8:45 – 9:15 Registration
Collect your badge, grab a cup of coffee and get ready for the day!
9:15 – 9:30 Words of welcome by prof. dr. David Gijbels
9:30 – 10:45 Connecting for possibilities: Brain dating
During this morning session, you will be introduced to your peers. First, you will meet other PhD students that are at the same stage as you, in an informal way that allows you to get to know each other quickly. After that, the groups will be mixed so everyone has a chance to interact with others who are at different stages, to stimulate an interchange of ideas and approaches. Maybe a new researcher can share a new system for literature or data collection? Or perhaps someone who is rounding off their research could give some tips on how to deal with stressful deadlines? We look forward to seeing you all there!
10:45 – 11:00 Mid-morning snack break
11:00 – 12:30 Leveling up your career: Parallel session 1
Session A1: Presenting your research with impact by ‘The Floor is Yours’
Participants learn to present their research in a clear and convincing manner, tailored to the needs of the target group.
Approach: a combination of theory, practical exercises and inspiring cases. We will be using research examples from the participants themselves, which we will have requested beforehand and have incorporated in the workshop.
Session A2: Communicating effectively with your supervisor by Charlotte De Backer
A good PhD student-supervisor relationship leads to a better and faster completion of doctoral dissertations. Yet what is a ‘good student-supervisor’ relationship, and how can we achieve this? In this workshop we aim to answer these questions, by looking at some classical interpersonal interaction models, aimed at avoiding conflict and endorsing cooperation, and apply these to specific cases of student-supervisor relationships. If you have a case that you would like to discuss specifically, e-mail it in advance to charlotte.debacker@uantwerpen.be (with NO names or fake names being used please).
Session A3: Dive into projects: how to write a competitive reseach proposal in the social sciences by dr. Frederik Verleysen (research manager social sciences and humanities, Grants Office, UA)
This session provides an introduction to the writing of a successful research funding proposal. From strategic considerations, fit with funding type, selection of research partners, over planning and time management, to building a narrative and finalizing the editing process – in the course of 90 minutes you are provided with many useful tips and tricks for persuading reviewers to grant funding to your project proposal. Though most tips are generic and thus applicable to many types of research funding, many examples are derived from FWO proposal templates, both basic (‘fundamenteel’) as well as strategic basic research (SBO). The course is concluded with an overview of the more specific project writing support offered by the Grants Office under the banner of the Dive-into-projects program.
(Target group: PhD, postdoc, junior ZAP)
12:30 – 13:15 Lunch break
13:15 – 14:45 Leveling up your career: Parallel session 1
Session B1: Presenting your research with impact by ‘The Floor is Yours’
Participants learn to present their research in a clear and convincing manner, tailored to the needs of the target group.
Approach: a combination of theory, practical exercises and inspiring cases. We will be using research examples from the participants themselves, which we will have requested beforehand and have incorporated in the workshop.
Session B2: Challenges in daily professional life: brain-teasers or chances for learning?” by Katrien Cuyvers
Experiences in daily professional life have long been recognized as fundamental for lifelong learning. However, accumulation of practice in itself does not lead to learning. Rather, active engagement in learning strategies and metacognitive activities, that is self-regulated learning, is needed to actually transform job-related challenges into opportunities for lifelong learning and employability.
In this interactive workshop, scientific handles are offered and real-life situations of researchers are used to enhance one’s own process of self-regulated learning. Both theoretical insights are offered and practical skills are trained in this hands-on workshop.
Session B3: Making the most out of academic conferences! – Create your own guide by Simone Krouwer, Linda Campbell, Laura Cleton & Nina van Eekert
Academic conferences: the perfect excuse to leave your desk for a break from your research and (hopefully) enjoy a nice venue at a nice location!
But how do you navigate the potential minefield of conference attendance? Once you get there, what are suitable ways to avoid staying in your own small circle (or worse: alone!)? How do you successfully ‘network’ and connect with other people? In this interactive workshop we will discuss do’s and don’ts, and together we will create a guide to make the most out of your attendance at conferences. After the workshop, all attendees will receive the guide created during the session (with some additional expert advice) so that we can put it into practice! Let’s improve our conference skills!
14:45 – 15:00 Afternoon Break
15:00 – 16:00 Connecting for possibilities: Jobs after a PhD
In this panel session, we talk with colleagues who have recently finished their PhD at our faculty and now work outside academia. During a PhD, you learn about the opportunities in an academic career, but there is much less knowledge about the job opportunities outside academia. A few former colleagues spread across a variety of jobs will share their experiences about this transit. Such as: How did they find out what they wanted to do and what was possible? How did they experience applying for jobs? What prejudices did they tackle? What skills did they learn during their PhD track that now appear very useful, and what challenges do they experience? We provide the opportunity for you to ask questions as well. Through this session, we want to make it more tangible and concrete for you to think about working outside academia after your PhD.
16:00 – 16:30 Closing reception
Refresh yourself with food, drink, and fun to celebrate the end of a successful day. Don’t miss this last chance to mingle with attendees and speake