PhD courses at the PhD School

The basics of teaching and learning in higher education for PhD students

When: Offered in Danish in the spring semester and English in the autumn semester.
ECTS: 3

The overall purpose of the course is for participants to be able to plan and facilitate university teaching and examination based on knowledge and understanding of a number of basic pedagogical theories and methods, as well as of the given framework and overall goals for university education. An additional purpose is that participants learn to see their own and others' teaching in an analytical, constructive, and reflexive manner, to evaluate appropriate strategies and ways of acting on this basis and to spar with colleagues on teaching and educational issues. During the course, participants will be working with, among other things: the characteristics, framework, and conditions of university teaching; students' learning processes, prerequisites and diversity; learning objectives, examinations and learning activities, and the alignment between them; the learning space and its importance for student learning; a wide array of student-centred learning activities and tools; criteria-based feedback; and examination.

Supervision of bachelor projects and theses

When: Offered in English in the spring semester and Danish in the autumn semester.
ECTS: 1

Participants on this course will gain knowledge and skills related to the supervision and examination of bachelor projects and theses. The course provides specific tools to support students in their writing process, e.g., framing research questions, organising the writing process, giving feedback on texts, and supporting the students’ reflection and learning process.

Fundamentals of Academic Writing in English

When: Offered in the autumn semester.
ECTS: 2.5

The course focuses on the fundamentals of academic writing, i.e., sentence length and structure (conciseness and simplicity), paragraph structure (unity and logical development), cohesion (flow), vocabulary (precision and collocations) and the most common errors (e.g., punctuation). We will also look at different ways of expressing your voice as an academic writer, for example, by choosing a certain citation pattern or inserting evaluative words and phrases to position yourself in relation to your own and other scholars’ research.

Research Writing in English

When: Offered in the autumn semester.
ECTS: 2.5

A course to assist you with dissertation and article writing – four group sessions (every second week) that offer a supportive framework with plenty of time for practice and two 45-minute individual consultations. As a writer of a dissertation (either a monograph or a collection of articles), you need to clearly express your ideas, arguments, and findings in confident and elegant academic prose. During this course you will analyse Literature Review, Introduction and Conclusion as distinctive text types with their own rhetorical strategies in order to help yourself write and rewrite similar texts. Moreover, you will practise defining key concepts and terms, making claims, conveying various degrees of certainty and commitment, engaging your readers – strategies typical of both PhD dissertations and research articles. Additionally, you will attend to your academic style by experimenting with varieties of academic phrasing, revisiting essential grammar issues, and refining the patterns of your sentences as well as paragraphs.

Prepared for conferences in English

When: Offered in the spring semester.
ECTS: 2.5

A course for PhD scholars who wish to improve their performance at inter/national conferences. The course consists of group workshops, individual consultation, and individual study. And the following subjects are included: (Re)writing Conference Abstracts and Proposals; Editing Conference Papers/Scripts and Slide Shows; Presenting; Presenting in English; Presenting Online.

Impact and societal engagement: Enhancing the usefulness of your PhD project beyond academia 

When: Offered in the autumn semester.
ECTS: 2.5

This two-day course is for PhD students who wish to explore and enhance the usefulness of their research beyond academia. The overall aim of the course is to inspire PhD students to create impact and societal engagement through the exploration of relevant theories, methods and practical knowledge.

We apply an integrated approach to investigate impact that goes beyond ‘knowledge transfer’. We think about impact through terms such as ‘knowledge mobilization’ and ‘knowledge exchange’ that foreground continuous collaboration with practice/policy partners along with impact-strategies that consider all phases of a given research project. We will mainly focus on pathways to impact for social science research, but the course is also relevant for students from the humanities or STEM fields.

As part of the course, representatives from public and private organisations will give presentations and feedback to the individual PhD projects. The representatives are selected experts with many years of experience in practice-oriented research mobilization, multi-stakeholder partnerships, and knowledge brokering between people and institutions.

During the course, the PhD students will develop an impact strategy consisting of a theory of change, an activity plan and a stakeholder mapping for their particular project.

From PhD to Professional: Developing and Exploring Career Opportunities outside Academia

When: Offered in the spring semester.
ECTS: 1

The course is open to PhD students at all stages of their PhD project. We will mainly focus on career development for social scientific PhD students, but the course is also relevant for students from the humanities or STEM fields.

During the course, we will explore a variety of career options outside academia, the unique competencies of PhD students, and the personal values that influence career choices. We will also explore the perspectives of employers, including their expectations when hiring social science PhD graduates and the challenges and opportunities they experience when working with former researchers.

As part of the course, the PhD students will develop an individual career plan outlining present possibilities for collaborating and building up relations with potential employers, future steps and milestones for career building as well as personal values, motivations and competencies. On the basis of the career plan, the PhD students will be invited for half an hour’s individual mentor session with a representative from the private/public sector to discuss the plan.