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 will be facilitated by Rachael Cayley, Director of the Centre for Graduate Professional Development and Associate Professor, Teaching Stream at the Graduate Centre for Academic Communication.

Starting on January 20, we’ll gather online on Monday mornings at 10:00 am ET for goal setting, strategies, and reflections. The cohort will last for three months, ending on April 14. Throughout, our aim will be to create a mutually supportive community of doctoral writers committed to building healthy writing routines.

The program will take place online and will be accessed via Quercus. The Quercus site will be a place to ask questions, post accomplishments, 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.

Register your interest for the Winter 2025 cohort here: https://forms.office.com/r/22enmeC8MN. If you have questions, please email cgpd@utoronto.ca.