ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ

Course description

To reach their optimal performance, (elite) athletes need to learn to handle the pressure to get results, to cope with adversity or setbacks and to deal with criticism or fatigue. Obtaining your PhD is much like performing as an elite athlete. It requires dealing with setbacks, slow progress and taking courage. Like an elite athlete, to stay motivated, to perform at your best and to handle difficult thoughts, being ‘psychologically flexible’ is key. This personal development course will help you develop psychological flexibility for life.

Learning objectives

During this course you will gain insight in the way your thoughts and emotions affect your behaviour and performance and you will acquire the skills to deal with them effectively. You will work on your mental skills to stay focused and avoid distraction by concerns. You will assess self-valued behaviour regarding your PhD activities as well as other areas in life and learn to behave accordingly, retaining the optimum level energy during their PhD trajectory.

Instructional method

The course consists of an individual in- and outtake and four group meetings in between. The group meetings serve to create self-awareness among the participants through education, small exercises and peer discussions. Furthermore, experiential learning through homework assignments is an essential part of the learning process.

Trainer

Martijn Ruitenburg, PhD
Sportpsycholoog VSPN | 

Group size

10 to 12 participants

Number of credits

1.0 EC

Course programme

The course consists of an individual in- and outtake, plus four online group meetings of 3 to 4 hours each.

Individual meetings:

• Week October 19th till 23rd: individual intake (questionnaire)
• Week December 14th till 17th: individual outtake

Group meetings:

Course certificate

You will receive a course certificate after actively participating in all course sessions.

Course fee

Internal PhD candidates: â‚¬0
UU/UMC academic staff: â‚¬325
External participants (space permitting): â‚¬540
 

• Internal PhD candidates are PhD candidates who are registered with the Graduate School of Life Sciences via MyPhD. 
• UU/UMC academic staff are PhD candidates of Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ who are not registered to the Graduate School of Life Sciences via MyPhD, postdocs employed by Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ or UMC Utrecht and other academic staff employed at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ or UMC Utrecht.
• External participants are all other participants.

Our no-show policy

We are happy to offer courses and workshops for free to all GSLS PhDs. However: free of charge does not mean free of responsibility. Our activities tend to be fully booked well in advance. For every late cancellation or no-show we have had to disappoint others who would have liked to attend. 

This is how we work: 

• Once you have signed up for a course, we expect you to attend;
• If you need to cancel your registration, do so at the earliest possible moment, at least four weeks before the start of the course;
• If you really have to, you are allowed to miss up to one session of this course in total. You always have to attend the first course session.
• Not meeting the attendance requirements or cancelling within four weeks before the course starts means you will be charged no-show fee (€165 for this course);
• We are unable to make any exceptions.

I know better how to deal with my thoughts and my mind, which helps a lot in stressful periods.

This course makes you aware about the influence of your own (negative) thoughts and mind, how to accept this and direct towards a situation that you prefer/value.

I have actually learnt a lot on how to overcome difficult situations in a positive way! I have learned the importance of knowing my values and to work on them. I am now able to handle all issues related to my PhD project very positively.