Doctoral Completion Cohort

Are you in the final stages of doctoral thesis writing? Are you hoping to submit your thesis this year? If so, consider joining our informal, online, cross-disciplinary cohort of doctoral thesis writers. The goal of the Doctoral Completion Cohort is to provide a space for doctoral thesis writers to gather virtually and support one another through the intense process of finishing a thesis. The cohort is facilitated by Rachael Cayley, Director of the Centre for Graduate Professional Development and Associate Professor, Teaching Stream at the Graduate Centre for Academic Communication.

Our meetings take place on Zoom, and the program is accessed via Quercus. The Quercus site is a place to ask questions, set goals, share resources, and arrange co-writing times with other participants. Joining this cohort is a low stakes way to connect with others who are going through a similar experience. And if you have specific questions about thesis writing, you can suggest particular topics for Rachael to address. Should you edit as you go? How should you plan your writing time? Can freewriting help when you’re stuck? How can you convince yourself to let go of your writing? Should you set qualitative or quantitative writing goals? Or anything else you are wondering about!

The next session of the Doctoral Completion Cohort will be in Fall 2025; the tentative dates are September 29 to December 15. We’ll gather every Monday morning on Zoom at 10:00 am ET for goal setting and discussion. Throughout, our aim will be to create a mutually supportive community of doctoral writers committed to building healthy writing routines. 

Registration information will be posted in August 2025. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please email cgpd@utoronto.ca. Please note that the Doctoral Completion Cohort will not be offered in Winter 2026 but will return in Fall 2026.

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