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

Managing your supervisor - Wednesday 4^th of March 2026

With the purpose of advancing skills of navigating the very PhD study, the first symposium day 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 Kasper Støy shortly introduces the symposium, Gitte Wichmann-Hansen takes the lead of the day with ‘Managing your supervisor’.  The day is composed of lectures and exercises relating to different aspects of PhD supervision, herein: roles and relations; the proactive process, and constructive feedback. The day ends with a Q & A session to allow you to reflect on and articulate the topics vis-à-vis your own PhD studies.

Program

09:00                  Leaving the ITU by bus to Comwell Holte
09:45                  Arrival and coffee.
10:15                  Introduction to the two-day symposium (Kasper Støy)

Workshop I: Making supervision work for you (Gitte Wichmann-Hansen):

10:30                  What is good supervision?
12:00                  Check-in and lunch
13:00                  How to make the best out of your supervisors
14:15                  Coffee break
14:30                  Are you aligned with your supervisors?
15:45                  Q & A about supervision
16.15                  Time to take a walk, check email, relax, and/or socializing
18:00                  Dinner

Socializing (If you want to organize an event for the evening, e.g., games or something, please then contact PhD support)

Design your PhD work habits: Tools to plan, prioritize, and stay focused - Thursday 5^th of March 2026:

On the second day of the symposium, Liv Gish will inspire you to design PhD work habits that help you plan more realistically, prioritize more effectively, say no with confidence, and reduce interruptions so you can stay focused. The day is divided into three sessions: 

1. Understanding Time: How long does it really take to write a paper or complete an experiment? We’ll explore the illusion of “more time later,” why we tend to underestimate task duration, and how you can become more realistic in both daily and long-term planning.
2. Deep Work: In academia, deep work - focused, uninterrupted thinking and writing - is where real progress happens. We'll identify what deep work looks like in your context, why it’s hard to protect, and how to build habits and environments that support it.
3. Planning Tools: From setting priorities and boundaries to organizing your week: we’ll introduce practical tools to help you plan short-term work, say no (without guilt), and make room for focused, meaningful work. At home you will prepare the ‘Game Plan tool’ for an exercise in class.

Program

09:15                  Good morning and welcome back (Kasper Støy)

Workshop II: Design your PhD work habits (Liv Gish):

09:30                  Introduction and understanding time
10:30                  Coffee break
10:45                  Deep work: The importance giving focus to the right tasks
12:00                  Lunch
13:00                  Short-term planning with the Game Plan tool
14:30                  Coffee & tea
15:00                  Bus travel to the ITU
15:45                  Arriving at ITU and Goodbye

Inspirations for Day 1: Managing your supervisor:

The following two sources are recommended as optional preparatory material and are only intended to serve as inspiration.

1. 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
2. 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.

Preparation for Day 2: Design your PhD work habits - Tools to plan, prioritize, and stay focused:

1. Prepare a ‘Game Plan’ (Estimated time consumption up to 60 min.)

   The Game Plan is a tool that can help you develop a more realistic idea of how long things take and it can help you create an overview that makes it easier to prioritize if you have too many tasks for the time being. Please watch this video (6 minutes) and follow the instruction:

   https://cbs.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=6a61548b-f68b-4148-8f3b-a9eb00993684

   In the beginning of the video there is a reference to ‘module 3’. Please disregard this as the video is also used as a part of the Industrial PhD course at CBS.
   
   

2. Get a quick overview of Deep work (Estimated time consumption 10 min.)

   Fadeke Adegbuyi have made a blogpost about ‘deep work’ called the ‘Complete guide to deep work’. In the blog post she summarizes Cal Newport’s book Deep work in detail. Read the introduction of the blog post and get an overview of the “table of content” (also called: Navigate the Complete Guide to Deep Work). You are not supposed to read into the chapters so stop reading when to see the headline: Learn how to practice deep work. You can read this after the seminar if you are interested in more details. You find the blogpost here: https://blog.doist.com/deep-work/
   
   

3.  Reflect on your work habits (Estimated time consumption 30-60 min.)
   In the weeks before the symposium begin to observe your own work habits. Reflect on the following questions:When in the day am I most efficient/productive? (e.g., morning, midday, afternoon, evening)

• When in the day am I most efficient/productive? (e.g., morning, midday, afternoon, evening)
• What tend to distract me during a workday?
• When do I procrastinate?
• How do I plan my work?
• Do I remember to have real breaks? (e.g., leave the computer for a while, go for a walk)
• What is my best tip for boosting productivity/good work habits