JuDocS Transferable Skills Class: Preparing for Defense (1-day course)

Trainer:

Dr. Jan Stamm

About:

The defence of the PhD thesis, called disputation, is an important milestone on the way to the doctoral degree. Giving an oral presentation for the defence is a big challenge and is often linked with insecurities and stage fright. The disputation is of critical importance: firstly, it is an integral part of the PhD examination and, secondly, it shows your ability to argue and present your achievements and the results of your research convincingly. This workshop aims at preparing doctoral researchers for their defence. They will be introduced to formal regulations and frameworks, procedures and typical settings in a defence. There will also be simulated scenarios to practise thinking on their feet during the questions and answers session as well as responding strategies to typical defence questions. Coaching techniques and video-recording will be used to support the training of individual coping strategies to gain more confidence during the defence

Objectives:

• Clarification of general frameworks in a defense
• Preparation of the examination process
• Development of preparation and coping strategies

Main topics:

• Getting aware of formalities and deadlines
• Formal procedures and regulations
• Do’s and Don’ts in oral PhD examinations
• Training units for preparation of the talk and the defense
• Coping strategies for unexpected or difficult questions

Methods:

• Knowledge Transfer
• Groupwork
• Coaching
• Video-Recordings