Program Overview

Project Management a Toolbox for Scientists

Course Information

The course "Project Management a Toolbox for Scientists" is an online program designed for doctoral candidates and postdocs. The course dates are:

• Thursday, May 21, 2026, 9:00 AM till 5:00 PM
• Thursday, May 28, 2026, 9:00 AM till 5:00 PM Registration opens on January 21, 2026, at 9:00 AM, and the registration deadline is April 23, 2026, at 12:00 PM.

Course Fees

This course is free of charge and is exclusively available to doctoral candidates and postdocs of the University of Basel, with a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 14 participants.

Trainer

The course is led by Dr. Sina Saladin, who has extensive experience in project management in the academic environment. She holds a doctorate in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich and an MBA in Academic Management from the University of Basel.

Credits

The course is worth 1 ECTS credit and can be credited towards Higher Education Teaching Certificates, specifically Module Context Higher Education.

Organized by

The course is organized by the Graduate Center, Transferable Skills, and the GRACE Homepage.

Aims

The course aims to provide a comprehensive toolbox of project management skills for doctoral candidates and postdocs from various disciplines. It covers basic project management concepts and principles based on international standards (PMI) and includes a session on agile project management and the application of the SCRUM framework in a research environment.

Content

Participants will learn how to initiate, plan, and execute a project that meets objectives on time and within budget. The course addresses different techniques for a flexible approach to project management and covers the full project life cycle.

Day 1

• Define and prepare: Understand what a project is and what is not, learn about project management in academia vs. industry, and introduction to the project life cycle.
• Develop plans: Make a work breakdown structure (WBS), develop a schedule based on the project plan, and do cost estimations.

Day 2

• Introduction to Agile Project Management
• Consider agile and iterative approaches
• Introduction to SCRUM for researchers
• Identify risks: Consider changes, project crashing, and common mistakes, and develop a risk management plan.
• Execution of projects: Monitoring of progress, including an overview of available online tools, project communication, and project closing.

Methods

The course is highly interactive, organized over two days, and focuses on real project cases. Participants will develop their individual project life cycle through interactive group exercises. Ahead of the workshop, participants are asked to return a short feedback about their expectations for the workshop and to submit their individual project (optional). The course material and a project management handbook will be distributed as PDF files to all participants.

Target Group

The course is designed for all doctoral candidates and postdocs.

About the Trainer

Dr. Sina Saladin has broad professional experience in implementation and development of project outlines in the academic environment. She combines her extensive research experience in the life sciences with an in-depth understanding of process development and project management to provide interactive and professional training experiences.

Workload

The total workload for the course is 17 hours, including preliminary work (between 30 minutes and 1 hour) and the workshop (2 x 8 hours). An optional follow-up assignment (13 hours) is available to receive 1 ECTS credit.

Feature

Once registration is open, applications will be collected for 24 hours, and course places will be allocated by lot. All registrations received after the initial 24-hour period will be put on a waiting list and assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Course places/places on the waiting list will be confirmed by email. Full course attendance is mandatory.