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NeuroGrad Winter School (3rd year students)
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3764-26-00-02There are 12 available seats 
Enrollment deadline: 01/12/2025
Date and time12.01.2026, at: 09:00 - 30.01.2026, at: 17:00
Regular seats12
Course fee1,500.00 kr.
LecturersNanna MacAulay
ECTS credits2.30
Contact personNanna MacAulay    E-mail address: macaulay@sund.ku.dk
Enrolment Handling/Course OrganiserPhD administration SUND    E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Enrolment guidelines
This is a generic course. This means that the course is reserved for PhD students at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at UCPH.

Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at the Graduate School, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrolment deadline, available seats will be allocated to the waiting list.

The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD students at NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fe


The NeuroGrad Winter School is designed to stimulate networking between PhD students affiliated with the graduate program in neurosciences (NeuroGrad) at University of Copenhagen and networking between PhD students and senior researchers in neuroscience. It offers a chance for the PhD students to discuss their project with other PhD students and supervisors. Furthermore, the graduate students will obtain transferable skills relevant to the stage of progress of their PhD study and project.


Learning objectives

NOTE: DAY 2-3 WILL BE CONDUCTED AS AN OVERNIGHT RETREAT

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:

1st year graduate students
• Critically review poster presentations
• Reflect on oral presentations
• Apply correct scientific writing and structure an abstract

2nd year graduate students
• Create an efficient poster
• Apply poster presentation skills to their poster presentations

3rd year graduate students
• Present at discuss their research project orally
• Apply communication and presentation skills to oral presentations


Content

Day 1 consists of workshops of different skills relevant to the different stages of the graduate studies.

1st year students will attend the course on ‘writing skills in academia’:
Writing is an integral part of academia, and includes specific genres such as the abstract, manuscript or the thesis.

The workshop contents are:
• Structure your writing
• Abstract style and format
• Legible scientific English

The goal of the workshop is to have a clear idea of the content of your first abstract and possibly even a first draft of an abstract (or part thereof).

Teacher: Nicolai Paulsen, language consultant

2nd year students will attend the course ‘powerpoint training – design your own poster’:
Designing a scientific poster requires a good understanding of the features in PowerPoint and a sense of designing flow, models and graphic overview. This workshop combines the technical part of designing with PowerPoint - and the conceptual part of communicating through your own design.

The workshop contents are:
• Designing in Powerpoint – beyond the default slideshow
• Prioritizing and structuring our scientific poster
• Build graphic models that underlines your messages
• Choose the color scheme that creates focus and a balanced design
• Hints on how to present your poster
• Personal feedback at a 1:1 online meeting on your draft poster

Teacher: Katrine Tødsø, graphical designer, Softworld A/S.

3rd year students will attend the course on ‘Oral presentation in an Academic Context’:
Whether networking at a conference, presenting a poster or delivering a talk, being able to communicate clearly and confidently is a necessity for researchers. With a few fundamental strategies, presentation of complex data can be made simple, interesting and relevant.

In this workshop participants will learn how to create an audience-tailored presentation, from presentation structure and storyline, to figure and slide design. Additionally, through the use of voice and body language exercises, students will improve their communication skills, enabling them to present with ease and confidence.

The workshop contents are:
• How to build an interesting story from your data
• Fundamentals of professional slide design
• Strategies for managing stage fright
• Gaining confidence in presenting through body language training
• Communication skills using voice exercises

Teacher: Dr. Melanie Conrad, experienced conductor of Scientific Writing and Presentation workshops and researcher at Charité Medical University in Berlin.

Day 2-3 takes place remotely at an overnight venue (see below) and contains plenary lectures and presentations from the PhD students in the graduate program in neurosciences: 2nd year PhD students present their research projects on posters and 3rd year PhD students present their projects orally. The presentations will be reviewed and evaluated by the 1st year students under guidance of a group of supervisors in the graduate program.

Plenary lecture by:
Professor Svend Brinkmann (Department of Communication and Psychology and Centre for Cultural Psychology, Aalborg University + radio/TV host): “How to be (at least moderately) happy (during your PhD)”

Prizes will be given to best poster presentation and best oral presentation.


Participants
The course is intended for PhD students affiliated with the graduate program in Neuroscience, but PhD students in the field of neuroscience, but associated with other graduate programs, are also welcome.


Relevance to graduate programmes
The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH:

Neuroscience


Language
English


Form
Mixture of plenary lectures, workshops, discussions, oral and poster presentations.


Course director
Professor Nanna MacAulay, Department of Neuroscience, macaulay@sund.ku.dk


Dates
1st year students: January 12th (9 am -5 pm) + Jan 29th (start 9.30 am) – Jan 30th (finish 4 pm)
2nd year students: January 13th (9 am -5 pm) + Jan 29th (start 9.30 am) – Jan 30th (finish 4 pm)
3rd year students: January 12th OR 13th OR 14th (9 am -5 pm) + Jan 29th (start 9.30 am) – Jan 30th (finish 4 pm)


Course location

Jan 12th:
1st year students: Faculty Club, the Panum building, 16.6.16 (9 am – 5 pm)
3rd year students: Faculty Club, the Panum building 16.6.31+35 (9 am – 5 pm)

Jan 13th:
2nd year students: Faculty Club, the Panum building, 16.6.16 (9 am – 5 pm)
3rd year students: Faculty Club, the Panum building 16.6.31+35 (9 am – 5 pm)

Jan 14th:
3rd year students: Faculty Club, the Panum building 16.6.31+35 (9 am – 5 pm)

Jan 29th-Jan 30th:
Marielyst Beach hotel, Nordre Strandvej 2A, 3000 Helsingør (direct train from Nørreport to Helsingør - walk or bus to the hotel).

Please notify the course leader if you do not wish to stay overnight at the hotel (single/double occupancy rooms, as per request)


Registration
Please register before 1 December 2025 at the link fitting the year of your graduate studies at the date of the course. Note, last minute registration for newly enrolled NeuroGrads can take place until 5 January 2026

Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.

Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.

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