Events

Join the General Assembly Online and Help Shape the Leibniz PhD Network in 2027!

The General Assembly will offer hybrid sessions, allowing you to participate online wherever you are. If you cannot travel to Mannheim, we warmly invite you to join remotely!

Our 11th General Assembly takes place on 9–10 November 2026, hosted by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim. It is an opportunity to meet fellow doctoral researchers, exchange experiences and help shape the Network’s next steps. We are looking forward to meeting all registered doctoral researchers there!

Get involved in your Network

The Leibniz PhD Network is open to all doctoral researchers across the Leibniz Association. Whether you are already active at your institute or are discovering the Network for the first time, your ideas and experiences are welcome.

The General Assembly is a great place to start: meet the people behind the Network, learn about its activities and explore how you would like to contribute. You can join working groups, bring forward a topic you care about or take on a representative role.

Stand for the next Steering Committee

At this year’s General Assembly, we will elect the 2026/27 Steering Committee. All Leibniz doctoral researchers interested in taking an active role are encouraged to consider standing for election. The committee has eight positions:

  • Two General Spokespersons: Represent doctoral researchers’ interests within the Leibniz Association and beyond, communicate with relevant bodies and partner networks, and handle the Network’s administrative responsibilities.
  • Five Section Spokespersons: One for each Leibniz section. They connect doctoral representatives across their section, share information, bring concerns to the committee and support communication with the working groups.
  • One Treasurer: Manages the Network’s budget, keeps track of transactions and reports on its finances, working with the responsible contact at Leibniz Headquarters.

Together, these eight members coordinate the Network’s activities and put the General Assembly’s decisions into practice. Section spokespersons represent the section to which their institute belongs; election votes are cast through institute representatives or appointed delegates.

Interested in standing for a position, joining a working group or simply learning more? Come along to the General Assembly and get to know us. You can also contact spokesperson@leibniz-phd.net beforehand.

Information to join online

Find the programme and event information on the General Assembly webpage.

We look forward to meeting you—in Mannheim or online—and hearing your ideas for the year ahead!

Join Us for the 11th General Assembly of the Leibniz PhD Network – Registration has Opened !

We are delighted to invite doctoral researchers from across the Leibniz Association to the 11th General Assembly of the Leibniz PhD Network, taking place on 9 and 10 November 2026 at GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim.

The General Assembly provides an opportunity to connect with fellow doctoral researchers, exchange ideas and help shape the future of the Leibniz PhD Network.

Further details, including the preliminary agenda and registration form, are available on the General Assembly webpage.

General Assembly Webpage

Registration is open until 21 October 2026.

We kindly ask all PhD representatives to share this announcement with the doctoral researchers at their institutes.

For general questions, please contact spokesperson@leibniz-phd.net. For questions about the venue, please contact lena.rembser@gesis.org.

We look forward to welcoming you to Mannheim!

Current Challenges in Academia – The PhD student perspective

We want to discuss our current situation regarding the power structures and working conditions in academia with you to improve our situation as PhDs!

We would like to invite you to our “Current Challenges in Academia – The PhD student perspective” workshop on the 25th – 26th of November initiated by the working group prevention of power abuse and contract situations. The workshop will be held at Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (Am Bergbaumuseum 28, 44791 Bochum)

On the 25th at 10:00 we would like to initiate the workshop with a panel discussion regarding the current power structure within academia, followed by a contact situation workshop with a focus on time tracking and a second workshop regarding the situation of stipends finishing at 18:00. Followed by a dinner (self-pay).

On the 26th we will hold a workshop focusing on power abuse in academia (starting at 10:00) and work on a position paper stating our ideas to improve the situation for doctoral researchers. The official program will end at 14:30 and an additional visit of the “Bergbau-Museum” is possible afterwards.

Register here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeXi4v6CvznrzXnBc7FWRO1oOwS9gbIGbnq2BSK3DmOH9YKk/viewform?usp=sf_linkT

The registration will be open until 13.11.2023, but the earlier you register the better we can organize everything.

Further information and a timetable will be sent closer to the event. For any questions, please contact:

ppa.leibnizphd@outlook.com

Invitation to the online presentation of the survey 2019
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Last August, we published the results of our 2019 Survey. We then presented these results to several instances of the Leibniz Association: the section meetings, the administrative board, and the Präsidium. We received a lot of feedback and the presentation started many interesting discussions. One of the first direct outcome of this survey was the creation of the task force “Mental Health” within the Leibniz Association.

Now, it is time to discuss the survey results with you!

We are hereby inviting you to join us on the 15th of December 2020 at 2pm via Zoom to discuss the results of the 2019 survey.

The link to the Zoom conversation:

https://zoom.us/j/7982000124?pwd=dlhXS2ZMZlNRMTVRRUNjMkszR2g0dz09

Meeting ID: 798 200 0124

PW: 314615

A Spotlight on Prevention of Power Abuse – Second online seminar of the Leibniz PhD Network Online

We are all mostly aware of the inherent flaws of the academic system. Short-term contracts, unclear expectations and a real or at least perceived lack of support in situations of conflict are just some of the challenges in the journey of our PhDs. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, hugely impacting our work schedules even more uncertainties around the progress of our research projects arose. It is no surprise that many of us have been feeling under more pressure than usual. Everyone in academia, from PhD candidates to academic leaders and administrative staff, have all been faced with an exceptional situation they may not have been prepared for. In response to these trying times we try to create a greater awareness of potential conflicts and the increased risk of power abuse in academia.

In order to raise awareness of the importance of preventing power abuse, to get a closer understanding of the implications of bad leadership and to come up with some practical advice, the Leibniz PhD Network hosted their second online seminar on 4th June. The topic of the online seminar was  “Prevention of Power Abuse – Leadership, Uncertainty of Working Contracts and Conflict Resolution” The online seminar was organised through a collaboration between the Prevention of Power Abuse and Mental Health Working Groups. If you missed it, you can watch it here:

In the online seminar, we were fortunate to have two exceptional guest speakers to share their perspectives:

Topic: Leadership in Academia

Topic: Leadership and workplace insecurities

The online seminar was moderated by Dr. Elliot Brown (Neuroscientist, Scientific Advisor and Mental Health Advocate at Charité Berlin)

This is a summary of the advice given by the speakers on how to deal with bad leadership and power abuse:

  1. Communication – is a two-way process, clarify expectations, ask for feedback, regard information as something that needs to be proactively spread, but also actively demanded, prepare for meetings beforehand and afterwards.
  2. Find out what ‘type’ your advisor is and interact accordingly (see Prof Peus’ talk)
  3. Find Allies – seek (and provide) social support among peers and join networks, like your local PhD network or others
  4. Mentors – reach out to mentors in your field and beyond
  5. Job crafting – Shape your job conditions proactively (link1, link2)
  6. Report power abuse – if lines are crossed, don’t be silent. 
  7. Leave for a better place – toxic relationships can be a severe burden, be proactive

If you are not sure, if the situation that you are facing is “really” a power abusive situation, we propose to check the definition of the UNESCO Ethics office. The Leibniz Guidelines and the DFG Codex are the guiding principles for every current or past employee in the association to act on. Furthermore we like the more progressive Dutch Code of Conduct on Research Integrity and hope to see more of it in action in Germany soon.  If the suspected case fits with the definitions, then talking to your institutes Ombudspersons, who offer both advice and mediation, can be a possible first step.

If you wonder who else to contact in various cases of conflict, we put together a guide for you that can be accessed here. 

From the Prevention of Power Abuse and Mental Health Working Groups of the Leibniz PhD Network: Anja Jahn, Katharina Willenbücher, Anne-Kathrin Stroppe, Nicole Zerrer, Irene Broer, Dolly Montaño, Stefanie Do and Elliot Brown.