Professional Development Program

About 

The Research School’s Professional Development Program is a one-year complementary educational program that brings together PhD students from diverse laboratories at Lund Stem Cell Center. The program promotes PhD student success by providing academic and career support, coaching, and extra-curricular activities. The program’s professional development activities are built on a collaborative learning model that helps students develop a foundation for long-term career success.

Program aims

The program aims tie into the Research School’s overall mission to shape an excellent, inclusive, and collaborative training and research environment at Lund Stem Cell Center.

• Build a research community to support connection with your fellow PhD students at Lund Stem Cell Center.
• Provide a platform for peer-to-peer support to improve your well-being and research outcomes.
• Foster fundamental skills for career development to enrich your personal and professional satisfaction during your time at Lund Stem Cell Center and beyond.
• Provide mentoring and coaching from program leaders to develop your professional and personal goals.

Program overview

The program is designed to foster the growth of doctoral students through activities that focus on professional development and community building. It includes three key phases centered around kick-off, midterm, and ending meetings. Several toolbox sessions are held throughout the year, each aimed at improving transferable skills. Students also benefit from tailored PDP meet-ups and personalized coaching and mentoring for the duration of the program.

The kick-off phase focuses on community building and well-being with subsequent toolbox sessions covering topics such as grant writing, critical reasoning and logic, non-violent communication, and science communication. As students progress to the midterm phase, the focus shifts to career development, managing conflicts, effective meeting techniques, academic productivity, expanding research networks, and public engagement, with additional support provided through coaching.

The program culminates in an ending retreat where students engage in CV writing and interview preparation. During this retreat, they also collaboratively create a practical PDP handbook, capturing key insights from the toolbox sessions to aid in their ongoing professional journey.

A detailed program schedule is distributed to accepted participants prior to the start of the program.

Application

Key dates

The current group of students has already started. Applications will be accepted again in 2027.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible to apply to the Professional Development Program, you need to:

• Belong to the Research School in Stem Cell Biology at Lund Stem Cell Center, Lund University. Learn more about being an RSSCB member.
• Be in the first*, second, or third year of your graduate education. Admission priority will be given to PhD students who haven’t completed their half-time review yet. *Students who are currently in the admission process are also encouraged to apply.
• Have the permission from your supervisor to attend the program.