Practical leadership skills for PhD students
Practical leadership skills for PhD students
22 April 2026, 9h00-17h00
General context
Leadership is not reserved for formal management roles — it starts during your PhD, when guiding students, collaborating in teams, or influencing peers. This workshop is designed for early-career researchers who want to explore what leadership means in practice and build essential skills for guiding others.
You will explore the differences between managing, coaching, and leading, gain insights into your personal leadership style, and discover practical tools for setting goals and giving feedback. Whether you’re leading a thesis student or preparing for a future leadership role, this course will help you grow with confidence and clarity.
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Distinguish between leadership, management, and coaching — and understand when to apply each role.
- Identify their own leadership style and reflect on the strengths and development areas it brings.
- Use tools and techniques aligned with different leadership styles to guide and motivate others.
- Set clear, actionable goals for team members or collaborators and communicate them effectively.
- Give and receive constructive feedback using evidence-based models.
- Apply leadership skills in practical scenarios through active exercises and reflection.
This is a highly interactive, hands-on workshop. Participants engage in role-play, real-life scenario discussions, and guided reflection to internalize key leadership concepts. While grounded in theory, the emphasis is on translating leadership models into practical skills that can be applied immediately in research environments.
VIB PhD students.
Trainers
Robin Lefebvre
Robin Lefebvre, PhD, offers the academic community over 10 years of evidence-based leadership development expertise, with a proven track record of empowering researchers and professors across leading Belgian universities (VIB, UGent, UA, VUB, and others). He translates his extensive experience as an R&D Leader and corporate trainer at Procter & Gamble into highly hands-on training approaches that effectively bridge theory and practice. Drawing on his background, which includes leading significant innovation programs for global brands and contributing to organizational restructuring, he delivers leadership training focused on inspirational leadership, adaptive leadership, and cultivating collaborative innovation. Robin is dedicated to equipping academic leaders with essential skills to maximize their impact and foster an environment of continuous growth.
Program
- Training opener
- Have participants introduce each other
- Set key expectations for the training
- Discuss the flow of the training
- Session 1: Managing, Coaching, and Leading
- In breakout groups, what are managing, coaching, and leading, and what skills are required for each?
- Group discussion: How can you apply these in your current role?
- Session 2: How to grow as a leader?
- Short introduction to different leadership styles
- In breakout groups: what are some of the key skills and tools you know that are used in:
- Visionary leadership
- Individualised leadership
- Participative leadership
- Group discussion: how can you get more experience with these tools and competencies?
- Session 3: Setting goals
- How to ensure that the right work is done by setting goals
- SMART goals + individual exercise
- Process goals + individual exercise
- CLEAR learning goals + individual exercise
- Per three: role-playing how to set and communicate goals for one another and getting feedback.
- How to ensure that the right work is done by setting goals
- Session 4: Providing Effective Feedback
- The science, the why, when and how to give feedback
- Per three: role-playing providing feedback in specific case studies, and getting feedback.
- Wrap up—What actions will you take out of this training, and how and when will you act upon them?
Practical info
22 April 2026
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
Technologiepark 75
9052 Zwijnaarde
Belgium
22 April 2026
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
From Ghent Sint-Pieters station, you can take a bus to Technologiepark. Please check Routeplanner De Lijn for schedules.
22 April 2026
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
Looking for a custom cycling route? Try the online cycling route planner to easily and quickly identify the fastest, safest and/or most scenic route to any destination in Ghent.
Cycling route planner
Shared bicycles:
Several providers are active in the area.
Take a look at their platforms:
- Indigo Weel Pro app
- Bluebike
- DOTT
- BOLT eBikes
- Donkey Republic
There are also some public bicycle pumps at the park.
22 April 2026
Ghent - VIB/UGent FSVM II
There is only one entrance to Technologiepark. At the entrance, please take a ticket - Parking is only allowed in regular parking spots (for instance in front of the building) and in the parking tower. Parking alongside the roads or in other places where there is no regular parking is prohibited.