Overcoming Walls during the PhD-Process
by Helge Jonas Pösche (ISHA Berlin), Thomas Lettang (ISHA Berlin)
This workshop is designed to meet the needs of PhD students by addressing some of the many obstacles one usually faces during the different stages of a PhD in History (and related subjects), such as: How to transform my ideas to a good text? Which theories and methods are suitable to find answers on my research questions? How to build a convincing argument? When to start publishing stuff, and how?
In the first phase of the workshop, each participant will shortly present her or his project. These presentations are expected to be problem-oriented: For example, they could deal with the pros and cons of applying a certain theory or with the difficulties in using a certain kind of sources in your project. You can also use the presentation to test the coherence of an argument or to lay out different ways in which your project could be developed further in the future. What matters is that you bring up an issue you are thinking about in the current stage of your PhD and on which you could benefit from the opinions and experiences of other researchers.
In the second phase of the workshop, we will tackle some of the typical challenges that appear during a PhD – issues such as:
- work-organization
- self-discipline during the writing process
- how to write an abstract
- publishing in academic journals and elsewhere
- problems with the supervisor
- presentation skills
- teaching at the university
- … etc. etc. …
On some of these topics, the organizers – one of whom has just finished his PhD, the other one is in the middle of it – have attended courses or seminars in the past where they learned some techniques which they are happy to share with the group. In advance of the workshop, we want to find out which topics are most interesting for you and on which topics participants may have special knowledge they can share – may it be from soft-skill trainings or from personal experience. We would then focus on two or three topics that are most relevant for the group. This way, we hope that the workshop is not another burden of work for you but on the contrary will make your research a bit easier in the future. Let’s tear down some walls and get on with our PhDs!
ISHA Berlin 