Lectures and seminars Joint Virtual Journal Club for PhD Students - October 2026 to April 2027

Background:

For Doctoral students, it is fundamental to improve their reading skills and gain practice in critiquing and appraising research. One common method to enhance skills in interpreting research results and evaluating research designs is participating in journal clubs. Virtual journal clubs can be a safe space where Doctoral students can also improve their presentation and communication skills and expand their professional network. The club may serve to connect researchers and students, which is particularly beneficial for those practitioners who have few local peers. Connecting with peers globally via online journal clubs is a natural in today’s world of medical and health care education, which will accelerate knowledge transfer and become an increasingly important tool in continuing medical education and research. 

Aim:

To promote the development of critical appraisal skills among Doctoral students and the ability to articulate these accurately, covering

• Geographically different research practices and topics.
• Quantitative / qualitative / mixed-methods empirical study designs. 
• Useful insights for own research activities and competencies as a scholar.

Methodology:

A group of Doctoral students will meet virtually via Zoom to discuss articles from the health and rehabilitation science literature, their study designs and choice of methods (quantitative / qualitative / mixed-methods), and their interpretation of results under the guidance of senior researchers (activity leaders). The virtual format provides a safe learning environment and allows Doctoral students to engage with each other locally as well as abroad. One predefined article will be discussed per meeting, which all participants are required to read and study in detail beforehand.

To inspire the exchange, one of the participating Doctoral students (or a group depending on the number of participants) will be assigned to present their view of the article at the beginning of each meeting using prepared slides (approx. 12 minutes). Only one slide may be dedicated to summarizing the article (using a given structure of only three aspects: research question, design, conclusions drawn by the authors), while the main part (minimum of two slides) must lie on the students’ own thought process on the “discussion points” listed below pertaining to the article’s method, validity, interpretation and limitations. Factual criticism is encouraged. For group presentations, every student must have a speaking part in the main part of the presentation. The activity leaders will then add further methodological discussion points, followed by in-depth breakout group discussions during which every participant is required to share their thought process. Each meeting concludes with a plenary discussion in which members of each breakout group convey the most important insights from their breakout group discussion. Students are encouraged to take the opportunity to volunteer at the beginning of breakout sessions as the designated person to summarize breakout group talking points in the plenary at the end.

Discussion points:

• Is the research question and setting clearly stated?
• Which methodological requirements does the research question imply?
• Was the study design well-chosen or could another design have better answered the research question as stated in the article?
• Is the sampling procedure clear and for which population are the results therefore generalizable? Is this accurately stated in the article?
• How were constructs operationalized for a valid data collection?
• Are the quantitative statistical tests, the qualitative data analyses, or integration / triangulation methods clearly described so that they can be replicated?
• Is the reporting of results clear? Was their interpretation done scientifically correctly and to the point?
• Does the conclusion relate closely to the research question?
• Were strengths and limitations discussed appropriately? Should others have been added?
• Are any policy implications suggested in the article direct derivations from the evidence the study generated? 

Research articles to be discussed:

Participating Doctoral students have the opportunity to propose a published original empirical research article, one of which will be the focus of a session of the course. Students are encouraged to send their suggested article of interest to the activity leaders by e-mail between 31 August and 06 September 2026. Articles must concern the field of public (global) health, health care in general, medicine, caring sciences, nursing, midwifery, physio- or occupational therapy or rehabilitation sciences.

From noon (CET) of 07 September 2026 until 14 September 2026, students can enrol as presenters for a specific date and article (link will be provided by e-mail; first come first served; student(s) who suggested the student-suggested article ultimately integrated into the course program will be assigned to present that article; maximum allowed number of students per article will apply depending on the total number of registered students). Participants who do not enrol for a specific date and article by 14 September 2026 will be randomly assigned. 

Preparation and active participation:

The final course schedule including the presenters / presenting groups will be made available to all participants at the latest two weeks before the first meeting of the course. All Doctoral students are asked to study the scheduled articles / manuscripts in depth before the respective sessions, using the discussion points above, so that an informed learning discussion can take place. Active contribution to the discussion in each session is expected.

Activity leaders:

The activity leaders for the virtual journal club for the academic year 2026/2027 are Myrta Kohler, PhD, and Marco Riguzzi, PhD, who are senior researchers from the University of Zürich (UZH). They will provide guidelines for the articles being reviewed and for what is expected of the presenters and the attendees of each meeting. They will host the meetings and ensure a safe and respectful learning atmosphere.

Participants:

An overall total of up to 18 Doctoral students from Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the University of Zürich (UZH) may participate in the course.

Dates and Time:

Dates: 05 October 2026, 16 November 2026, 14 December 2026, 22 February 2027, 15 March 2027, 26 April 2027 (Mondays).

Time: 16:00-17:00.

Criteria:

Successful participation in the Journal Club is graded pass/fail based on the individual presentation and active contribution to the discussion in each session. Virtual participation is mandatory, although one justified absence is permitted. Virtual participation requires a stationary computer / laptop with a stable high-speed internet connection and a functional camera and microphone that are always turned on for the duration of each meeting. Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are not allowed. Neither is participation while travelling.

Registration:

Please register by 30 August 2026. Doctoral students are required to provide confirmation that their thesis supervisor is aware of and agrees to their participation in the course. Once registered, there is a period of one week until 06 September 2026 during which deregistration is possible, but no new registration is possible any more. After that date, participation is mandatory for registered Doctoral students. 

Registration link (for KI students): https://forms.office.com/e/rS6ttyc59k 

For questions related to the registration or participation requirements / regulations, please contact puf-v@ki.se (KI students) or care-and-rehabilitation-sciences@dekmed.uzh.ch (UZH students).

For questions related to the activity itself, please contact the activity leaders, Marco Riguzzi, marco.riguzzi@uzh.ch, and Myrta Kohler, myrta.kohler@uzh.ch.