PhD education

Getting your PhD is more than just conducting a research project. It is also a time during which you are expected to develop, improve, and refine your academic and transferable skills. A guideline for this is the PhD Competence Model, in essence a self-assessment tool (that we encourage you to take), that outlines a set of core competencies every PhD candidate should have. The combination of research capabilities and individual skills will prepare you for a bright career beyond the walls of Utrecht University.

At the Graduate School of Natural Sciences you are expected to complete 20 ECTS of training of which a minimum of 20% should be dedicated to general courses.
This includes the compulsory* Responsible Conduct of Research training offered by the GSNS and may include - but is not limited to - other discipline-overarching GSNS courses (see below). Training on discipline-relevant research skills or knowledge may be offered by your institute or research school. In addition you may find suitable training elsewhere. Your complete training programme may constitute of a mixture of courses, seminars, journal clubs, PhD retreats, symposia, etc..

Please be aware that courses may involve a registration fee - talk to your supervisors about the available budget.

Training and Supervision Agreement (TSA), training registration & progress monitoring

It is important to regularly discuss your educational needs with your supervisors.

At the start of your PhD trajectory you fill in the Training and Supervision Agreement (TSA) or Course Plan together with your supervisors and subsequently upload it to MyPhD under the TSA-tab.
After you have completed a training or course register them - together with the certificates - under the Portfolio-tab in MyPhD.
Discuss your progress during your annual Assessment and Development interviews with your supervisor(s) and in meetings with your mentor. You may utilize the PhD Competence Model for these discussions as well.

*compulsory for PhDs that started on or after Sep. 1st 2021.

GSNS PhD Courses

Compulsory training - Responsible Conduct of Research

Compulsory for all PhDs that started on or after September 1st 2021

The GSNS organizes the Responsible Conduct of Research training, which consists of multiple modules, spread across the full PhD trajectory and tailored to the different stages of a PhD.
The first session in year 1 is a half-day training whereas in year 2 and year 3 the training consists of two SPOCs (Online course module combined with one or two on-campus meetings). The training is completed in year 4 with another half-day group session. During all these modules you will discuss different aspects of responsible conduct of research and academic integrity, illustrated by a wide variety of cases, and share your experiences with fellow PhD candidates.

Please note that we currently only offer the training session of year 1 and one SPOC. Two other SPOCs (‘Data in responsible conduct of research’ & ‘Supervision, mentoring & working together’) as well as the year 4 training session will be launched in the academic year 2023/2024 & 2024/2025.

Should I agree with a colleague becoming co-author of a paper to which they have not made significant contribution?
My supervisor is asked to review a paper for a journal, and asks me to take a look at it as well, should I do this?
My co-authors and I disagree about the authorship order on a paper, what should we do?

During your PhD process, all kinds of questions arise surrounding authorship and peer review. In this training we will address several well-known cases that occur on a regular basis in publishing and reviewing practices and discuss how to recognize problematic situations and how to devise strategies for dealing with them.

As research integrity concerns everyone in the academic community, and since most of us have no intention of engaging in scientific misconduct, our course will not be focused on serious misbehaviour. Rather, we will zoom in on the so-called ‘grey zone’, where issues that occur in everyone’s daily life in the lab or workplace may raise questions about the best way to react, in accordance with the rules and norms of responsible conduct of research.

Outline

The training consists of a three-week online course combined with two face-to-face meetings. The online course takes place in small groups; participants will interact with each other frequently. Each week, new course materials will become available, and you are expected to log in yourself and start with the learning activities. Some of these activities involve interaction with other participants, while others can be done individually. Throughout the course, you will be invited to, if you want to, share your own experiences, and to think carefully about what you need to become better equipped to face and deal with integrity issues. In this way, we aim to make the course as relevant and practical as possible.

Training dates

(1) Week 6 - Week 8 of 2023 (February 6th - 24th) - registration is closed.

Two in-person session in the first and second week + online assignments (approximately 5h/week)

For the training you will be split in 4 groups.

Groups		date	time	location
Group 1	meeting 1	Wed 08/02/23	09:00 -10:45	BBG 007
Group 1	meeting 2	Fri 17/02/23	09:00 -11:45	BBG 205
Group 2	meeting 1	Wed 08/02/23	11:00 -12:45	BBG 385
Group 2	meeting 2	Fri 17/02/23	09:00 -11:45	BBG 223
Group 3	meeting 1	Wed 08/02/23	13:15 -15:00	BBG 385
Group 3	meeting 2	Fri 17/02/23	13:15 - 16:00	BBG 205
Group 4	meeting 1	Wed 08/02/23	15:15 - 17:00	BBG 385
Group 4	meeting 2	Fri 17/02/23	13:15 - 16:00	BBG 385

(2) Week 21 - Week 23 of 2023 (May 23rd - June 9th) - registration open until April 30th

Two in-person session in the first and second week + online assignments (approximately 5h/week)

For this installment of the training there will only be one group limited to 25 participants.

	date	time	location
meeting 1 in week 21	Wed 24/05/23	13:15-15:00	BBG 077
meeting 2 in week 22	Thu 01/06/23	09:00-12:45	BBG 077

Registration

Registration for the May/June course is possible until April 30th 2023

Registration Form

Please note that this course is limited to 25 participants. In case of high demand we will be working with a waiting list on a first come first serve basis.

Trainers

Hieke Huistra and Abigail Nieves-Delgado

Course fee

This training is mandatory and free.

Course certificate

Participants will receive a certificate of completion.

GSNS Electives

Course description

Academic writing is one of the more important skills any researcher should have. No matter how brilliant or innovate your research, it is of little value if you cannot communicate your insights clearly and convincingly in scientific articles, so that peer researchers can both verify and build on it. They say the best scientists are also the best writers! Fortunately, writing is a skill that you can learn, and the learning process can be a fun one if given the right tools.

In this 8-week course, you will learn how to improve your writing strategies, build up your text, structure your writing, and write in a clear and professional academic style. Learning takes place through e-learning modules on the ULearning platform, supplemented with several online meetings.

Learning objectives

This course is a thorough preparation for the writing task of the PhD student. We pay special attention to the problem of starting up the writing process: how to overcome writer’s block and other challenges. You will learn how to compose a coherent line of thought, and how to design, write, analyze, and edit a scientific paper with an eye for cohesion, clarity, and conciseness. By working on these issues, you will gain confidence in writing and eventually become a more successful scientist.

Prerequisites

You should either be working on a paper, or ready to write anything (a minimum of 1000 words) about your PhD research, such as a literature overview or a short report of recent results. Usually, this requires that you have started your PhD at least three months ago.

This course teaches how to write an academic text in the natural or life sciences, but does not delve deeply into genre-specific details, such as how to write a Results or Method section. This makes this Academic Writing 1 course suitable for any type of paper, report, or proposal, and for any field within the natural or life sciences.

Those interested in learning more about writing a scientific paper in the IMRaD structure (Introduction – Methods – Results – Discussion) can proceed with following the course Academic Writing 2: Writing a Scientific Paper with Impact after completing this course (course 1 is a prerequisite to course 2; both courses are 1 EC). Academic Writing 2 will start in the second half of 2023.

Instructional method

You are trained through weekly e-learning modules on the ULearning platform consisting of theory, examples, short knowledge clips, and interactive exercises. Throughout the course, you will also engage in peer feedback, and receive feedback from your teacher. There will be 4 online meetings, each 1 hour long, in which you can get to know your teachers and peers, and engage in discussion.

The course consists of 8 modules, spread over 8 weeks:

The writing process and writing strategies
Structuring a text by composing a writing plan
Paragraphs: key sentences and internal structure
Sentence readability and tools for cohesion
Academic style and revision techniques
Energizing verbs (active/passive, nominalizations) and secrets to concise writing
Correct English (punctuation, spelling and grammar)
Solidifying and deepening knowledge and skills

This course is specially designed for PhD students in the natural and life sciences, and the provided examples will be from natural and life sciences writing. It will, therefore, feel different than general language courses that you may have followed before, and more applicable to your current needs as a scientist.

Teacher

You will be trained by dr.ir. Kim van Ommering. She holds a PhD in applied physics for research on magnetic biosensors, and has worked as a teacher since 2011. She is the coordinator of the Utrecht University’s Communication Skills Academy where she develops and teaches courses in academic writing for the GSNS and GSLS (both master and PhD level).

Group Size

6 to 12 participants

Number of credits

1 EC

Course schedule

You can register for one of two groups in the spring of 2023, see data below. From the start date, learning units will become available each week for you to complete, for a total duration of 8 weeks. In week 2, 3, 6, and 7, there will be online meetings (see data below).

Meetings are from 11:00-12:00h.

	Group 1	Group 2
Start Date	Mar 27	May 1	online
Meeting week 2	Tuesday Apr 4	Monday May 8	online
Meeting week 3	Tuesday Apr 11	Monday May 15	online
Meeting week 6	Tuesday May 2	Monday Jun 5	online
Meeting week 7	Tuesday May 9	Monday Jun 12	online
Final deadline	May 21	Jun 25	online

The average amount of time you will need to spend on the course is 3,5 hours/week. Note that this does not include the time of doing the actual writing of your paper or writing task, but it includes the time needed to improve this writing or undertake specific assignments with it. If you do not have a writing task that you are already doing, this course may take you a little extra time.

Apart from the meetings and a few minor deadlines that may be mid-week (usually when interaction with peers is required in the second half of the week), you are free to plan your course work anywhere in the week as long as you complete the units of the week before the next ones are released on Monday.

Course registration

Registration for Group 1 is closed.

Registration for Group 2 is open until April 17th
Please register here

Each group is limited to 12 participants on a first come first serve basis. If a group is full we work with waiting lists.

Course certificate

You will receive a course certificate after completing all 8 learning units and being an active participant on the online platform.

Contrary to the science part of the job, writing an article is something you initially do by yourself. This is where the challenge starts: writing takes too much time, you get lost in thousands of writing methods, and you are rarely satisfied with the end result. In this three-day course you will solve many of your scientific writing challenges with tools used by prose writers. These tools allow you to plan, write and edit effectively, resulting in a text that communicates your ideas in a clear and inspiring way. Learn to write better, more pleasantly and in less time!

Learning objectives

During this course you will discover what the reader needs in a text and how to meet these needs. You will learn how to stay out of writing pitfalls such as long sentences and unnatural rhythms. With special tools you will be able to design sections as well as the whole paper prior to writing and to design a through line in you text for a coherent story. You will discover tips and tricks to learn how to plan your writing effectively.

Instructional method

We will discover the necessary tools and apply them to your writing. We use various methods, such as individual writing exercises, group discussion, peer review, plenary writing exercises and interactive lecturing.

Trainer

You will be trained by one of the professionals of Artesc.

Number of participants

8

Number of credits

1.0 EC

The course will be taught online

Course certificate

You will receive a course certificate if you attend and complete at least 2.5 course days. You cannot miss the first morning session.

Course fee

€ 550

Cancellation/no-show

You may cancel your application free of charge up to four weeks before the start of the course. If you cancel your application within four weeks before the start or if you do not meet the attendance requirements of the course, you(r department/research group) will be charged a no-show fee (€275 for this course). Unfortunately we cannot make any exceptions to this policy.

Quotes

"Great course for teaching you to write more effectively and with higher quality."
"The course provided me with new tools for scientific writing. It helped me transform my texts from dull and overcomplicated into real conversations with my reader."
"If you want to be inspired about writing on your research, follow this course."

Course Schedule Spring 2023

	Time
ASW	09:00-12:30	Mon 03-04	17-04	24-04	08-05	15-05	22-05	online

Registration

Registration is open until Feb 28th 2023

Register here

Please make sure to discuss the course fee with your supervisor before registration & be aware of cancellation/no show fees!

Group size is limited to 8 participants. Depending on demand, a second course can be organized starting in late spring. Interested? Email science.phd@uu.nl

The Art of Presenting Science

When you present, you expect your audience to be attentive throughout your talk - after all, they love science. Sadly, this is rarely the case. We blame this on a short attention span, but why can the same audience watch movies for hours on end? Apparently, actors and playwrights have found a way to engage their audience better. So, why not use their tools to learn how to present better? In this three-day course you will learn to engage your audience with theatrical skills and shape your content with storytelling and style tools. Master your performance skills and let your content take centre stage!

Learning objectives

During this course you will learn the fifteen signals necessary for effective communication. You will learn how to get attention at the start of your presentations and how to keep the audience attentive by using style and transitions. You will learn to design a presentation using story tools and supportive slides that allow you to be the main act on the stage and you will learn how to respond to questions effectively.

Instructional method

You will discover the necessary tools and apply them to your presenting. Various methods will be applied, such as theatre exercises, individual presenting exercises, group discussion, peer review, story design exercises and interactive lecturing. The course will be taught on-site

Trainer

You will be trained by Fant de Kanter of Artesc.

Number of credits

1.0 EC

Course certificate

You will receive a course certificate if you attend and complete at least 2.5 course days. You cannot miss the first morning session.

Course fee

€750

Cancellation/no-show

You may cancel your application free of charge up to four weeks before the start of the course. If you cancel your application within four weeks before the start or if you do not meet the attendance requirements of the course, your department/research group will be charged a no-show fee (€375 for this course). Unfortunately we cannot make any exceptions to this policy.

Quotes

"This course offered me a broad set of tools that will make my future presentations more exciting and interesting for both me and my audience"
"I learned how to bring myself into a presentation, to speak in a way that makes people listen. I also learned to really make contact with my audience and not just deliver information"
"Even though I thought I could already present pretty well, this course taught me many useful tips and tricks that can get your audience to really listen to what you are saying. This will greatly increase the impression you make."

Course Schedule 2023

	Session 1	Session 2	Session 3
APS	Wednesday 08/03/2023 09:30-17:30 BBG-077	Wednesday 22/03/2023 09:30-17:30 DDW-1.32	Wednesday 05/04/2023 09:30-17:30 DDW-1.32

Registration

Registration is closed.

Contact science.phd@uu.nl with any questions regarding the course and (late) registration.

UU-wide PhD training

Language courses

Other useful information

If you have any questions or remarks regarding PhD education, please contact the Graduate School of Natural Sciences.

Links

The PhD Competence Model & self assessment tool
The Netherlands Centre of Expertise for Doctoral Education

Books

How to get a PhD (Phillips and Pugh)
The art of Being a Scientist (Snieder and Larner)
Klaar in vier jaar (in Dutch) (De Bruin and Hertz)

		Session 1	Session 2	Registration
Training 1	ONLINE	Mon 13/02/2023 10h-13h	Thu 23/02/23 15h-18h	registration closed
Training 2	in person	Mon 20/03/23 10h-13h BBG-103	Thu 30/03/23 15h-18h BBG-106	registration closed
Training 3	in person	Mon 15/05/23 10h-13h BBG-075	Thu 25/05/23 15h-18h BBG-077	open until May 7th Register here

	Date & Time	Location	Registration & deadlines
Group 1	Wed. 22/03/23 13:30-17:00	DDW 1.16	Registration closed
Group 2	Tue 04/04/23 9:00-12:30	BBG 109	Registration closed
Group 3	Mon 01/05/23 13:30-17:00	BBG 219	Register here before 17th of April
Group 4	Wed 17/05/23 09:00-12:30	BBG 077	Register here before 3rd of May
Group 5	Thu 15/06/23 09:00-12:30	BBG 077	Register here before 1st of June

PhD education

GSNS PhD Courses

PhD Intro Course: Taking Charge of Your PhD

Course fee

Planning

The dates for spring 2023

Trainer

Compulsory training - Responsible Conduct of Research

Year 1 - Becoming a Scientist: Integrity Issues in Practice

Outline

Dates 2023 and registration

Trainers

Course fee

Course Certificate

Year 2 - Integrity in academic publication: authorship and peer review

Outline

Training dates

GSNS Electives

Academic Writing 1: Composing an Excellent Academic text - COSKA

Course description

Learning objectives

Prerequisites

Instructional method

Teacher

Group Size

Number of credits

Course schedule

Course registration

Course certificate

Art of Scientific Writing - Artesc

Learning objectives

Instructional method

Trainer

Number of participants

Number of credits

Course certificate

Course fee

Cancellation/no-show

Quotes

Course Schedule Spring 2023

Registration

Art of Presenting Science - Artesc

The Art of Presenting Science

Learning objectives

Instructional method

Trainer

Number of credits

Course certificate

Course fee

Cancellation/no-show

Quotes

Course Schedule 2023

Registration

Teacher Training for PhD candidates

UU-wide PhD training

UU Development Guide

Language courses

Dutch Language Courses & Babel

Other useful information

Contact

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