A PhD is always about managing complex information from multiple sources; we need to know what to prioritise, identify importance, and know when we reached our milestones.

Start the way you mean to carry on – with some clear goal setting.

Using the example of your new arrival to your research degree and/ or to Warwick, this practical session will help you identify where you need to start with your planning, who you need to contact and when you will know you have succeeded.

Get your PhD off to the best start.

YouTube: Get Prepared Get Organised - YouTube

Who is this for?

Stages of PhD

Early 0-14 months

Pop into the Research Exchange to enjoy some coffee and cake, while chatting with other researchers.

These sessions are a great opportunity to network with other researchers, discuss your research, and to take a break so that you can return to your work refreshed and relaxed.

Research Refresh runs throughout the year, apart from University closed days.

Many of us are asked to go through an upgrade process after our first year. This takes us from MPhil to PhD study process. It allows us and colleagues to reflect on the previous year, research knowledge gained, and plans for the next stages.

The session will inform you of the University’s criteria for a successful upgrade process and help prepare you for it. The facilitators will share their own experiences of passing upgrade process and provide you with particular tips and advices that will be useful for you to understand what your need to do and how to successfully pass your own upgrade.

Pursuing a doctoral degree whilst juggling research, teaching and learning can be quite a challenging and stressful experience. High levels of stress can create severe difficulties in normal functioning, which subsequently can negatively impact your physical, mental, social and academic life.

In this workshop, which will be supported by a qualified and licenced low-intensity psychological wellbeing practitioner, you will learn how to develop your stress management skills in understanding what stress is, how to recognise symptoms of stress and learn strategies for boosting your capacity for handling and recovering from the impact of daily stress. Subsequently, you will be able to apply learnt knowledge to your day-to-day life during your PhD, as well as in the future.

By the end of this workshop, you will be able to gain insight into how stress works, the importance of keeping stress levels in check, and what techniques you can use to combat stress during your degree, which will help you to formulate your short- and long-term stress management plan of how to cope with you stress, based on your specific research environment and your own individual needs.

Remember that the prime gain from doing a PhD is not just becoming an expert in your field, but also becoming and an expert in life skills: surviving countless struggles, persisting through difficult times, becoming a resourceful problem solver and independent thinker, and knowing when to ask for help. These life skills will be indeed invaluable skills for any future role!!

You can book on a PhD Wellbeing session without it appearing on your Skills Forge Record. You would not receive SF credits for your attendance but may give you the privacy you would prefer. Please book here expression of interest form (warwick.ac.uk)