Project Management for Researchers (319)

21 February 2018

Dr Dimitrije Krstic

Project management was created more than 50 years ago to manage industry projects of great complexity, and was/is associated with production and utilization of series of graphs, charts, and procedures, often implemented through professional software solutions. However, project management has evolved over the years and today can be seen as a set of principles intended to provide a structured approach to making the everyday decisions that keep a project running. In a nutshell, managing a project effectively means thinking before acting, identifying and dealing with potential problems before they occur, and constantly monitoring to determine whether your actions are achieving their desired results.

In this comprehensive full-day workshop, you will learn the principles of effective project management: how to initiate, plan, and execute a project that meets objectives, on time and within the budget. Project management competency development will be achieved through (i) work in teams during the workshop on a case study, (ii) subsequent online course "ABCs of Project Management" (8 weeks) and (iii) 1-on-1 Skype mentoring session with the facilitator after the completion of the online course.

The benefits of this program are two-fold:

1) participants will enrich their current work with new, challenging, and highly motivating tasks, which in turn will enhance their productivity and job satisfaction

2) they will develop highly valued transferable competency and enhance their professional portfolio, which will actively prepare them for their next professional step.

Workshop Objectives

To understand:

• What is a project
• Basic principles and processes of project management
• Applicability of project management practices to academic research

To learn how to:

• Define project scope statement; write a project charter
• Perform work breakdown structure and define work-packages
• Estimate human resource needs, time line (Gantt Chart), and a project budget
• Plan stakeholder management and project communication
• Perform SWOT analysis and plan risk management
• Perform quality management and project documentation
• Transfer acquired knowledge to own working environment (through post-workshop Assignments and Mentoring).

Workshop Content

• Preparation material for the workshop will include a short questionnaire regarding experience with project management.
• Full-day workshop
• Get to know each other; discussion of the survey results
• Introduction to Project Management (PM) and PM in research
• Case Study Exercise 1: define scope, create WBS, define activities
• Case Study Exercise 2: estimate project duration, estimate project budget
• Case Study Exercise 3: design RAM, identify stakeholders, plan communication
• Case Study Exercise 4: SWOT analysis and risk management
• What's next; workshop-evaluation
• Post-workshop course "ABCs of Project Management" (8 weeks, online, optional)
• Homework assignment (3 weeks for planning, plus 6 weeks for implementation)
• Skype 1-on-1 mentoring session

Participants should note that stages 1 and 2 above are required of everyone. The third and fourth stages are optional, but require full completion of the first two stages.

Learning outcomes
At the end of the workshop, the doctoral candidates should be able to:

• understand basic principles, processes and methods utilized to successfully plan,
  monitor and close their research project(s).
• understand and start developing skills necessary for efficient project management in any work environment, and especially in the academic environment.

Participants are required to bring only their notebooks/laptops for taking notes. The course material will be distributed in printed and/or PDF form to all participants.

University of Neuchâtel

Date: Wednesday, 21st February 2018

Schedule: 9:15 to 17:15

Location: University of Neuchâtel

Trainer:

Dr. Dimitrije Krstic is a freelance Researcher Developer, who organizes and delivers transferable skills workshops for research institutions in Switzerland. Dr. Krstic combines his extensive research experience in life sciences and in-depth understanding of human resource development processes to provide fun, interactive, and informative learning experiences.

Dimitrije obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich, and subsequently went through an intensive postdoctoral training in Switzerland and USA. In parallel to his Masters studies in Human Resource Management at Edinburgh Business School in UK, he worked for two years as a Scientific Talent Development Manager at an EU funded training project AREA.

One of the outcomes of his professional interest is also an open-access project for promotion of soft skills development www.PimpYourScience.org.

Participants are eligible for reimbursement of incurred travel expenses by train between the city of their university and the location of the workshop (half-fare card, 2nd class). A reimbursement form will be supplied to all registered participants for this workshop.

16