Run your doctorate like a project, from first milestone to viva and career
A complete PhD research management kit: one workbook that maps every milestone and tests your runway, plus the forms, templates, cheat sheets and notebook pages for each recurring moment of a three to five year doctorate.
- PhD Command Centre workbook: 14 sheets, a runway calculator and a Dashboard with 22 metrics, traffic lights and 3 charts
- Supervisor relationship charter, meeting record and a library of 30 ready-to-adapt emails
- Data management plan worksheet, journal choice scorecard, annual review pack and viva planner
- A 9,000-word e-book with 22 figures following Wei through year two of a four-year PhD
The PhD Research Manager · Bodhih Pro Kits · 301 by Bodhih Training, trainers to 2,000+ companies since 2008.
How do you manage a PhD like a project?
Map the formal gates and your own milestones, forecast them monthly, and keep a runway of the work left against the weeks left. Agree a written supervisor charter, log reading, notebooks, data, papers and time, and use annual reviews to replan. The PhD Research Manager kit from Bodhih Training gives you the workbook, forms and templates to do this.
Want the full free guide first? Read How do you manage a PhD like a project? A step-by-step method.
You already feel the problem. Here is what it is costing you.
The plan from month one stopped matching reality
Most doctoral plans are drawn once and never compared with the calendar. By year two nobody knows whether the remaining work fits the remaining funding.
Supervision runs on memory
Irregular meetings, unrecorded decisions and three versions of what was agreed. Nothing is wrong until something goes wrong, and then there is no record.
Reading, notebooks and data drift
Hundreds of PDFs with no notes, notebook pages only you can read, and a dataset that lives on one laptop. Each is a small risk until it becomes a large one.
Papers, teaching and deadlines arrive at once
Co-author review, a conference abstract, a funding call and marking all land in the same month as fieldwork, with no view of the whole year.
Picture the next few weeks with the kit open beside you.
Imagine opening one workbook on a Friday afternoon and seeing, on one screen, where your doctorate stands: programme month, funding left, which milestones are slipping and by how much, when you last met your supervisors, whether your data is safe, and whether the work left still fits the weeks you have.
As you fill in the supervisor charter this week, notice how much easier the next meeting becomes when you have sent an agenda of three decisions 48 hours ahead, and how a same-day summary email ends the question of what was agreed.
When your annual review comes round, you will not scramble. You will open the progress pack, copy numbers from the workbook, explain each slip with a cause and a fix, and show a runway the panel can believe. Whether you start with the milestone map tonight or the data register tomorrow, each habit makes the next one easier.
And when the viva or defence is on the map, the reading notes, notebook index and meeting records you kept on ordinary weeks are the preparation you already did.
20 files that do the work for you
The e-book shows you how. The tools make it happen. Here is exactly what you download.
The PhD Research Manager (e-book, PDF)
The guide: methods, worked examples, scripts and exercises
Start here: your PhD research map
The whole doctorate as a flow, which file to open at each step, your first hour, your first week and a 30/60/90 day plan.
PhD Command Centre workbook
Settings-driven master workbook: milestone map, supervisor log, reading queue, notebook index, data register, publication pipeline, conference and funding tracker, teaching and time logs, runway calculator, risk register and a dashboard with traffic lights and three charts.
Supervisor meeting record
One page per meeting: agenda sent ahead, progress since last time, decisions, actions with owners and dates, and the summary email checklist.
Annual review progress pack
Self-assessment for a progression, confirmation or annual review: milestones, outputs, skills, risks, next-year plan and what you need from the panel.
Data management plan worksheet
Work out your data plan before you collect anything: data types, storage, backup, personal data, retention and sharing, ready to copy into your funder's or university's template.
Journal choice scorecard
Score up to three target journals on fit, readership, speed, open access route and cost, with a trust check before you submit.
Viva and defence preparation planner
Six weeks of preparation for a viva or defence: logistics, a one-page thesis summary, likely questions, practice sessions and the corrections plan.
Supervisor relationship charter
A one-page working agreement between you and your supervisors: meetings, feedback turnaround, records, authorship, leave, integrity and AI, and what happens when things go wrong.
PhD message and email library
30 ready-to-adapt emails for supervisors, co-authors, editors, funders, the department, examiners and career contacts.
Progress, publication and funding documents
Six ready-to-send documents: annual progress report, journal cover letter, response to reviewers, extension or interruption request, travel funding application and a reference request brief.
Thesis assembly and career plan templates
Thesis skeletons for a monograph and a thesis by publication, a statement of contribution, a linking-text plan, a corrections log and a post-PhD career and development plan.
Worked example pack: Wei's year two
The charter, milestone map, meeting record, runway, data plan, journal scorecard, time and teaching logs, annual review and career plan, all completed for one illustrative case.
AI prompt pack for doctoral research
25 tool-agnostic prompts grouped by stage of the doctorate, each with what to paste in and what to check before you use the output.
Numbers that matter
Twelve numbers a doctorate runs on: plain definition, exact formula, where it lives in the workbook and what to do if it moves.
Decision card and mistakes to avoid
If this, do that: the decisions that come up every month in a doctorate, plus the twelve most expensive mistakes and how to avoid them.
PhD rules by country: correct at November 2026
Dated reference to stipends, programme rules, data and open access policies and publication ethics in named countries, with the official source for each.
Lab and field notebook print pack
Five printable pages: a four-year milestone wall map, a lab notebook page, a field record sheet with safety checks, an eight-rule notebook poster and pocket cards for meetings, backups and the weekly review.
PhD year-cycle calendar plan
46 calendar events for one review year: weekly reviews, monthly time and backup checks, quarterly runway checks, the annual review and charter review.
PhD task board (import file)
40 tasks for Trello, Asana, Notion, Planner or Jira, from set-up to career plan, each naming the kit file to use.
Chapter by chapter
Each chapter opens with a real situation, gives you a method and ends with something to do today, using the tools in your kit.
- Format
- PDF e-book + XLSX + fillable PDF + DOCX + printable PDF + ICS + CSV
- Files
- 20 files plus a one-click ZIP
- E-book
- 65 pages
- Works with
- Excel, Google Sheets, LibreOffice, Word, Google Docs, Acrobat Reader, Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, Trello, Asana, Notion
- Best for
- Doctoral researchers in any field, year or country, and supervisors who buy for them
Map the whole doctorate
Map formal gates, outputs and enablers, forecast monthly and test your runway with three-point estimates.
The supervisor relationship charter
Agree a one-page working charter with your supervisors and run every meeting on agendas, decisions and actions.
A reading system that lasts four years
Queue, read with a question, note in your own words and link each source to where it will be used.
The lab and field notebook
Keep lab and field records someone else could repeat, version protocols and index entries weekly.
Your data management plan
Write a data plan in plain words, register every dataset and keep three copies on two kinds of storage.
Annual reviews and progress packs
Turn progression and annual reviews into planning moments with a progress pack built from the workbook.
The publication pipeline and choosing a journal
Agree authorship before drafting, choose journals with a scorecard and trust check, and handle rejection calmly.
Conferences, funding and the teaching load
Track every call and deadline, log teaching including preparation, and decide new commitments with numbers.
Assembling the thesis
Choose the thesis format early, plan linking text and budget assembly as real work.
The viva or defence, and the career after it
Prepare for any examination format and start a dated career plan in year two.
Not just reading. Tools you will actually open again.
Start here
- Start here: your PhD research map (first hour, first week, every step with the file to open, 30/60/90-day plan, Brand it in five minutes)
Workbook
- PhD Command Centre workbook: 14 sheets including Settings, Milestones, Supervisor Log, Reading, Notebook Index, Data Register, Publications, Conferences and Funding, Teaching Log, Time Log, Runway, Risks and a Dashboard with 22 metrics, traffic lights and 3 charts
Fillable PDF forms
- Supervisor meeting record
- Annual review progress pack
- Data management plan worksheet
- Journal choice scorecard
- Viva and defence preparation planner
Word templates
- Supervisor relationship charter (one page)
- PhD message and email library (30 messages)
- Progress, publication and funding documents (6 ready-to-send documents)
- Thesis assembly and career plan templates
- Worked example pack: Wei's year two
- AI prompt pack for doctoral research (25 prompts with integrity rules)
Cheat sheets
- Numbers that matter (12 numbers with formulas)
- Decision card and mistakes to avoid
- PhD rules by country, correct at November 2026
Print pack
- Lab and field notebook print pack: four-year wall map, lab notebook page, field record sheet, notebook rules poster and pocket cards (5 pages)
Calendar and import
- PhD year-cycle calendar plan (46 events)
- PhD task board for Trello, Asana, Notion or Planner (40 tasks)
E-book
- The PhD Research Manager e-book: 10 chapters, 22 figures and Wei's worked example throughout
When you have worked through it, you will be able to…
Every outcome is practised with a worked example and a tool, not just described.
- You will be able to map every formal gate and personal milestone and see slip in days
- You will be able to test whether your remaining work fits your remaining weeks with a runway buffer
- You will be able to agree a written working charter with your supervisors and run meetings on decisions
- You will be able to keep reading, notebooks and data in systems you can rely on in year four
- You will be able to choose journals deliberately and agree authorship before drafting
- You will be able to see your teaching load and time use and decide new commitments with numbers
- You will be able to prepare an annual review pack from live data in an afternoon
- You will be able to start a dated career plan long before submission
Know your starting point. Prove your progress.
People who measure before and after improve faster and can show it. AssessAll, our sister assessment platform, has AI-graded assessments that pair with this kit. Take one now, work through the kit, then re-take it.
Second Look: Research Integrity in Practice
Take the assessment →AssessAll assessmentProject & Delivery Leadership
Take the assessment →AssessAll assessmentEstimation & Forecast Calibration
Take the assessment →JobularyTurn what you learn into a measured development plan (Jobulary)
Make it a growth plan →A taste of Chapter 3
A doctorate is three to five years of reading, and memory does not scale. You will forget most of what you read within months unless you write it down in your own words, in a place you can search. You will also be offered far more reading than you can do: alerts, citations, a supervisor's "you should look at". Without a queue, everything is urgent and nothing gets noted. A reading system has three parts: a queue (what you mean to read, with a priority), notes (what you learned, in your words, with page numbers), and links (which paper, chapter or argument each source will serve). Your reference manager holds citations. The Reading sheet in the Command Centre holds the queue and the links. Your notes can live in the reference manager, a notes app or a paper notebook, so long as every note can be found from the Reading sheet.
The honest comparison
| Free templates and typical advice | This kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | A Gantt chart drawn once in month one | Monthly forecasts, slip in days and a runway buffer that tests the plan |
| Supervision | General advice to communicate well | A one-page charter, meeting record and 30 messages for real moments |
| Data and notebooks | A reminder to back up | Data register with backup flags, notebook index and printable notebook pages |
| Publishing | Lists of journals | Authorship and trust-check gates, a scorecard and a response-to-reviewers template |
| Countries | One country's rules presented as universal | Method that travels, plus a dated sheet with official sources for named countries |
| AI | Prompts that write for you | 25 prompts that plan and check, each with an integrity check |
Made for you if…
- PhD and doctoral researchers in any year, full time or part time
- Master's students about to start a doctorate who want to begin organised
- Early-career researchers running their first funded project
- Supervisors who want a shared system with their students
- Graduate schools and student society officers running research skills sessions (team licence)
- Professional doctorate candidates fitting research around a job
Probably not for you if…
- Anyone looking for someone or something to write their thesis or papers
- Bachelor's or master's students who only need a dissertation plan (see the Dissertation and Thesis System kit)
- Anyone wanting legal, visa or funding advice for their personal situation
Built by trainers, tested in real rooms.
Bodhih Training has designed and delivered corporate programmes since 2008. Bodhih Pro Kits package what works in those workshops into a guide plus the exact tools we use, so you can apply it the same day without a facilitator in the room.
From here to using it in three steps
- STEP 1
Tap Get the kit
Name, email and country. UPI, card or netbanking in India; international cards everywhere else. No account to create.
- STEP 2
Download instantly
Your download page opens at once, with every file and a one-click ZIP. A permanent link lands in your inbox too.
- STEP 3
Open the first tool
Start with the quick-start chapter, then the main spreadsheet or planner. Most buyers use something from the kit the same day.
Your doctorate, visible on one screen
Open the Settings sheet tonight and type three dates: your start, your funding end and your submission target. Whether you then build the milestone map or draft the supervisor charter first, you will have a plan you can steer by Friday.
Personal licence for the buyer's own use (and use with your own students or research group where the kit says so). Please don't share or resell the files. Team and company licences: solutions@bodhih.com.
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How do I plan a four-year PhD?
Start from the formal gates in your regulations, add your outputs and the enablers behind them, then forecast every open milestone monthly. List the work left as packages with three estimates each and compare the total with the weeks you really have. The PhD Command Centre does this arithmetic for you.
Will this kit write my thesis or papers?
No. Academic integrity is a hard rule in this kit. It teaches planning, method and writing habits and gives you templates and trackers. Your university's research integrity and AI policies decide what is allowed, and every word you submit must be your own.
Does it work in my country?
The method works in any system: UK, US, India, Australia, Europe, Africa and elsewhere. The dated sheet covers named examples with official sources, correct at November 2026. Regulations, funder rules and visa conditions differ and change, so always check your university and the official source.
Does it work for part-time or professional doctorates?
Yes. Set your programme length, leave and the share of your weeks that goes to research on the Settings sheet. The runway and Time Log are especially useful when research shares the week with a job.
Can I use this with my students or research group?
Yes, within your own group under the personal licence: supervisors can share the method and use the templates with their own students. For a graduate school, department or university-wide licence, contact solutions@bodhih.com.
Do I need Excel?
No. The workbook opens in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice, with formulas that avoid newer Excel-only functions. Word templates open in Word or Google Docs, and the forms fill in any PDF reader.
What is a runway buffer?
It is the working weeks you have before your submission target, after leave and other commitments, minus the estimated weeks of work left. Positive means the plan fits with room for surprises; negative means a scope, sequence or date decision is due.
How can I measure my starting point?
Three AssessAll assessments pair with this kit: Second Look: Research Integrity in Practice, Project and Delivery Leadership, and Estimation and Forecast Calibration. They give you a baseline on judgement, delivery and estimation that you can revisit later.
How do I turn this into a development plan?
Use the career plan template in the kit, then build a measured individual development plan with Jobulary at jobulary.com. Update it at each annual review.
Is this legal, visa or financial advice?
No. Content on funding, data protection, visas and regulations is educational and points to official sources. Templates are starting points, not legally valid documents. Check your university, funder and a qualified adviser for your situation.
How much does The PhD Research Manager cost?
₹1,299 including 18% GST for buyers in India, or $34 for buyers outside India. One-time payment, no subscription, with an automatic invoice.
How do I get the files after paying?
Instantly. Your download page opens the moment payment succeeds, and a permanent download link is emailed to you. Download each file separately or everything in one ZIP.
What software do I need?
Any of the usual tools: Excel or Google Sheets for spreadsheets, Word or Google Docs for templates, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview, Xodo or GoodNotes for the fillable PDFs, and Google, Outlook or Apple Calendar for the calendar plan.
Can I get a refund?
Because it is a digital download, kits are not refundable once downloaded. We always refund a duplicate charge or a failed delivery, and if a file is corrupted and we cannot fix it within 3 working days. Full terms: bodhih.org/refunds.
Can my company buy this for a team?
Yes. Team and company licences, and workshops on this topic run by Bodhih Training, are available. Write to solutions@bodhih.com or call +91 99000 11601.
