Academic English: Writing, Presenting and AI-assisted Communication - mixed group (all DS)

Make your research speak for itself — in clear, confident and academic English!

Brilliant research deserves more than long sentences, overloaded slides and a conclusion hidden somewhere on page 27. That is why the UHasselt doctoral schools are organizing several editions of the course 'Academic English: Writing, Presenting and AI-assisted Communication' (taught by Prof. Eric Caers and Ms. Eva Cordery) throughout the academic year. This course seeks to familiarize PhD students with academic writing conventions, metalanguage and AI,
prompt priming and effective presentation skills.

• The first session focuses on the features of academic and reader-friendly writing and covers functional grammar (tenses, linking words, quantifiers), academic writing conventions (displaying numbers and units of measurement) and the difference between British and American English.
• The second session covers the different sections of an academic paper, information distribution (writing effective paragraphs, topic and stress positions), punctuation rules and paraphrasing techniques.
• The third session covers presenting data effectively through graphs and charts and focuses on leveraging AI and explicit metalanguage to refine your academic writing, adjust your academic tone and improve paragraph transitions.
• The fourth session is a scientific presentation workshop that also includes common mistakes and non-native structures.

This course does not solely aim to teach students how to use AI as a writing tool, but helps to provide a comprehensive understanding of Academic English so that students can evaluate and more deeply understand AI suggestions and thus retain authentic authorship of their writing. It also focuses on enhancing oral competences, essential for direct communication with various stakeholders.

Basic knowledge of the English language is required upon the start of the course (preferably level B2).

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, you are able to...

• communicate scientific content in a structured way, both orally and in writing, thereby gaining a deeper awareness of text complexity and meeting the linguistic and stylistic demands of scientific communication,
• apply functional grammar with respect to tenses, modal verbs, conditionals, passives, quantifiers, linking words (discourse markers), adjectives/adverbs, singular/plural, topic and stress, and spelling to the writing process.

Competences

An important part of preparing for any further professional step is becoming (more) aware of the competences you have developed and/or want to develop. In the current workshop, the following competences from the UHasselt competency overview are actively dealt with:

• academic research competences:
  • publication skills
• interpersonal competences:
  • presentation skills
  • oral communication
  • written communication
• intellectual competences:
  • knowledge of languages

For whom?

• PhD students & postdocs from all three doctoral schools (priority will be given to PhD students!)
• 15 places available per edition -> places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis!

When and where?

• 1st edition - for DS ST
  • January 16, 23 & 30 and February 06, 2026 - 09:00-12:00
  • campus Diepenbeek, building D, room C20 (16/01) & room C6 (23 & 30/01) & digital (06/02/26)
• 2nd edition - for DS BSH
  • February 13, 20 & 27 and March 06, 2026 - 09:00-12:00
  • campus Diepenbeek, building D, room C6 (13, 20 & 27/02) & digital (06/03/26)
• 3rd edition - for DS HLS
  • February 13, 20 & 27 and March 06, 2026 - 13:00-16:00
  • campus Diepenbeek, building D, room C6 (13, 20 & 27/02) & digital (06/03/26)
• 4th edition - mixed group (all DS)
  • September 04, 11, 18 & 25, 2026 - 09:00-12:00
  • campus Diepenbeek, building D, room A8 (04, 11 & 18/09) & digital (25/09/26)

Registration?

• 1st edition - DS ST: registration is closed since December 10, 2025.
• 2nd edition - DS BSH: registration is closed since January 21, 2026.
• 3rd edition - DS HLS: registration is closed since January 21, 2026.
• 4th edition - mixed group (all DS): register here from May 12 until August 08, 2026.
• Please register only if you can attend all four sessions.
• As places are limited, registering does not automatically imply that you will be able to participate. You will be notified by email after the registration deadline has passed.
• Please cancel your registration at least one week in advance in case you cannot make it (cf. cancellation & no-show policy).

Please be aware of the following:
As part of this course, you will get access to an online module which can be used to make exercises at home. The access to this module costs 22 euros per person, paid for by the doctoral schools. However, in case of cancellation after these costs have been made, personal reimbursement will need to occur (except when participating in a later edition within the year). This is true regardless of the exact timing of the cancellation (i.e. ≥ or < 7 days).

Acknowledged as?

• DS BSH: category 'research management & communication skills' - workshop on communication skills
• DS HLS: category 'transferable skills' - compulsory elective course 
• DS ST: category 'scientific & generic communication' - course on scientific and generic communication