Prepare for the Doctoral Defense (GGG) in person

Dr. Dunja Mohr, Go Academic!, is a certified coach and trainer. She has offered seminars and coaching for foundations, clusters of excellence, graduate schools, universities of applied sciences and non-university research organizations in German and English for more than 15 years. As a coach, she was also part of the trainer and consultant team of an established institute for higher education consulting in Düsseldorf for many years. She works as a senior scientist, holding a doctoral degree in Literary Studies, and is on the board of several international academic institutions and associations.

This workshop effectively provides doctoral students in their last year with key knowledge about the regulations and committee expectations and the essential tools for the doctoral defense. How to condense the thesis, the papers or the monograph, into a coherent 15-30 minutes presentation without losing the golden threat and what presentation options do you have? How can you design an interesting and compelling research narrative? What’s the difference between a conference talk and the viva voce? The workshop will introduce you to typical (killer) questions and explain which potentially stressful situations you may have to expect. It will help you to strategically prepare for the Q&A. Anticipation and preparation are the key! Moreover, we will address the performance element and how to deal with exam anxiety and stage fright. In this workshop you will work with your own material, but you are also invited to accept changes of perspective and to get involved with other people’s material in a cooperative and constructive environment.
For the practical training, we will have a limited number of slots for mock defenses (20 minutes presentation + Q&A), longer and shorter presentations (10-20 minutes) available, each followed by constructive feedback rounds. The dissertation doesn’t need to be finished, approximate research results are sufficient.

To sum it up, the workshop will cover the following topics:

• Regulations and procedures
• Efficient and strategic preparation of the viva voce (mock defense)
• Presentation rhetoric and skills (inlcuding structure, research story)
• Audience/committee targeting
• Non-verbal communication and stress management
• Killer questions catalogue and answer strategies

Approximately 2-3 weeks before the workshop, a preliminary survey is carried out using a short questionnaire in order to adapt the workshop content as specifically as possible to the individual needs of all participants. The questionnaire also prepares you for some of the workshop tasks.
Work assignments are part of the workshop.
If you want to present, please also send in an abstract (Further information will follow.).