Graduate School Forest and Agricultural Sciences (GFA)

PhD as a Project


Responsible person
Dr. Karen Dittmann
Language
English
Workload
6 h attendance time
8 h eLearning modules
16 h own project planning
Credits
1
Schedule
Kick-off
01.10.2026, 14:00 - 15:00

Consultations
Module 1
30.10.2026, 09:00 - 10:30

Module 2
23.11.2026, 09:00 - 10:30

Module 3
11.12.2026, 09:00 - 10:30

For further information, please have a look at the detailed schedule.
Location
online via Zoom
Number of students
15
Registration
Please send an email until 11.10.2026 to gfa@uni-goettingen.de.

Goal of the training: The training enables doctoral candidates in forestry and agricultural sciences to systematically plan and efficiently implement their doctoral thesis. Over the course of the program, participants develop a complete project plan for their own research project and acquire practical methodological skills that can be directly applied to their academic work.


Framework: The course is organised alternating between self-study and live sessions. Participants will receive feedback as well as a professional review and approval of their project plan by the trainer.


Modules and Content:

Module 1 – Project Start and Objectives

  • Clarifying project assignment, expectations, and framework conditions
  • Formulating clear project objectives and success criteria
  • Defining project scope and deliverables

Module 2 – Project Structure and Frameworks

  • Structuring doctoral projects into phases
  • Comparison of sequential and agile planning framework
  • Selecting a suitable approach for one’s own project

Module 3 – Deliverables and Scheduling

  • Defining work packages and outputs
  • Planning workflows and milestones
  • Scheduling and effort estimation
  • Clarifying the question: When is my project finished?


Admission requirements: Students of GFA, other PhD students if free places are available.


Cancellation policy:

Your registration for courses and workshops offered by the GFA is binding. If you want to cancel your registration later than three weeks prior to the workshop start date, you have to provide a physician's note. A late deregistration without a reason for illness is only possible with the consent of the first supervisor. If non of these two conditions is met, you will be barred from registering for GFA courses for the period of one year.
Please be aware that with a late deregistration you block seats for other PhD students, which otherwise could have taken part in the workshop.

Absence policy

To earn credits for a workshop/course, you must not miss more than 10% of total contact hours. In most cases, this will be less than a day. If it is inevitable that you miss more than a whole day, please notify us well in advance (at least one week).