Skills to navigate your PhD and career: from surviving to thriving
27-28 May
Organizer(s)
Prof Espen Aarseth, ITU (from March 1st: Prof Kasper Støy)
Lecturer(s)
Em. Prof. Geraldine Fitzpatrick, Focus 20 Pty Ltd (Geraldine Fitzpatrick Consulting)
Date(s) of the course
Two * 2-hr Zoom sessions (2 weeks pre, and 1 month post, in-person sessions)
Zoom pre-meeting is scheduled for 16 May from 15-16
Two-day in-person interactive course – 27-28 May
Self-work between sessions (worksheets provided)
Room
27 May: 2F13
28 May: 2F13
Deadline for registration
30 April 2024.
Your registration is considered binding. In case of illness, you MUST notify PhD Support as soon as possible, as we need time to cancel rooms, catering, etc.
Participants
Max. 25 participants. To attend, you must be a PhD student enrolled at the IT University
Course description
Aim and Content: The aim of the course is to help students craft their PhD lives so that they can thrive in their current studies and in their future professional career. This course introduces students to two foundational sets of evidence-based skills:
- Understanding who you are as an academic/researcher/professional, and how to shape choices to do your great work.
- Bringing your best self to your work through being able to take wellbeing seriously, manage stress, deal with ‘saboteurs’, and work with others.
Example Topics:
- Identifying values, strengths, drivers
- Setting boundaries, saying yes/no appropriately
- Looking after wellbeing, managing stress
- Taming the saboteurs: the imposter, perfectionist, procrastinator
- Working in teams, contributing to collegial work environments
- Making research/work and career choices aligned with values and strengths
Outcomes: Students will take away:
- An increased insight into, and confidence about, their identity as an academic/researcher/professional
- Awareness of, and experience with, a toolkit of practical strategies for making good choices towards better wellbeing and good science
- An ability to critically evaluate career choices, understanding the relative trade-offs with respect to values, strengths, etc.
Reading list
No reading list per se – however each worksheet will include relevant readings, along with other related resources.
Programme
| Timings | | Student Hours | Overview |
| 2 weeks before in-person | Zoom | 2 | Introductions to the course, format, and pre-work Online poll to understand where participants are at and priority needs |
| | Pre-work [own work] | 6 | Worksheet: Individual reflections/questionnaires, e.g., values, strengths, drivers, wheel of life/work |
| In person 2 days: | Day 1 | 8 | Knowing yourself & others: 09:00-12:30 [Including 30 min coffee break] Crafting research/work choices to values & strengths 12:30-13:30 Lunch 13:30-17:00 [Including 30 min coffee break] Boundaries, planning, saying yes/no Working in teams |
| | Day 2 | 8 | Leading yourself: 09:00-12:30 [Including 30 min coffee break] Looking after your wellbeing, managing emotions, managing stress 12:30-13:30 Lunch 13:30-17:00 [Including 30 min coffee break] Taming your saboteurs: dealing with the imposter, perfectionist, procrastinator Plus topics brought up by the students |
| Next 4 weeks | Post-work [own work] | 16 | Putting it into action: Students choose one topic/one focused worksheet each week to support them moving to action – student choice based on what they decide would be most useful for them, otherwise they can choose a default weekly option. Reflections on experience each week/topic documented as part of assessment document. |
| 4 weeks post in-person sessions | Zoom | 2 | Sharing experiences/learnings so far Q&A re course content, assessment etc Building on insights to explore and craft career paths Final reflections Feedback |
| 1 week later | Assessment submitted | 4 | |
| TOTAL | | 46 | |
Assessment
A ~2-page reflective journal: with a ~1/3-1/2 page for each of:
- pre-work, summarising strengths and values and overall reflections on these
- post-session week*4 reflecting on experiences, learnings on the topic(s) selected for development each week, e.g., reflect on if/how a strategy was useful.
Credits
2 ECTS points