What is the current status in the working groups? Which topics should we cover? Who would like to get involved? How can we push forward the work of the network?
The network aims to address these questions specifically for the working groups in the “Zukunftsworkshop” (or Future Workshop) which took place at the Leibniz Association’s Head Office in Berlin on May 6th and 7th. For this event, everyone who is active in the Leibniz PhD Network by participating in a working group or wants to join a group gathers in order to discuss accomplished work and future plans. Scattered all over Germany, opportunities for working group members to meet in person are rare and most communication has to be done via Skype conferences and email. Getting together for the Zukunftsworkshop is therefore a welcome change.
After introductions and small presentations on their progress by each working group, the groups met, welcomed new members, discussed plans and started working straight away. Some groups had the opportunity to be joined by respective staff members from the Leibniz head office.
In addition to the working group meetings, everyone also came together to talk about the future plans of the Leibniz PhD Network as a whole. The discussion was opened by the Leibniz policy consultant Christian Kobsda, who gave a talk on science policy and discussed opportunities for us to get involved in developing policies. During an interactive round we identified key elements which are important for present members. Among other things and while maintaining the current structures, the working groups are especially interested in
- the development of a long-term agenda for the network,
- the work on political positions / policy briefs,
- extended involvement of the institutes, and
- increased recruitment of new doctoral researchers to the network.
After two days of networking, making plans and extensive work, all the groups had lots of results to present. The Zukunftsworkshop was a great success and we are happy that a lot of process was made.
If you would like to get involved and join a working group, you can find more information about the groups and whom to contact in the “Working Groups”. Every doctoral researcher at a Leibniz institute or research museum, not just PhD representatives, is welcome and your contribution will be much appreciated.
Text: Isabel Schober, Jonathan Stefanowski
Pictures: Lukas Birmes