“Do I have a plan for how to achieve my PhD? How do I define priorities and draw up a schedule? What is required for the process of writing?” A PhD project lasting a number of years will raise many questions requiring individual and tailor-made solutions. This workshop will help you develop your individual strategy ensuring that your planning will both be effective and efficient in achieving your goal. You will not only learn more about self-management methods, but will also identify and explore external resources such as dealing with the expectations of others and receiving active support from your supervisors.

“How am I supposed to finish my thesis in such a short period of time?” Things can often get stressful in the final stages of a PhD project. However, you will need to once again summon up considerable reserves of motivation and pursue a strict timetable if you want to avoid grinding to a halt and prevent the pressure from constantly building up. This workshop teaches you how to achieve a degree of flow in the academic writing process rather than being pushed into a spiral of self-hindrance as the result of procrastination. The different methods and strategies will help you develop a realistic project plan that will also increase your motivation.

“If only there was someone to encourage me now and again!” Many people feel left alone when writing their PhD thesis. Having the chance to talk to others about it, receive support and feel a sense of appreciation are not automatically part of the process. As a result, it can be quite difficult to give the project the priority it requires and work on it with discipline. Peer coaching in a PhD team with four to six peers will give you the chance to not only discuss problems, but also find medium-term and long-term solutions for them.

As an academic with your own demanding research project, the number of challenges facing you once the PhD thesis has been successfully concluded will not decrease. Peer coaching is the perfect platform for talking about your own project to others and giving each other mutual support. The multitasking you need to cope with as a researcher, teacher, manager and private individual can seem an impossible hurdle to overcome, yet the problems it brings can be reassessed and restructured on the basis of feedback and consultation. The kick-off workshop will give you an idea of how peer coaching teams work and will guide you through a trial session.