Target group
Is this you?
- you are in the second half of your PhD project (or EngD)
- you are constantly busy while putting all your time and energy in your work. Or you feel guilty when you are not working
- you never get to doing what is really important. Or you sacrifice your private life to your research
- you started your research with enthusiasm, but your joy is diminishing more and more
- you are open-minded, curious and prepared to invest ca. 3 hours a week for 3 months to experiment with different ways of working that you can apply directly to your PhD, regaining time, energy, well-being, and a sense of purpose and fulfillment
Course description
In this 3 month course PhD candidates and EngD gain important insights in their personal stress factors and they learn to adapt their way of working to deal more effectively with stress and work pressure in a competitive, hard-working academic environment. The course aims to reduce their experience of stress and to improve their mental well-being.
The course focuses on the following themes and learning objectives:
- identifying and disarming stress factors (including a detailed analysis of the working relationship with supervisors and strategies to communicate more effectively)
- mindfulness-based time management: how to take charge of your time in non-linear creative research work
- energy management: how does your battery operate? How to charge so you stay smart (energy balance)
- how to navigate scary / difficult times: dealing with self-sabotage and improving your resilience through heart coherence (using biofeedback technology from HearthMath)
- leaning into the future: doing what really matters by connecting with your values and dreams
Teaching Methods
Preceding the course each participant will have a personal 30 minute intake call with the coach/trainer and fill in a questionnaire on their interaction styles, especially with respect to the working relationship with their advisors.
The main course consists of 5 half day group training meetings. The theme of each meeting will be introduced briefly and most of the meeting will be spent practising new strategies to deal effectively with experiences in the everyday working situations of participants as well as exchanging experiences and perspectives with peers.
These group trainings are interchanged with mastermind sessions (intervision) in smaller subgroups. A detailed instruction for these sessions will be provided at the first group training.
Running parallel to these live meetings continuous e-coaching will be provided.
Participants who engage actively with the course will be rewarded with a private, individual, live coaching session (60 minutes) to look deeper into a personal coaching question.
About the coach/trainer
Dr. Claartje van Sijl holds a PhD in philosophy and is a professional coach and trainer. She has over 15 years personal and professional experience in academic research and specializes in coaching and training academics around career orientation, balance, and leadership. You can read more about her at http://vansijl.com
Testimonials
For years I felt that something was missing in my life, but I couldn’t pinpoint what. This course made me realize it was my intuition, and my trust in it as well. Thank you for helping me get my confidence in my intuition back!
- Maria, 3rd year PhD candidate at TUDelft
This course is a MUST if you are stressed out a lot. This course will help you not only by telling you but giving you the time to actually implement changes in your behavior. It also helps you connect to other PhDs, thereby giving a backsupport of peers to confront your own challenges and help improve yourself.
- 2nd year PhD candidate
This was one of the most valuable courses I have every attended. It has thought me to how to be less anxious by being less perfectionist and fear failure less. I balance my time and energy a lot better now. This course has built up my resilience tremendously. I consider that what I learned AND what we practiced to implement in this course will keep me a lot healthier throughout my career and life.
- 4th year PhD candidate