Location
iDiv Leipzig, Puschstraße 4, room Beehive
Dates
16-19 June 2025
Credit points
2.0 CP
Programme
The yDiv Welcome Week provides new doctoral researchers with useful information and tools to successfully start their PhD career in integrative biodiversity science at iDiv – of course this is also a great opportunity to meet other new doctoral researchers.
The week contains an introduction to iDiv’s research and goals. Participants will get to know the yDiv offers and requirements and the doctorate examination regulations at the universities. They will also learn tools to manage their PhD project and to communicate with their supervisors.
Overview programme (pdf)
Day 1
On the first day of PhD Welcome Week, you will have the opportunity to get to know each other and learn more about iDiv as a research center and its mission.
The day will end with a guided tour of the canopy crane.
Day 2
Together with iDiv scientists from different core research groups, you will discuss different approaches to overcoming integration challenges.
Each participant will present their project in an elevator pitch.
Day 3
In this course, you will learn about the yDiv graduate school regulations, PhD Advisory committees and the doctorate examination regulations at the universities. There will also be a Q&A session with PhD and postdoc representatives about pitfalls during the PhD time and how to deal with them.
Day 4
Content and goals
Entering your PhD program is like entering a whole new world. After years and years of course work, sitting in class rooms and chasing credit points you are probably thrilled at the prospect of finally applying all you’ve learned to a real project: your PhD. And rightly so – doing a Phd can be great! You will come up with creative ideas to answering questions nobody has asked before. You will create something nobody has created yet.
And you will be the main person responsible for the shape and success of your project. At the same time, all this can be pretty overwhelming. A PhD project is so huge it’s often hard to even know where to start. How do you break the immense work load into manageable tasks and milestones? How do you manage the available time and resources so you can finish on time and without risking your mental health. How do you manage yourself and how do you build a support network?
In this interactive workshop, you will learn how to use the most important tools to help you cope with this new set of challenges.
Topics we will cover
1. Make a plan!
Goal setting: What do you want to achieve with your PhD? | Phases of a project | From big-picture planning to daily to-do lists | SMART targets | Meeting deadlines through backward planning
2. Manage your resources
Find your „sacred“ hours – time boxing | Prioritizing tasks: Eisenhower Matrix | Plan active breaks | Remove distractions | What to do when focus is nowhere to be found | Pomodoro | „Touch the hometrainer“ (make starting easy) | The 60/40 rule of planning your day | Intelligent scheduling | Managing perfectionism: The pareto principle | Your superpowers | How to create a support network
3. Dealing with crisis:
What to do when nothing works out – pivoting and adapting to changes | Knowing when to quit
Teacher: Andrea Perino