Because this work is carried out in German a German Version is provided below.

In order to obtain an overview of how strongly the individual doctoral researcher (DR) representatives are integrated in their institutes; what rights and duties they have accepted, whether they are officially recognized as a group or body of interests, whether they have their own budget and whether there is any representation at all, we contacted the DRs at various Leibniz institutes and asked them for information on this subject by e-mail. On the basis of feedback from a total of 25 institutes, we were able to confirm that the doctoral student representatives in the institutes operate under completely different conditions. For instance, 7 institutes have no official status as a group of DR and only 5 sit on institute committees, of which only one has the right to vote. Only 5 of the registered representatives have a budget for events such as workshops or soft skill courses. It is therefore of great concern to our working group to advocate a firmly integrated DR representation at all institutes, which offers DRs an accepted and recognized platform for participation in shaping the works and activities of the institute.