Each semester the CS PhD committee organizes some mini-courses on topics that are relevant for the PhD students at the department.

ECTS credits are awarded for regular participation.

Current program:

Spring 2026:

• March 18, 2026, 13:15 – 15:00: "How to supervise your supervisor" with Claudio Orlandi & Niklas Elmqvist. Register here
  Abstract: The relationship between a student and their advisor is probably one of the most important factors in a successful, fun, and memorable PhD. Advisors want the best for their students, but they are often busy, overloaded, and sometimes chaotic.
  In this session, we flip the perspective and ask what PhD students can do to get the best out of their supervisors’ time and attention. We will discuss expectations, communication, and workflows, what works and what does not, drawing on our own experiences and your questions. (Hopefully) with a healthy dose of humor.The goal is a more productive, and less frustrating, advisor–student relationship for both sides.
   
• April 9, 2026, 13:15 – 15:00: “Chart Clinique” with Hans-Jörg Schulz. Register here
  The chart doctor is in: Bring your ailing visuals to the Chart Clinique for some advice on how to make them better! Whether you've got a paper deadline coming up or have to hand in your thesis soon, you may want to check that your figures and charts show your work in the best possible light. Whether it's a diagram of benchmark data, a visualization of user study results, a flow chart illustrating an algorithm, or a graphical abstract---at the Chart Clinique you can get professional advice on how to improve them. We'll look at everything from common problems and mistakes to simple improvements for chart types, color scales, labeling and legends. And we'll also go over considerations like making your charts consistent, color-blind safe, and photocopier safe, so that no matter who looks at them in whichever way will get the main insights. Together, we'll look at your charts and discuss them in a first come, first serve mode. Please bring your charts in digital form, so that we can zoom into their details. And of course, you can also just come to listen in. Even if you don't have a chart to bring, watch how we discuss improvements for other PhD students' charts and pick up some tricks for your own scientific charting practice.
   
• May 7, 2026, 14:15 – 16:00: “Research Community Work: From Reviewing, Student Volunteering, Committee Work to Chairing” with Sophia Yakoubov & Stefanie Zollmann. Register here
  More info will follow.

To attend, you must sign up via the registration links above at least one week in advance. If too few sign up, the activity will be cancelled.

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Fall 2025:

• October 21, 2025, 14:15 – 16:00: "How (Not) to Present a Paper" with Anders Møller. [Register here]
  Anders will give some advice for presenting research papers at, for example, conferences, and there will be some exercises, so bring your laptop with presentations if you have made some previously.

• November 13, 2025, 13:15 – 15:00: “Chart Clinique” with Hans-Jörg Schulz. [Register here]
  The chart doctor is in: Bring your ailing visuals to the Chart Clinique for some advice on how to make them better! Whether you've got a paper deadline coming up or have to hand in your thesis soon, you may want to check that your figures and charts show your work in the best possible light. Whether it's a diagram of benchmark data, a visualization of user study results, a flow chart illustrating an algorithm, or a graphical abstract---at the Chart Clinique you can get professional advice on how to improve them. We'll look at everything from common problems and mistakes to simple improvements for chart types, color scales, labeling and legends. And we'll also go over considerations like making your charts consistent, color-blind safe, and photocopier safe, so that no matter who looks at them in whichever way will get the main insights. Together, we'll look at your charts and discuss them in a first come, first serve mode. Please bring your charts in digital form, so that we can zoom into their details. And of course, you can also just come to listen in. Even if you don't have a chart to bring, watch how we discuss improvements for other PhD students' charts and pick up some tricks for your own scientific charting practice.

• December 10, 2025, 14:15 – 16:00: “Reading Papers” with Ira Assent [Register here]  
  Call to all chronically over-caffeinated: read smarter, not longer! 
  Reading a research paper like it’s a book traps you in a perpetual loop between the abstract and the conclusion, hoping for clarity that never comes. Half the battle is figuring out where to look, and how to actually engage with the paper. Join us and reclaim your scholarly destiny!

To attend, you must sign up via the registration links above at least one week in advance. If too few sign up, the activity will be cancelled.

The mandatory course Introduction to Science Teaching is offered locally at CS (only for computer science students) and centrally at GSNS (for all NAT PhD students). We recommend that you choose the CS version as it is more tailored for the courses taught at the department. Please note, that you have to take both modules.
Also, it is recommendable to complete Introduction to Science Teaching as early as possible in your PhD program.

Dates for the next Science Teaching courses for CS students: 

Autumn 2025:

Module 1:

13. August
15. August

Module 2:

22. August
22. September
24. November
27. November

Spring 2026:

Module 1:

27. January
29. January

Module 2:

19. February
18. March
21. May
3. June

Send an email to Natascha Schalburg (n.schalburg+scienceteaching@cs.au.dk)  to sign up. In the e-mail please include; full name, email address, and your AUID.

At the Department of Computer Science most master's courses can also be targeted at PhD students. See the course catalogue. Please note that there are two different procedures when signing up for courses depending on whether the course should be part of the 30 ECTS PhD course programme or the 60 ECTS Master’s programme:

• Master’s course as part of the 30 ECTS PhD course programme: send an e-mail to gradschool.nat@au.dk, subject “Registration for Master’s Courses”, containing the following information: Name, student number, name of the course, and STADS UVA code (can be found in the course catalogue http://kursuskatalog.au.dk/).
  The PhD variant of a master's course must have adjusted learning goals, to qualify as a PhD level course. This may involve, for example, presenting papers, giving lectures, writing a short paper or survey, implementing algorithms, or relating the course topics to the PhD student’s research project. The plan must be discussed individually with the course lecturer, before the course starts, on the student’s initiative. PhD students who are also master's students must decide (before the course starts) which version to take.
• Master’s course as part of the 60 ECTS Master’s programme: sign up for the course(s) via the online Self Service facility.

To get course credit (ECTS points) for activities, such as summer schools, study gropus, or courses from non-Danish universities, send an email to the head of the CS PhD committee Anders Møller containing:

• a description of the scientific contents (for example, a link to a web page showing the schedule for the summer school or journal club)
• an estimate of the total number of hours spent by the student, including preparation
• conferences or workshops followed by a trip report presentation for research group
• a short recommendation by the main supervisor

Usually, 1 ECTS corresponds to 25-28 hours of work. After approval, upload the email containing the approval as a PDF to MyPhD.