and portfolio management, pp. 1-14: https://intropm.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/4eintropm-chapter1-2013.pdf
Wideman (2000): First Principles of Project Management: http://geneticmail.com/scott/library/text/pm/principles.pdf