ENGAGE.EU Online Training: Beyond the Deadline: Managing Academic Pressure and Prioritizing Well-Being
Academia is an ultramarathon that we try to run as a sprint. This approach tends to leave us with little time or energy for life outside of work and very few resources to cope when we face challenges. But a healthier approach to research is possible and is essential if you want to build a sustainable career in academia.
Despite our increasing diversity, academics tend to harbour a common chorus of voices in our heads. Voices that demand perfection, or that tell us we aren’t good enough and we don’t belong here; voices that have driven us to excel, but that also charge a pretty high tax. A tax on our emotional, mental and physical health.
Yes, the environment is a heavy contributor to the unhealthy, counterproductive lifestyle many of us live. However, we as individuals can address the way we approach academia to buffer us against stress and burnout, worry and fear, and the toxic competition we are often surrounded by.
This workshop provides you with tools to increase your resilience to stress, anxiety and burnout, and to enhance your overall well-being.
We explore:
- The self-critical inner voices that sabotage your motivation and enjoyment for your work;
- How your mindset can help or hinder your day-to-day life and your future career prospects;
- How certain maladaptive coping strategies (e.g. procrastination and avoidance) maintain these self-sabotaging thought and behaviour cycles.
- How to reshape your thinking and behaviour patterns to work for you in pursuit of your goals.
Date and time
27 and 28 May from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Format
Online: 4 LIVE sessions & 3 video learning modules, run over two half-day sessions
Zoom & Vimeo
Please connect with a working audio and video device and expect to actively participate in the workshop with your camera on.
Target group
PhD and postdoctoral researchers from the ENGAGE.EU partner universities
Language of instruction
English
Instructor
Desiree Dickerson, Ph.D.
Maximum number of participants
20
Registration
Please register until 14 May 2025 by writing to postdocs@uni-mannheim.de
with your university e-mail address. Please note that we can only consider registrations sent from your university e-mail account to ensure affiliation with an ENGAGE.EU partner university. If there are more registrations than available places, the participants will be drawn by lot and informed by 20 February. Please find information on the processing of your personal data in our information on data protection.
This workshop in collaboration with ENGAGE.EU and the Postdoc Career Academy at the University of Mannheim is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.