Workshop for PhD students at HUV and NMT: Sustainable working methods ‑ Clarify and follow your values
It often starts with joy, pride, and hope for the future. But over time in the academic environment, feelings of stress, inadequacy, and uncertainty can creep in. When will I finish a task? Am I doing a good job? Do I fit in here?
Workshop 22 September: Sustainable working methods - Clarify and follow your values
We often come to academia to make an important research contribution, to develop, and to learn new things. And of course, to get an interesting and exciting job after the dissertation defense. But the role of a doctoral student is often free — and at the same time unclear. So, how can you draw the line between work and leisure when research might be your main interest? How can you organize your work in a sustainable way, rather than just putting in a higher gear or more hours?
The aim of the workshop is to give you practical tools for working sustainably in an academic context, and to understand the mechanisms that sometimes contribute to the opposite. The toolbox takes its starting point in your and the other participants' motivation and values — to identify the goals, hopes, and positive feelings that are part of the doctoral role, and to act in line with these. You learn to understand your own behaviors, project manage the free role as a doctoral student, and to answer the question: Is my dissertation work moving in the right direction, at the right pace?
The workshop provides an increased understanding of the mechanisms in academia that contribute to an unsustainable working method — such as doing things that work in the short term but not in the long term, following unwritten rules about working late nights and weekends, or how unclear requirements create stress. Knowledge of these mechanisms, in combination with the toolbox, thus enables greater awareness of yourself, your working methods, and your values, and contributes to a more enjoyable, long-term sustainable working method.
The workshop will take place on September 22, 2026, at 9-12, at campus Sundsvall.
Digital introduction 8 September
Before the workshop on Sustainable Working Methods, we recommend that you participate in a digital introduction to the Finish on Time method and, more specifically, the topic of academic productivity. Åsa Burman, founder of Finish on Time and author of the Doctoral Student Handbook: Master Effectiveness, Reduce Stress and Finish on Time, will be holding this. The focus is on the difference between efficiency and effectiveness and on preparing participants for the workshop on September 22.
September 8, 2026, from 10.15 - 11.15. A Zoom link will be sent out a few days in advance.
Registration
Doctoral students at Mid Sweden University, at HUV and NMT, are welcome to register for the workshop which will take place on September 22, 2026, at 9-12, on campus Sundsvall and a digital introduction on September 8 at 10.15-11.15 via Zoom. The workshop will be held in Swedish or English, depending on participants’ requests.
A total of 20 places are available, with 10 places reserved for each faculty. Places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. As the number of places is limited, we kindly ask that you register only if you are able to attend. If you register, we assume that you will participate. However, if you are unable to attend at short notice, please inform us as soon as possible so that another doctoral student can be offered your place. If you need to cancel, please contact sara.haggstrom@miun.se.
The last day to register is August 14.
About the workshop leader
Jenny Rickardsson is a licensed psychologist, PhD, and workshop leader at Finish on Time. She is an affiliated researcher at Karolinska Institutet. She also produces digital treatments for the 29k foundation, has her own practice, and often uses her skills as a former journalist to translate scientific psychological knowledge into practical everyday applications.
About Finish on Time
We have held workshops at 28 universities and colleges in Sweden over the past 18 years. We have met over 12,000 doctoral students, early-career researchers, supervisors, and administrative staff during these workshops. Our workshop leaders are well-versed in academic contexts and experts in academic effectiveness and sustainable working methods. For information and contact details: www.finishontime.org