Centre for Professional Learning
How to Build a Better Relationship with Your PhD Supervisor - From the Inside Out
- Kate Kirk, Senior Programme Leader, Centre for Professional Learning
- Date
- Friday 16 October 2026
- Time
- Location
- De Tuin van de Smid
Polderpad 8
2322 LB Leiden
What makes a PhD journey not only successful, but also sustainable and fulfilling? A strong and healthy relationship with your supervisor can make an enormous difference ! Learning to navigating expectations, communication, and professional dynamics is not always easy.
This one-day workshop offers PhD students a chance to step out of the demands of everyday academic life and create space for reflection, insight, and connection. Together, we will explore the question: What do you need to feel happy, productive, and successful in your work and professional relationships?
Through guided reflection and practical exercises, you will gain greater awareness of your own needs, working style, and communication patterns. To support this process, we will introduce simple breathing and visualization techniques designed to help calm the body and mind, creating the conditions for clearer thinking and more grounded interactions.
Building on this foundation, we will explore practical tools for communicating effectively with your supervisor. Using role play exercises and approaches inspired by Nonviolent Communication, you will practice expressing needs, setting boundaries, navigating difficult conversations, and fostering more constructive professional relationships.
This workshop is for PhD students who would like to strengthen communication, increase self-awareness, and cultivate a more supportive and collaborative supervisory relationship.
Dr. Kate Kirk, Senior Program Lead Center for Professional Learning