Wageningen Graduate School Courses

1 PhD Competence Assessments

•Competence Assessment
Gives insight in competences as organising capacity, analytical thinking, collaboration and personal characteristics

2 Writing and Presenting courses

•Academic English for PhD candidates
Intensive 12-week course that improves your academic English, prepares you for the RATEr (when required, this is an English proficiency test) and teaches you the fundamentals of scientific writing.
•The Essentials of Scientific Writing and Presenting
Presents an overview of how to effectively write and present scientific information
•Efficient Writing Strategies
Putting your thoughts on paper
•Posters and Pitching
Want to learn how to sell your ideas and yourself in a poster presentation? Want to know how to design an appealing poster and to enticingly pitch your poster to an audience?
•Reviewing a Scientific Paper
To obtain insight in the aspects of reviewing scientific papers
•Scientific Publishing
Providing insight and awareness in the process, rules, ethical aspects of scientific writing and publishing
•Storytelling
In this one-day workshop, participants will craft a story to describe their research projects
•Scientific Writing
Assisting you if you are currently writing an article or a dissertation
•Writing Grant Proposals
Teaches you how to write a project proposal for funding
•Writing propositions for your PhD
Workshop on propositions of the PhD thesis, including a lecture on propositions and possibility to submit your own (draft) proposition.
•Presenting with Impact
To improve and practice oral presentations of your own work

3 Communication skills courses

•Bridging across cultural differences
Key tactics for a global career
•Communication with the Media and the General Public
Provides you with the necessary ideas and skills to communicate your work to non-scientists
•Debate training and practice tournament
The road to debating in science.
•Effective behaviour in your professional surroundings
To assist you in building and empowering your attitude, behaviour and position in your professional surroundings
•English Pronunciation & Fluency
A practical approach to improve your speaking skills in English language. This course is announced via WGS, but one cannot receive WGS subsidy for the course.
•Interpersonal Communication for PhD candidates
Designed to help you to improve your communication, but not to help you to improve your English language skills
•Making an Impact! How to increase the societal relevance of your PhD research
Enabling to understand the rationale of collaboration with practitioners and policymakers and to learn practical techniques for collaborative knowledge generation and impact activities
•Mobilising your - scientific - network
Offers you the essential tools to create a network through a variety of introductions, discussions and assignments
•Critical thinking and argumentation
Training to debate and speak in a clear, convincing and effective way

4 Project and Management skills courses

•Brain Training
Increase Reading Speed + Brain Rythm + Memory Boost
•Brain Training follow-up
If you participated in the Speed Reading or Brain training course you can participate in this follow-up course.
•Project and Time Management
Planning, control, monitoring and management of the research project and time are essential in accomplishing the PhD
•Research Data Management
This course consists of lectures and practical assignments that cover various aspects of managing research data: from organising your data files during data collection to publishing your final dataset.
•Searching and Organising Literature
Make effective use of scientific information sources in the Wageningen University & Research Digital Library and EndNote

5 Courses on teaching

Skills in teaching and supervising course are offered by Education Support Centre
•Orientation on Teaching for PhD candidates
This introductory course is meant for PhD candidates who want to explore the art of teaching within university settings
•Teaching and supervising Thesis students
This course is intended for PhD candidates, postdocs, and academic staff who are or will be supervising students during their BSc or MSc thesis

6 PhD Well Being

•PhD Peer Consultation - a powerful tool to tackle PhD challenges
A way to learn from issues and challenges in everyday work with a group of colleague PhD candidates
•Courses offered by Sports Centre the Bongerd
•Stress Identification & Management
Giving insight and learns you how to deal with, avoid and tackle stress

7 Ethics courses

•Ethics in Plant and Environmental Sciences
This one day course focuses on ethical issues that are encountered when doing research in plant and environmental sciences.
•Ethics for Social Sciences Research
One-day seminar on dealing with ethical issues in human subjects research
•Philosophy and Ethics of Food Science and Technology
Series of six discussion sessions including hands-on dealings with ethical, philosophical, and societal issues surrounding science
•Scientific Integrity
This 1 day-course focuses on an array challenges related to scientific integrity.
•Scientific Integrity & Ethics and Animal Science
This 3-days course aims at WIAS PhD candidates and consists of 2 modules: 1) Scientific Integrity (1 day) and 2) Ethics and Animal Science (2 days). NB: Module 1 Scientific Integrity can be followed as a separate course by non-WIAS PhD candidates. If you are not a WIAS PhD candidate, instead of registering for this course of 2 modules, please register for the course Scientific Integrity.

8 Career oriented courses / Assessment

•Career assessment
Individual assessment for PhDs who have questions concerning their personal competences, career opportunities and next career step
•Career Perspectives
Meant for PhDs in their third or fourth year who want support in defining and taking the next step in their career.
•Career Development for Postdocs: Science and the Alternatives
Supports in making career choice in science or beyond and making a plan of action how to reach the desired goal.
•Career Orientation
Meant for PhD candidates and postdocs who are orienting themselves in what future career to choose, in or outside of science.
•Entrepreneurship in and outside Science
Analysis and development of entrepreneurial skills for young scientists in or outside academia
•Getting on Track with your VENI application
This programme aims to provide the skills and competences needed to develop a high quality VENI proposal.
•Preparing Your VENI pre-proposal
This course provides you with the skills and competences needed to develop a high quality VENI pre-proposal.

9 Other courses

•Summercourse English for IELTS and RATEr
This course prepares you for the IELTS or RATEr exam
•Introduction to the Netherlands
Presentations and discussions on the acculturation process and on Dutch culture
•Introduction to WUR Library for PhD candidates
Introduction to the tools and services of the Library relevant to the first steps of your research
•Last Stretch of the PhD Programme
Issues and questions: what must you do first, who is responsible, printing your thesis, do's and dont's.

Staff courses on PhD Supervision

Trainings are strongly recommended as element of Tenure Track
•Effective Supervision of PhD candidates (with actor) 1. Starting up
First one-day workshop out of a sequence of three workshops for supervisors of PhD candidates. Supervisors can follow each one-day workshop separately
•Effective Supervision of PhD candidates (with actor) 2. Managing progress
Second one-day workshop out of a sequence of three workshops for supervisors of PhD candidates. Supervisors can follow each one-day workshop separately
•Effective Supervision of PhD candidates (with actor) 3. Finishing the PhD project
Third one-day workshop out of a sequence of three workshops for supervisors of PhD candidates. Supervisors can follow each one-day workshop separately
•Professional in Supervision (with actor) for PhD supervisors)
Focus on communication styles, coaching formats, leadership, cultural issues, distance based supervision and personal needs

More information and registration for these courses go to the Wageningen Graduate Schools course site.