Project management - a toolbox for scientists

Academia Raetica

Introduction

Projects are all around us. Specifically, in science the planning and management of projects is highly complex and requires a set of tools and techniques to perform successfully. Project management includes excellent techniques to allocate, use, and monitor resources to achieve a goal in a desired time frame. In a scientific setting, goals may include the set-up of experiments, the allocation of grants, publishing a paper, or even achieving tenure.

To develop a common language, this comprehensive workshop imparts a toolbox of project management skills for PhD candidates and postdocs from various disciplines. It provides basic project management concepts and principles based on international standards (PMI). An important part of this training includes aspects of agile project management and how to apply flexible project management approaches into the research environment. During the workshop, scientists will go through the full project life cycle to develop highly valued transferable competencies to enhance their professional portfolio.

Objectives

Participants who complete this comprehensive two-day workshop will learn how to initiate, plan, and execute a project that meets objectives on time and within the budget. In addition, the workshop addresses different techniques which are relevant for a flexible approach to project management.

Define and prepare

• What is a project and what is not

• Project management in academia vs. industry

• Project life cycle

• Stakeholder management

Develop plans

• Work breakdown structure (WBS)

• Gantt charts: define a schedule and estimate task durations

• Cost estimations

• Risk management plan

Execute and monitor

• Execution and closing of projects

• Monitoring of progress including an overview of available online tools

• Project communication

Introduction to Agile Project Management

• Agile and iterative approaches

• Changes, project crashing and common mistakes

Note

This workshop does not provide detailed training in specific project management software. An overview of commonly used tools will be included.

Trainer

Sina Saladin has broad professional experience in implementation and development of project outlines in the academic environment. She holds a PhD in Molecular Biology (University of Zurich) and an MBA in Academic Management (University of Basel). Sina brings extensive experience in life sciences research, project management, and academic training. She implemented the Graduate Center GRACE, the professional platform for doctoral candidates and postdocs at the University of Basel, and worked as a project manager at the AO Foundation, a medically guided, not-for-profit organization. Currently she works at the WSL-Snow and Avalanche Institute SLF on establishing a new research center on climate change and natural hazards. She is also the founder of Manage Science (www.managescience.ch), providing professional training for scientists).

General information and fee

• Dates: October 8 & 9, 2026 (Thursday and Friday), 09:00 AM to ca. 5:00 PM with breaks

• Location: Davos, TBA

• Lecturer: Dr. Sina Saladin

• Language: English

• Target audience: PhD students and postdocs, all interested scientists

• Course fee for participants from Academia Raetica member or partner institutions: CHF 150. The course fee includes coffee breaks.

• External participants (not working at an Academia Raetica member or partner institution): CHF 300

• Registration deadline: 21. September, 2025

• Max. number participants: 12 (min. number participants 6)

• Cancellation policy: We ex­pect you to be pre­sent for the full du­ra­ti­on of the cour­se. Please see our Terms of Participation for details.

• Course Coordinator: Daniela Heinen, daniela.heinen@academiaraetica.ch, phone 081 410 60 84

• WORKLOAD: ca. 30 hours (1 ECTS)

  • Preliminary work: between 30 minutes and 1 hour

  • Project Management Workshop: 2 x 8 hours interactive workshop

  • Optional: additional follow-up assignment (13h) to receive 1 ECTS credit

Plea­se check beforehand with your su­per­vi­sor at your uni­ver­si­ty, if the cour­se counts towards ECTS.

• Course certificate: You will receive a certificate of attendance, if you fully attend both workshop days.

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