General Assembly 2021

Once a year, all elected PhD representatives of the 96 Leibniz Institutes and Research Museums meet for two days of networking, exchange of best practices and discussions on current and future challenges of doctoral researchers in Germany. This General Assembly is of crucial importance for the Leibniz PhD Network, since it also contains a discussion of the Standing Rules and the election of a new Steering Committee.

Due to the current worldwide crisis, we decided that the Leibniz PhD Network the General Assembly will be held online. It will take place on 23rd and 24th of September. The Assembly will be held over Zoom : the first day of the General Assembly 2021 will be open for all doctoral researchers of the Leibniz Association. We invite all members of the Leibniz PhD Network and our associated networks. Dr. Thomas Kleinsorge from the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo) will give a keynote about “Work-life balance: societal, cross-sectional, and longitudinal perspectives ”. There would also be an interesting workshop “Keeping your work life-balance while working on your PhD” delivered by Heli Korhonen from “Scienza”. On the second day, September 24 (10:00-2:00 pm), the representatives of the institutes elect two new spokespersons, a treasurer and one section spokesperson for each section.

If you would like to run for one of the positions, please do not hesitate to let us know in advance as well (you do not need to be a representative at your institute to be elected spokesperson, treasurer or section spokesperson). This is a very exciting opportunity in which you can learn a lot about the inner workings of academia, get to know many active researchers from all over Germany and practice some leadership skills!

If you are interested in getting elected, but you are not a representative at your institute at the time of the General Assembly, we will set up an extra access to the program of Day 2 for you. For any questions and enquiries we can be reached at spokesperson@leibniz-phd.net.

PhD Networks publish Wahlprüfsteine for the German Federal Elections

On September 26, Germany elects a new federal parliament, the Bundestag. This election affects all aspects of life, including the worklife of doctoral researchers, development of science and diversity in acadmia. To help doctoral researchers and other early-career scientists, several PhD networks have joined forces to provide them with a guide to navigate the elections using information that directly affects them. We very much encourage you to cast your vote if you can!

The project was conducted by the the N² network (Helmholtz Association, Max Planck Society, leibniz PhD Network and IPP Mayence), the TUM Graduate Council of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the ProKo of the Friedrich-August-University in Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), THESIS e.V., the Doctoral Covenant of Baden-Württemberg, the Coucil of Doctoral Researchers of the Technical University of Brunswik, the ProRat of the University of Leipzig, and the DR.FSU of the University of Jena.

With our forces joined, we asked the political parties currently present in the Bundestag about their plans after the election regarding science and academia, including the working conditions of doctoral researchers among other topics. The result can be read in our report. The report is only available in German because this is about the German elections and entails an introductory note, summary tables, a short text with our overall impression and an annex with the verbatim answers of the parties.

Our joint effort has received complete sets of answers from the parties CDU/CSU, FDP, Bündnis90/Die Grünen and Die Linke. The SPD has answered to one of the blocks of questions only, while the AfD has not sent any answers.

We hope the report is a useful tool to inform your voting decision.

Click to access Wahlprufsteinebericht_Promovierende_BTW2021-1.pdf

Wahlprufsteinebericht_Promovierende_BTW2021

“Institutes need to be aware of LGBTI+ issues”

Interview with Jan Klenke on IDAHOBIT

Today, LGBTI+ folks around the world and their allies observe IDAHOBIT – the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia. As the Leibniz PhD Network, we would like to express our support for the community. To shed a light on LGBTI+ issues in academia, our Working Group Diversity conducted an interview with our Co-Spokesperson Jan Klenke.

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1st Online Science Slam

Only a few days to go until our 1st online science slam!

We have seven doctoral researchers from seven different Leibniz institutes who will battle for the title.

Join us on Friday, 30 April 2021 at 5 pm on Zoom to hear their talks, learn something cool and vote for your favorite!

The entries:

Your microbiota poopprint
Lisa Budzinski
German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin (DRFZ)

Go with the flow – how brains perceive motion
Benedict Wild
German Primate Center (DPZ)

DO NOT DISTURB – Age effects of interruption processing
Marlene Rösner
Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo)

Surviving the valley of death – New innovations in agriculture
Richard Orozco
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATP)

Self control struggles and terrible shopping choices – A scientific analysis
Jana Hamdan
German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin)

How to build a (not so intelligent) human brain
Emilio Perez-Bosch
IHP – Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics

From Russia with love: tracking bats with stable isotopes
Cecilia Kruszynski de Assis
Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research