Planning and managing your dissertation

This course aims to introduce PhD students to the principles underpinning effective project management and the application of these principles to their dissertation projects. Various aspects of planning, implementation, and monitoring will be addressed, as well as the personal and organisational context of PhD research. Participants will leave the course with a concrete research plan and a clear understanding of what is required to make it work.

Target group
Objective
Course content
Working method
Enrolment and dates
Costs
Cancellation
Course tutor
Any questions?

Target group

This course targets PhD students from all disciplines, preferably in the first year of their research project.

Objective

'Failing to plan is planning to fail.' Experience shows this to be true for dissertation projects. Often, PhD students suffer from a lack of oversight; many of them run out of time. This problem can be, in part, alleviated with proper planning and monitoring. In this course, project management theory and practice are applied to the tasks facing PhDs. Participants will interactively familiarise themselves with the principles and techniques of project management, translate these into a (revised) research plan, and learn to generate feedback about its implementation.

Course content

Subjects that will be addressed include:

basic principles of project management and their application to research projects;
techniques for planning work on your dissertation (and other tasks);
analysing your working style, strengths and challenges;
identifying ‘opportunities' and ‘threats' in your environment;
pitfalls, priorities and personal effectiveness
giving and receiving advice and feedback (intervision).

Working method

Prior to the course, participants are expected to submit their research proposals and, if available, their (preliminary) planning. During the course, they will familiarise themselves with key project management concepts and planning techniques, both from a theoretical and practical point of view. These insights will be translated into a (revised) planning, which will be finalised and submitted between day one and day two of the course, and will subsequently be discussed. The course will be completed with a series of three intervision sessions, during which the participants and the tutor tackle issues relevant to the realisation of the dissertation projects in hand.

Enrolment and dates

You can enrol by returning the completed and signed submissionform to HRM Opleidingen (scanned & by email or by post).

Course 2012/1:
Friday 9 March and Friday 23 March, both whole day (09:00-17:00 hrs)
Venue: Academy Building/Faculty Club, Rapenburg 73, Grachtenkamer
Intervision session 1: Friday 20 April 2012, 10:00-12:00
Intervision session 2: Friday 25 May 2012, 10:00-12:00
Intervision session 3: Friday 15 June 2012, 10:00-12:00
Venue intervision sessions: Oude UB, Rapenburg 70, room C.2.02