First training week (Jan 2022)

B9. Project management organiser: Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam (1.5 ECTS) (captured by/replaced by a course in Time management and project management)

Timing: January 24th 2022, online

Time management

To make more effective use of time, the first thing one needs to do is to formulate clear goals, and translate them into concrete steps. Next the crucial thing is to give strict priority to these steps in your daily/weekly/monthly/annual schedule and not allow yourself to be distracted by other, interesting activities. It is also important to clearly communicate to colleagues and managers what your priorities are and to deal with your own work rhythm effectively.

Project management for PhD students

In this part of the training, PhD students get to make use of a planning schedule for the entire PhD program. This seems difficult at first, because how do you plan a project when the outcome of the research is not yet known; what’s more, when it is dependent on so many uncertain factors? We can show you that a large part of the PhD can be planned very well and participants can learn to apply the rules of project planning to their PhD. Using the PhD planner, everyone makes a concrete planning schedule. This system is free for everyone to use and can be found at www.projectmanagementforphds.com

Overall, participants learn to:

  • Set specific goals
  • Determine their optimal working hours
  • Make a weekly planning schedule
  • Apply the rules of project management
  • Make a planning schedule for the entire PhD program

Materials: the book Project management for PhDs.

Website: www.projectmanagementforphds.com

Timing: January 25th 2022, online


When giving a verbal presentation, it is very important to appear convincing, motivated and on top of your subject, and to be able to make an enthusiastic and powerful case. At the same time, posture and vocal skills also play a role. The presenter has to be able to persuade the audience that he/she is a scientist with talent and drive, with the vision to set up a research project and bring it to a successful conclusion. This applies to both research presentations and to shorter discussions in a more informal setting.

In this program, we therefore concentrated on the following:

  • Clarity and conciseness
  • Body language
  • A captivating introduction and a powerful conclusion
  • Enthusiasm
  • Contact with your audience

PhD students learned the difference between the time management of a day/week, of a long-term project and of a research program. They learned to analyze the way they spend their time in different ways, which gave them insights into their strong points and also provides options for improving their working method.