Graduate Students
Learning Development & Success helps students succeed in graduate school. We cover areas such as time management, goal setting, research organization, habit creation, presentation skills, reading and writing strategies, motivation and positive mindsets, and so much more! Check out the services below to see how we can help and for information and ideas on how to balance the challenges of taking courses, conducting research, doing volunteer work, writing your dissertation, and being an effective teacher.
Presentations and Workshops
The Learning Development & Success team offers a variety of live sessions on topics that are common challenges among graduate students. These sessions are held at different times in the year and include the following:
Synchronous Sessions for research-based graduate students:
Staying motivated in grad school (Own Your Future sign up), Wednesday, May 17th at 2:30pm
Synchronous sessions for course-based graduate students
Prerecorded Sessions:
Please consider viewing our Prerecorded Learning Videos.
For additional sessions offered by LDS and other campus partners, please visit Own Your Future (OYF) which is Western's doctoral professional development program. You can view their upcoming live sessions in the OYF Calendar or view their recordings of past sessions. Master's students and postdocs are welcome to attend if space is available.
GradUpdATE: E-Newsletter
Subscribe to our monthly E-Newsletter and receive helpful suggestions and useful information on how to succeed in grad school every month. To sign up, send an e-mail to gradupdate-request@uwo.ca. Type 'subscribe' as the subject and send - that's it! Feel free to also browse our archived editions of GRADUpdATE.
Time Management (PDFs, progress tracker, dissertation calculator)
Here is a time management workbook developed for graduate students with information, resources, tools, and strategies to assist with time management. For tips on time management for grad students, click here.
Use a calendar to help manage your time and organize deadlines.
- Weekly Calendar
- March - April 2023 Calendar
- May - June 2023 Calendar
- July - August 2023 Calendar
- May - August 2023 Calendar
Use a dissertation calculator to help break down your project and a tracker to monitor your progress
PhD & Masters Planning Group
Every Monday, from May 29th to July 17th, students discuss and reflect on what they were or were not able to get done during the previous week, then you have time to plan for the upcoming week, and share your plans with each other. Space is limited. Registration is now closed for summer 2023 but to learn more and be placed on a wait list for fall 2023 planning groups, click here.
Book an Appointment
Looking for help developing a plan to complete your work? Wanting progress check-ins to stay on track? Wondering how to improve your time management or motivation? Book a confidential individual appointment with us.
Mindfulness Events and groups
Mindfulness can greatly impact your learning and work by lowering your anxiety and helping you focus and recharge better. Learn more about our mindfulness programs and how you can benefit from mindfulness.
Learn2Thrive
A 5-week program specifically designed for graduate students in research-based programs and a 10-week program for graduate students in course-based programs (and undergraduate students) that introduce you to a range of helpful learning and thriving concepts. Learn more about Learn2Thrive here.
