PhD Courses in Denmark

Department of Psychology 

Dates and time: 
10 March 2026 from 10:00 to 16:30
14 May 2026 from 10:00 to 16:30
11 June 2026 from 10:00 to 12:30

This PhD-level methodological course introduces participants to the principles and practices of conducting systematic reviews of qualitative and/or mixed-methods research. Through a combination of online seminars and guided independent work, participants will progressively develop their own systematic review projects. Between sessions, students will apply course concepts to their individual reviews and receive supervision to support their progress.

Participants are encouraged to download and familiarize themselves with Covidence prior to the course.   

Note: This is an online course.  

Academic Aim:
 - Formulate a research question for a systematic review using qualitative and/or mixed-method studies
 - Develop and implement a search strategy
 - Carry out screening
 - Extract data effectively
 - Conduct quality assessments of individual studies
 - Synthesize data using qualitative methods, such as narrative synthesis
 - Present the results in a clear and structured manner

Target group: 
The seminar is open to all PhD students.  

Course teacher:
Rebecca Webb, Research Fellow, City St George’s. 

Course organiser:
Amanda Frees, PhD Fellow, Department of Psychology.

Programme:

Day 1: Formulating your question, developing a search strategy, carrying out screening (March) 
10 am – 11 am: Introductions to systematic reviews and how to develop a research question tutorial
11 am – 11.45 am: Break out sessions – developing your own research question
11.45 am – 1 pm: Discussion of research questions. Developing a search strategy including search terms and inclusion/exclusion criteria tutorial.

1 pm – 1.30 pm: Lunch

1.30 pm – 2.30 pm: Break out sessions – developing your search strategy
2.30 pm – 3.45 pm: Discussion about search strategy. Carrying out searches and screening tutorial. 
3.45 pm – 4.30 pm: Time to carry out searches

Tasks between sessions: Title and abstract and full-text screening, make sure you have papers you will include in your review, available for discussion on day 2. 

Day 2: Data extraction, quality assessment and data analysis (May) 
10 am – 11 am: Welcome back, review included papers, troubleshooting
11 am – 11.30 am – Data extraction tutorial
11.30 am – 12.15 pm – Create data extraction sheet, start data extraction
12.15 pm – 1 pm – Discussions about data extraction. Tutorial on quality assessment

1 pm – 1.30 pm – Lunch

1.30 pm – 2.15 pm Breakout room – do a quality assessment for one paper
2.15 pm – 4.30 pm. Quality assessment discussions. Tutorial on qualitative data analysis.   

Tasks between sessions: carry out data analysis. Have some completed before Day 3.

Day 3: Troubleshooting data analysis and write up (June) 
10 am – 11.30 am – Troubleshooting data analysis
11.30 am – 12.30 pm – Writing up your review, publication and impact 

Language: English

ECTS: 1.5 for participation including preparation.

Max. numbers of participants: 20

Course fee: The PhD School at the Faculty of Social Sciences participates in Denmark’s national network for PhD courses. This course is free of charge for PhD students enrolled at one of the participating PhD schools (PhD students enrolled at a Danish University, except Copenhagen Business School). Other PhD students will be charged a course fee of DKK 1,200 per ECTS for participation in the course (PhD students enrolled at Copenhagen Business School or a University outside Denmark).

Registration: Please register via the link in the box no later than 15 January 2026

Further information: For more information about the PhD course, please contact the PhD Administration (phd@hrsc.ku.dk) or the course organiser.

Literature:

Webb, R., Uddin, N., Ford, E., Easter, A., Shakespeare, J., Roberts, N…et al. (2021). Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing Perinatal Mental Health Care in Health and Social Care Settings: A systematic Review. The Lancet Psychiatry, 8(6), 521-534. – Thematic synthesis

Thomas J, Harden A. Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC Med Res Methodol 2008; 8: 45

Webb, R., … COST action CA18211 Devotion Team. (2021). When birth is not as expected: a systematic review of the impact on women of a mismatch between expectations and experiences. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 21(1), 1-14. – Narrative synthesis

Lucas PJ, Baird J, Arai L, Law C, Roberts HM. Worked examples of alternative methods for the synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research in systematic reviews. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2007;7(1):4. doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-7-4.

Webb, R., …the MATRIx Study Team. (2023). A Meta-Review of the Barriers to Women Accessing Perinatal Mental Health Care. BMJ Open, 13(7), e066703. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066703. – A meta-review of systematic reviews