Course detail

Welcome to Enhancing creativity in PhD work

Program: General Course

Description: Across academic environments, the ability to think creatively is increasingly vital — not just as a means of innovation, but as a practical skill for navigating and solving complex problems, overcoming challenges, generating ideas, and working constructively with others. It helps you move from challenge to insight to action.

A PhD journey is inherently creative: It involves framing problems, seeking novel solutions, and communicating original contributions. Whether you are developing a research design, applying for funding, writing an article, or collaborating across disciplines, your success often hinges on your capacity to think in novel and useful ways.

Building on diverse theoretical perspectives in creativity (i.e., stemming from cognitive and social psychology), this course provides space to explore and apply research-based creativity-enhancing tools in key areas of your academic life. This hands-on PhD course is designed to equip you with tools and techniques to engage actively and effectively with your own creative potential as a researcher – and include those around you in the creative process. The course is highly participatory and intended to foster a safe, playful, yet critical environment where students can experiment with different ways to support creative thinking in individual and collaborative work.

Through a combination of lectures, interactive workshops, and group activities, students will explore selected tools and methods such as LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats, and other creative ideation tools. The course will also address common misconceptions about creativity in academia and help students identify their personal and disciplinary creativity profiles (e.g., reflecting on professional, social and cultural conditions for creativity in their research area and/or research group).

As part of the course, participants will be supported in creating a personal Creativity Map — a visual and strategic reflection on how creativity manifests (or gets blocked) in their research work, and how they might cultivate it more deliberately during and beyond their PhD. 

Topics covered include:

• Theories of creativity: Individual, group, process, and organizational perspectives
• Creativity in research: Navigating uncertainty, complexity, and resistance
• Introduction to creative thinking techniques (divergent/convergent modes)
• Hands-on sessions with ideation tools (e.g., LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®)
• Reflection and creativity journaling for research development – when and how to apply the tools

Prerequisites: No formal prerequisites. The course is relevant for PhD students across disciplines, particularly those in the early to mid-phase of their research.

Form of evaluation: Active participation, including short assignments and presentations during the course.

Key literature: Relevant papers and book chapters will be made available prior to each session.

Organizer: Associate Professor, Ludvig Johan Torp Rasmussen, email: ljtr@hst.aau.dk  

Lecturers:  Associate Professor, Ludvig Johan Torp Rasmussen and invited speakers

ECTS: 2.5

Date: 21, 29 September, and 26 October 2026 (08.15-16.15)

Place: Aalborg University

City: Aalborg

Maximal number of participants: 25

Deadline: 31 August 2026 

Important information concerning PhD courses: There is a no-show fee of DKK 3,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start of the course.

We cannot ensure any seats before the deadline for enrolment, all participants will be informed after the deadline, approximately 3 weeks before the start of the course. 

To attend courses at the Doctoral School in Medicine, Biomedical Science and Technology you must be enrolled as a PhD student.

For inquiries regarding registration, cancellation or waiting list, please contact the PhD administration at phdcourses@adm.aau.dk When contacting us please state the course title and course period. Thank you.