As a PhD candidate you are the project manager of your own PhD project. The Getting Started-Workshop supplies you with the tools you need in order to plan and execute your PhD project as effectively and efficiently as possible. You discuss and test basic strategies and techniques of a good project- and time-management. This allows you to organize yourself and your workload in better ways. Based on your existing working habits, you will learn more about which type of worker you are and how you can further improve your working situation. Depending on the interests of the participants we also deal with such topics as: How to write efficiently? How to communicate with your supervisor? How to deal with stress and crises? How to stay motivated?

Contents in brief:
- Project-Management
- Planning with Milestones
- Agile Strategies and Techniques
- Time Boxing
- Adjusting Plans
- Efficient Time- and Self-Management
- Setting Priorities
- 80/20-Rule
- Pomodoro Technique
- Structuring your Work Day and Week
- Communication with Supervisor
- Efficient Writing

What you'll learn:
- How to set up your first Python programming environment (and any language environment)
- Basic coding concepts explained in simple, accessible terms
- How to use AI assistants (mostly ChatGPT and Perplexity) to help you write and understand code
- Practical automation applications include creating and manipulating data files, extracting information from many PDF files, automated uploading to and extracting from GPT / Perplexity / Claude
- Any other simple application suggested by participants.

This workshop is specifically designed for absolute beginners – no prior coding experience required or expected. We'll start from the very basics, using AI assistants to make the learning process more approachable and less intimidating.

Target Audience: Researchers and scientists with zero coding experience who want to learn how to implement basic programming tasks in their work.

Join us to discover how AI can help you overcome the initial hurdles of implementing coding and start your journey toward programming proficiency. The session will include live demonstrations, practical examples, and plenty of opportunity to learn from mistakes in a supportive environment.

From blogging to news and opinion articles, writing remains one of the best ways for scientists to reach the public. While there are many styles and formats for popular science writing, certain elements of good writing are required. In this workshop, we discuss the various formats of writing as well as why and when each is used. We will also discuss how to tell a good story and common bad habits scientists have when writing for the public. Participants will practice writing short pieces based on their own work or interests that will be shared and discussed during the workshop.

All participants need a microphone and ideally a webcam.

Hardware integrated into the laptop is sufficient.

Topics (selection)

- Formats (blogs, news, opinion, etc.)
- Writing styles
- Elements of a good story
- Story structure

Common mistakes (passive voice, jargon, etc.)