***Happy New Year!***
The DS team wishes you
an inspiring, prosperous and happy 2026!

This newsletter provides an overview of all upcoming activities for PhD students organized by the doctoral schools and links to other potentially interesting events or information.

More details on, and registration links for, upcoming activities are available on the website of the doctoral schools. When you enrol for a doctoral school activity, make sure to take our cancellation & no-show policy into account. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at all times on doctoralschools@uhasselt.be.

1. DS courses with short deadlines:

Academic English (DS BSH & DS HLS) - 4 sessions in February-March 2026

Elevate your academic communication skills with one of 2 'Academic English' courses, designed for PhD students of the DS BSH and HLS who are eager to master the art of scientific writing and presentation. Guided by Prof. Eric Caers and Ms. Eva Cordery, these engaging programs provides hands-on sessions that explore academic writing conventions, reader-friendly techniques and effective presentation strategies. With personalized feedback and practical tools tailored to your research field, these courses will equip you to confidently convey complex scientific ideas with precision and clarity. Don’t miss the chance to refine your skills—join now and unlock your full academic potential! Please note that there are two separate editions (one for DS BSH and one for DS HLS) of this course — make sure to register for the one that applies to you (deadline: 14/01/26).

How to be more confident - 16/02/26

Join trainer Jamie McDonald for the interactive, online workshop 'How to be more confident', designed to help you navigate the pressures of university life. Learn practical tools to manage nervousness, handle tricky feedback and approach professional challenges with a resilient mindset. You will apply hands-on methods to genuine situations in a supportive, informal environment. Register by 19/01/26.

NEW COURSE: Podcasting - 23/02 & 02/03 & 20/04/26

Turn your research into a powerful audio story! In this 3 day hands-on training podcast producer Joris Van Damme guides you through the full process of creating your own research-based podcast episode. You’ll learn to write for the ear, build a compelling narrative, and use sound creatively — while also gaining essential recording and editing skills. By the end, you’ll have a finished podcast episode ready to share with the world. Only 3 spots available so register quickly! (deadline: 22/01/26)

2. Love Data Week

During international Love Data Week (9–13/02/26), UHasselt will host a live, interactive session for their researchers on Tuesday morning, 10/02/26. This live session offers you an opportunity to engage directly with experts on key research data management (RDM) topics, including data storage, data sharing, research software, Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs), and the Flemish Supercomputer Center (VSC). Registration is required. This UHasselt live event complements a broader online programme organized by multiple research institutions across the Flemish Research Data Network. These online sessions will cover the full journey of data — from planning and collection to storing, sharing, publication, long-term preservation and reuse. You can already register for any of these online sessions.

3. PhD Welcome

UHasselt welcomes you! At Hasselt University, we aspire to create a stimulating environment for PhD researchers and provide comprehensive guidance throughout your entire PhD journey. With this in mind, we warmly welcome all starting PhD students to join us at our 'PhD Welcome' event. This half-day session will take place on 12/03/26 and will shed light on doing a PhD at Hasselt University, the Doctoral Schools, well-being and so on. In doing so, we hope to provide answers to possible questions that could pop up at the beginning of your PhD trajectory. We will also give the floor to several experienced PhD researchers who will share the pitfalls and successes of their research careers. Registration is possible until 26/02/26. Please complete the expectation question when registering for the event to ensure you receive the information you need for a successful start at the PhD Welcome session.

4. PhD Reflect & Connect: Welcome feedback - Towards a constructive feedforward culture

As part of our next edition of PhD Reflect & Connect on 12/03/26, the Doctoral Schools of UHasselt, in collaboration with our HR Department, are delighted to host a business theatre session on the theme 'Welcome feedback: towards a constructive feedforward culture'. This interactive and humor-filled performance is open to all researchers and UHasselt staff. A constructive feedback culture is essential for building an engaging, supportive and motivating work environment—but we all know it can be challenging in practice. Through a series of realistic and playful scenes, this business theatre invites you to explore how feedback can become more open, constructive and future-focused. You are welcome to participate using color cards, but verbal interaction is entirely optional—no one will be asked to come on stage. Simply watch, reflect and enjoy. Registration is possible until 11/02/26.

Details & registration

1. Stress and resilience for researchers

Takes place on 10/02 & 10/03/26 - 13:00-17:00
Registration possible until 14/01/26

2. Academic English (DS BSH)

Takes place (hybrid) on 13, 20 & 27/02 and 06/03/26 - 09:00-12:00
Registration possible until 14/01/26

3. Academic English (DS HLS)

Takes place (hybrid) on 13, 20 & 27/02 and 06/03/26 - 13:00-16:00
Registration possible until 14/01/26

4. How to be more confident

Takes place on 16/02/26 - 09:30-12:30
Registration possible until 19/01/26

5. Prompt engineering: Efficient, science-based use of Generative AI

Takes place on 17/02/26 - 09:00-13:00
Registration possible until 14/01/26

6. Podcasting

Takes place on 23/02, 02/03 & 20/04/26 - 09:30-16:30
Registration possible until 22/01/26

7. Bullet journaling as a tool for planning my research

Takes place on 05/03/26 - 10:00-12:00
Registration possible until 05/02/26

8. Personal time management

Takes place on 11/03 (09:00-17:00) & 01/04/26 (09:00-13:00)
Registration possible until 11/02/26

9. PhD Reflect & Connect: Welcome feedback - Towards a constructive feedforward culture

Takes place on 12/03 (business theatre: 15:30-17:00 & reception: 17:00-18:00)
Registration possible until 11/02/26

10. AI as a creative partner for science communication

Takes place on 19/03/26 - 09:30-12:30
Registration possible until 18/02/26

11. Networking for researchers: the basics

Takes place on 24/03/26 - 09:30-17:30
Registration possible until 24/02/26

12. Managing my PhD

Takes place on 31/03 (09:30-16:30) & 21/04/26 (13:00-17:00)
Registration possible until 26/02/26

13. Speed-focus reading

Takes place on 02/04/26 - 09:00-17:00
Registration possible until 04/03/26

14. Hands-on training on GenAI for research

Takes place on 20/04/26 - 10:00-12:00
Registration possible until 22/03/26

15. Pronunciation and intonation in English

Takes place on 30/04 & 07, 21, 28/05 & 04/06/26 - 10:00-12:00
Registration possible until 02/04/26

16. Keeping things private: Exploring open-source large language models for sensitive text data

Takes place on 04/05/26 - 10:00-12:00 (lecture) & 13:00-15:00 (workshop)
Registration possible until 06/04/26

17. Creating Images with AI: A hands-on workshop

Takes place on 05/05/26 - 09:00-13:00
Registration possible until 01/04/26

18. Mindmapping

Takes place on 06/05/26 - 14:00-17:00
Registration possible until 01/04/26

19. How to survive an interview for written press, radio, tv, socials & podcasts

Takes place on 29/05 (09:30-17:00) & 12/06/26 (20 min./participant)
Registration possible until 28/04/26

Details & registration

1. Meet the jury seminar: Xenotransplantation of human enteric glia in an immunocompetent rat model of acute brain injury: short- and long-term evaluation of safety and efficacy

Takes place on 23/01/26 - 13:00-14:00
Registration is required

2. Start session teaching professionalization of the faculty (DS HLS)

Takes place on 02/02/26 - 13:00-15:00
Registration possible until 12/01/26

3. Information session on intellectual property in academic research

Takes place on 21/04/26 - 10:00-12:00
Registration possible until 22/03/26

4. Writing articles for international peer-reviewed journals in the humanities and social sciences (DS BSH)

Takes place on 22-23/04/26 - 09:30-16:30
Registration possible until 18/03/26

5. Academic writing with generative AI

Takes place on 27/05/26 - 09:00-13:00
Registration possible until 29/04/26

6. Mind the GAP (Good Academic Practices)

Takes place online (permanently accessible)

Details & registration

1. Valorisation academy

Takes place from 14/10/25-29/05/26 (series of lectures)
Registration is required

2. PhD Talent stakeholder meeting: get inspired and connect with the non-academic world

Takes place on 20/01/26 - 14:00-18:30
Registration possible until 09/01/26

3. Career stories for (post)docs (DS ST)

Takes place on 29/01/26 - 14:00-16:30
Registration possible until 11/01/26

4. Welcome to the real world - What is your role as PhD in R&D?

Takes place on 26/03/26 - 09:00-16:30
Registration possible until 23/02/26

5. Grow your future career

Takes place on 27-28/04 & 07/05/26 - 09:00-17:00
Registration possible until 30/03/26

6. Big interview: Online training platform

Continuous offer
Registration is required

7. Individual career coaching

Continuous offer
Application is required

8. myCareerCompanion

Continuous offer
Application is required

The doctoral schools partner with several other departments and organisations. Below is an overview of their upcoming activities. For more details about their course offer and acknowledgement in your doctoral school portfolio, please consult this webpage.

1. Education department

Most modules on education are organized in a demand-driven way which means that instructors/professors can 'order' a tailor-made workshop on a specific topic for a specific group of interested people. However, they also have a limited open course offer. These open courses can be found online:

Permanently accessible online learning modules:
- Eerste hulp bij onderwijs @ UHasselt (Dutch)
- Wat maakt een groepswerk succesvol? (Dutch)
- De weg naar betrokken studenten: theorieën en kaders voor het activeren van studenten (Dutch)
- Inclusief onderwijs: Begin bij jezelf als docent (Dutch)
- Effectieve feedback: Hoe doe je het en hoe leer je het aan? (Dutch)
- Studenten aan het stuur: Faciliteer zelfregulerend leren (Dutch)
- Artificiële intelligentie in het onderwijs (Dutch)
- First aid for education @UHasselt
- What makes group work successful?
- The road to engaged students: Theories and frameworks for student activation
- Effective feedback: How to do it and how to teach it?
- Inclusive education: Start with yourself as a teacher
- Students at the wheel: Facilitate self-regulated learning
Inspiratiesessies AI van de Vlaamse Universiteiten - semester 2 (online) - 26/01-29/05/26
ANS in actie! (Dutch) - 10/02/26
Is your groupwork working? Guidelines for effective groupwork, conflict management and peerfeedback - 12/02/26
Opnamestudio session: snel aan de slag met kennisclips en podcasts - 17/02/26
Start to teach - 26/02 - 23/04/26
Vul je job als docent efficiënter in met AI (Dutch) - 05/03/26
De kracht van taal in onderwijs: taalontwikkelend lesgeven (Dutch) - 17/03/26
GDPR bij bachelor- en masterproeven (Dutch) - 19/03/26
Van AI-paniek naar AI-power: jouw gids voor sterk onderwijsontwerp. Zo houd jij controle over leren en integriteit - 26/03/26
Opnamestudio session: snel aan de slag met kennisclips en podcasts - 26/03/26
OER voor coördinerend verantwoordelijken (Dutch) - 31/03/26
OER voor coördinerend verantwoordelijken (online) - 22/04/26
Ask & Ans-er - 23/04/26
Intervisie OER (onder)voorzitters examencommissie - 28/04/26
Voorbij de checklist: hoe evalueer ik competenties bij studenten? - 30/04/26
GDPR in Bachelor's and Master's theses - 05/05/26

2. Research data management (RDM)

All UHasselt researchers are expected to adhere to the UHasselt RDM policy plan and manage their data efficiently and with integrity. The RDM team can give you advice on data management planning, policies, best practices, tools, etc. You can contact them directly with your questions and/or follow one or more of their trainings. For their course offer, more information and registration, see their training calendar:

Electronic Lab Notebooks - 09/01/26
Love data week 2026 - 'Where's the data?' - 09/02-13/02/26
Tidy data part 1: How to structure your data - 16/03/26
Into the DMP - 19/03/26
DMP writing session - 19/03/26
Into the DMP - 23/04/26
DMP writing session - 23/04/26
Tidy data part 2: How to document your data - 27/04/26
Introduction to Anonymization and Pseudonymization - 18/05/26
Wrapping up your research project - 19/05/26
Electronic lab notebooks - 15/06/26

3. HR Department

Hasselt University encourages personal growth and development among its staff by offering a wide range of training courses and career support. This offer is also open to all PhD researchers and postdoctoral researchers.

4. Flanders’ training network for methodology and statistics (FLAMES)

Courses on statistics and methodology, which take place throughout the academic year at all Flemish universities. The FLAMES summer school and courses organized at Hasselt University are listed in this newsletter; the others can be found on the FLAMES website.

Exploratory data analysis with R (digitally) - 09, 12 & 13/01/26 - 13:00-16:00

5. Interuniversity course offer for young researchers

The doctoral schools of Hasselt University partner with the other four Flemish universities which results in an interuniversity course offer open for young researchers of the five partner universities.

6. EURECA-PRO

The EURECA-PRO Alliance consists of 9 partners who joined forces to enable students, researchers and staff to study, teach and research in the field of responsible consumption and production with the long-term goal of a joined virtual and integrated European campus until 2040. They also organize regular activities for (young) researchers.

Online lecture series 2026: “Energy Transition” (self-paced course) - 15/01/26-21/04/26
Sustainable Innovation and Ecopreneurship 2025 (online course) - 19/01-22/02/26

7. Pitch Please

Pitch Please wil jongeren inspireren, informeren, uitdagen en ondersteunen om hun ondernemende kwaliteiten aan te scherpen. Een overzicht van de Pitch Please activiteiten kan je online terugvinden.

Brainstorm Bash i.s.m. Vlajo - 16/02/26
Kickstart your startUP: Prijs bepalen - 26/02/26
Onderhandelen - 04/03/26
Kickstart your StartUp: waar zitten mijn klanten? - 12/03/26
Spotlight awards i.s.m. Unizo - 25/03/26
Kickstart your StarUP: Leren pitchen - 23/04/26
Webinar wednesday: De kracht van sociale media - 29/04/26
Inspiratie-mediacafé i.s.m. What's Next Media - 07/05/26

8. Flanders AI Academy (VAIA)

Courses and trainings on artificial intelligence for professionals and researchers in Flanders which take place throughout the academic year. For the full offer, please visit the VAIA website.

9. Flemish Supercomputer Centre (VSC)