European Doctoral Summer School
Delegates of the 2nd European Doctoral Summer School meet the Lord Mayor of York and Sheriff of York at the Mansion House
3rd Annual European Doctoral Summer School in Professional Development
University of York, University of Münster, Maastricht University
22 to 24 June 2020
York, UK
Overview and goals
The 2020 European Doctoral Summer School is going ahead and will take place online, giving you the opportunity to dip in and out of four training sessions from the comfort of your own home. The sessions are short, sharp and streamlined to help you to digest the content and have time to reflect on your learning. The programme has been designed to support you during this time of paradigmatic and social change.
Taken as a package, the programme provides an opportunity to:
- develop and enhance your presentation and communication skills, so important now we are all holding meetings online
- consider your skill-set and how it appeals to employers and funders in this changing environment
- develop a CV to support your career transitions.
York has two webinars on offer.
- In Advanced oral presentations: secrets of great presentations, Steve Hutchinson will address developing a presentation style that works for you, and will discuss how to get a complex message across to an audience.
- In Career survival for research students: dealing with difficulties, Kevin Parker uses the example of his own career to discuss interpersonal and scientific skills that are required for different jobs. He also touches upon the employability skills desired by employers.
Maastricht will lead the interactive workshop Update your CV on how to write a targeted and distinctive CV for jobs inside and outside of academia. You will actively get started with your own CV. Having provided you with information about drawing up a CV, we will look at your CV together.
During Münster’s interactive workshop ‘Game of status’ approach to communication, you will explore how verbal and non-verbal gestures help or hinder effective communication.
We will also host a virtual coffee club, the theme for which is Life as a researcher during the pandemic - what have you learnt about yourself, your research and your career aspirations. Open to PhD students from all three participating universities, this open forum provides an opportunity for cross-cultural discussion and to get to know each other.
Programme
22 June
|
Advanced oral presentations: secrets of great presentations (led by York) |
Number of participants |
|
|
12.45 to 2.30pm |
For York |
30 in total |
|
Career survival for research students: dealing with difficulties (led by York) |
||
|
2.45 to 4.30pm |
For York |
30 in total |
23 June
|
Virtual coffee club (led by York) |
Number of participants |
|
|
10.30 to 11.30am |
For York |
30 in total |
|
Update Your CV (led by Maastricht) |
||
|
12.45 to 3pm |
For York |
24 in total |
24 June
|
‘Game of status’ approach to communication: what do status games have to do with communication? (led by Münster) |
Number of participants |
|
|
12.45 to 4pm |
For York |
21 in total |
Costs
The Summer School is free of charge. If you register, please make every effort to participate as we are capping numbers to enable participation.
A week before the summer school you will receive an email with links to Zoom meetings and joining instructions.
Detailed workshop descriptions
Advanced oral presentations: secrets of great presentations
Delivered by Steve Hutchinson, an expert in public engagement training and University of York PhD alumni.
The current pandemic and lockdown has resulted in the cancellation or postponement of much of the summer research conference season. Many of these events, in some form, are going fully online and are asking researchers to present their talks virtually.
As such, there’s been a lot of thinking and discussion about good practice for presenting online (“put your laptop on books so the camera is at eyeline”). Such advice is all well and good, but what seems to be already apparent is that the traits, behaviours and techniques of a strong presenter are transferable whether online or live.
In this short, focused webinar (where the context is presenting research), we’ll discuss:
- best practice in presenting
- the devices and approaches that help a speaker connect with an audience
- how to develop a presenting style that works for you
- getting a complex message across to an audience effectively.
We’ll also briefly touch on the technological side of things (ie PowerPoint and Online Tools).
Course feedback
“An excellent session - very engaging and informative. I got some really useful tips.”
“Fantastic!”
“One of the best workshops I’ve ever attended!”
Career survival for research students: dealing with difficulties
Delivered by Kevin Parker.
Kevin started his career with a bang by blowing up a laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Some 40 years later, he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and runs a training and consultancy company helping start-up companies and individuals achieve their promise.
In between, he has won awards for industrial research at British Petroleum, sold oil to the Arabs, privatised Science Institutes in Romania, been an interim manager at the Roslin Institute, delivered finance training to accountants, devised and delivered undergraduate and postgraduate university courses at Edinburgh University, learned polite words of greeting in Slovenian, trained over 2,500 students in transferable/business skills, run 22 Cub Scout camps, and been a mentor for the Prince's Trust.
Kevin will discuss:
- his career and the various jobs he has had, discussing both the scientific and interpersonal skills required
- how he has survived working from home for the last 25 years, managing to stay both sane and solvent for nearly all of that time, and will share some thoughts on how to manage in the current situation
- the findings of his and other work around employability skills desired by companies, NGO’s and think-tanks, government, and by those appointing to senior academic positions.
Update your CV
Delivered by Hanneke Wessels and Olga Reneerkens, Career Counsellors of the Staff Career Centre at Maastricht University.
Your CV shows who you are and what you’re in to - it is, in fact, your business card. With a good CV you can impress a future employer and increase the chance of being invited for an interview. What is a good CV, nowadays, both in- and outside of academia? And how do you express your experience and qualities in an authentic way? During this online workshop, you will get information about updating your own CV.
Outcomes
After the CV check you'll know:
- what relevant information is for a powerful CV
- the difference between an academic CV and a non-academic CV
- the dos and don'ts in applying for a job in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands
- how the layout can strengthen the content
- how you can connect your (work) experience to a vacancy
- how an employer or recruiter works in selecting the right candidate.
Methods
In this CV check, you will actively get started with your own CV. Having provided you with information about drawing up a CV, we will look at your CV together.
‘Game of status’ approach to communication: what do status games have to do with communication?
Delivered by Jan Schmidt and Iva Ognjanovic, WWU Graduate Centre, University of Münster.
Together we will explore how self-perception of status (feelings, thoughts and beliefs) affects your status performance (mimic, gestures, voice and body) and how you can modify your ‘presentation-self’ to give a certain impression and enhance the message you want others to receive.
