Course Self-management, Project Management, and Academic Agency

Course description

This course is part of the onboarding of PhD students at Aarhus University, ARTS, a process through which new PhD students are introduced to the formal settings, norms and cultures of the organization and the wider academic community, including the nature of PhD work. The course introduces PhD students to principles and concepts of self-management and project management, and to their application in conducting a complex, long-term research project within the institutional and normative framework of the university.

The course conceptualizes the PhD as both an intellectual endeavour and a learning process in knowledge production and dissemination requiring structured planning, (self)reflexivity, (self)care and strategies for management and goal keeping.

The course combines conceptual input, practical exercises, and reflective assignments, culminating in an individualized plan for managing the PhD as both an institutionally embedded project and an autonomous scholarly practice.

Aim/Learning outcomes

In this course, PhD students explore self-management and academic freedom as both an obligation and a responsibility in developing themselves in relation to their PhD project and the expectations of the wider academic society as well as the organisation. The course focuses on how doctoral researchers can develop autonomy, sustain progress, and navigate uncertainty throughout the PhD process and in their careers beyond, as well as navigating potential tensions between independence and guidance, freedom and accountability. It also promotes awareness of well-being, work–life balance, deliverables, and sustainable academic practices, acknowledging that the exercise of academic freedom – which is a professional freedom with its own codes of conduct, ethical obligations, and responsibilities – requires the capacity to manage workload, maintain motivation, and respond effectively to pressure and assessment regimes.

As a core component the course addresses PhD project management, presenting participants for frameworks for designing and revising research plans and timelines, establishing milestones while preserving scholarly/empirical flexibility, managing time and resources in relation to risks, ethical dilemmas, competing demands (e.g. concerns around teaching, fieldwork, publications, dissertation format, and stakeholder interests) and academic freedom.

Requirements for participation

Please prepare

1. A detailed timeline for your PhD project, which will serve as the basis for further development during the course
2. Read the course material
3. Write a short paper (2-3 pages) on possible risks, changes and conflicts in your project period, and how they may be transformative for your project and you. Send your 2-3 pages written in advance one week before the course to dost@edu.au.dk. This is mandatory for participating in the course. The text will be read by the organizers but not distributed to the other participants.

Target group/Participants

• PhD students in the early stages of their academic trajectories

Workload

1 ECTS-point

• Course/ teaching hours: 6 hours
• Preparation hours: 18 hours

Written assignments:  Send your 2-3 pages written in advance (see above under Requirements for participation) one week before the course to dost@edu.au.dk. This is mandatory for participating in the course. The text will be read by the organizers but not distributed to the other participants.

Prepare a 1-minute presentation of ourself and PhD-project and what you want to work with for workshop.

Language 

• English

Lecturers

• Dorthe Staunæs, professor, The Danish School of Education, Aarhus University
• Katja, Brøgger, professor, The Danish School of Education, Aarhus University

Literature

The literature and resources pool consists mainly of short papers and commentaries. The aim is to spark thoughts and reflections about your own academic trajectory—and about how self-management, project management, and academic agency become entangled in ways that can be helpful, disturbing, or simply annoying. Click and read around to get inspired.

• Building confidence during your PhD – patter
• when your writing plan gets stuck – patter
• unlearning who you are and what you know? starting the doctorate – patter
• Bjerg, H. & Staunæs, D (2010). Anerkendende ledelse og blussende ører. udgivelser_asterisk_20100222195032_asterisk_51_s20-21.pdf
• Bjerg & Staunæs, D. (2011). Self-management through shame – Uniting governmentality studies and the ‘affective turn’. Ephemera. Theory and Politics in Organizations 11(2): 138-156  Microsoft Word - 11-2ephemera body.docx
• Bramming, P. & Andersen, V. (2025). Selvledelse – en vej til større frihed? su-2025-1-1.pdf
• Brøgger, K. (2026, in press). Understanding academic freedom in relation to research integrity: Principles, pressures, and practices. In M. P. Sørensen & T. Ravn (Eds.), How to cultivate research integrity: 15 core practices (pp. xx–xx). Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Asterisk (DPU’s digital magazine) – interview with Katja Brøgger. Akademisk frihed er en grundsøjle i demokratiet – men den kommer med forpligtelser. Vol. 114. 2026. Article by Carsten Henriksen: https://dpu.au.dk/asterisk/akademisk-frihed-er-en-grundsoejle-i-demokratiet-men-den-kommer-med-forpligtelser
• Asterisk (DPU’s digital magazine) – interview with Katja Brøgger. Geopolitiske spændinger truer den akademiske frihed. Vol. 112. 2025. Article by Anne Anthon Andersen: https://dpu.au.dk/asterisk/geopolitiske-spaendinger-truer-den-akademiske-frihed
• Dillabough, J.A & A. Peto (2024). New deceptions: How illiberalism is hijacking the university. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240501143215958
• Raffnsøe, S. (20) The obligation of self-management. (PDF) The obligation of self-management: The social bonds of freedom
• Staunæs, D., & Brøgger, K. (2017). Krads kritik: Repræsenteret af data, motiveret af grafer og søjlediagrammer. Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv, 19(4), 51–54.
• https://doi.org/10.7146/tfa.v19i4.109083
• Staunæs, D. (2026). UNESCO interview: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/den-danske-unesco-nationalkommission_unesco80aar-researchfreedom-researcherssafety-activity-7424315719552720896-P78f?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAELJ8QB4L5or8C5syd2-kHebUQ44Zv9fMM

Venue

• 10 December 2026. 10.00-16.00.  Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4 , 8000 Aarhus C. Building 1483, room 454

Course dates:

• 10 December 2026 10:00 - 16:00