Planning & Facilitating Your PhD Work – Meetings, Workshops & Collaboration
Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at University of Copenhagen
This is a generic course. This means that the course is reserved for PhD students at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at UCPH.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at the Graduate School, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to the waiting list.
The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD students at NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee.
Learning objectives
A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:
1. Use core concepts and tools of planning and facilitation to structure and improve own PhD-related cases or processes – including meetings, workshops, collaborations, and group work.
2. Design, plan and run PhD-relevant workshops, meetings, and collaborative processes with an engaging, productive and participatory focus.
3. Apply facilitation methods directly to own cases, using reflection and peer input to strengthen approach and academic workflow.
4. Facilitate discussions and group dynamics that support progress in research projects and academic activities.
The course is built around various learning activities designed to develop each participant's planning and facilitation skills, with an emphasis on reflection, communication, and learning. The course is based on the understanding that participants best acquire knowledge, skills, and competencies by testing new facilitation methods and approaches in their own PhD-related practice and subsequently reflecting on the practical learning that emerges.
Central to the course is a collaborative and generative approach. Therefore, the students’ own PhD-related cases, processes and academic activities will be at the core of the course. Throughout the course, the students will apply their acquired knowledge and understanding of different approaches and methods in planning and facilitation of meetings, workshops, and collaborative processes directly to their own cases, working in close collaboration with their peers.
Content
The course is designed to establish a practical space for developing facilitation skills. It emphasizes training and participating in processes that are participatory and inclusive, while maintaining a focus on achieving the desired outcomes. The course introduces basic aspects of planning and facilitating activities, with an emphasis on creativity and collaboration.
During the course, students will have the opportunity to experiment with and reflect on tools and formats for facilitation relevant to their own cases and get qualified feedback on their own planning and approach to facilitation from an experienced facilitator (the teacher).
Participants
PhD students who wish to learn and receive feedback on how to facilitate their own PhD activities.
Relevance to graduate programmes
The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH:
All graduate programmes
Language
English
Form
The format is highly participatory with workshops, group work, feedback sessions and discussions.
Course director
Tine Alkjær, Associate Professor, talkjaer@sund.ku.dk, Department of Biomedical Sciences.
Teachers
Louise Laustsen, Chief Consultant, Go’Proces.
Dates
1-2 October 2026
Course location
The Panum Institute, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH (room number: TBD).
Registration
Please register before 1 September 2026.
Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.
Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.