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Workshop “Supervising PhD students (in Natural and Experimental Sciences)” (21 Oct 2022)

827062fcdac4568b8dfebe23f4917fa7The Hochschuldidaktik of the University Göttingen is organizing a online workshop in English on the topic “Supervising PhD students (in Natural and Experimental Sciences”. It will take place on Friday, 21 Oct 2022 9am – 5pm. Places are limited so please apply as soon as possible via this link.

For further details see below.Content:
The practical supervision of PhD students is in many cases done by PostDocs or early career researchers and senior academics lead their own research group with the majority of the research done by PhD students. This supervision, when successfully done, is without doubt the key to success for any academic career, and at the same time can be a very rewarding experience. Nevertheless, this can be a highly challenging task also:

  • To which degree am I participating in her/his research work?
  • What can I do if there are personal and/or scientific problems?
  • How can I effectively follow up the progress of the PhD student without limiting his/her creativity and joy?
  • Under which formal and legal requirements does supervision take place?
  • What degree of time and effort am I supposed to invest into this task?
  • How can feedback be provided in a productive way?

Goals:
This seminar will

  • provide the (sometimes quite complex) legal background for supervision of PhD students;
  • show the possibilities and necessity for structuring a PhD project;
  • make clear what kind and extent of supervision can/should be expected by the PhD student (– and what should not be expected)
  • show how and in which way a PostDoc or independent early career researcher benefits from supervision

Used methods:
The exchange of experience and problem-solving approaches constitute the seminar. It is of utmost importance to discuss and work on the problems you actually encounter. Furthermore, input will be given on the legal background, time- and self-management principles, and the peculiarities of a PhD in the Life Sciences and in structured PhD programs.
It would be useful if the participants send me prior to the seminar information on their respective questions, so that the content of the seminar can be adapted accordingly.

Keywords:
Providing feedback, following up research progress, legal background, selecting new PhD students/lab members

Workshopleitung:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Michael Decker M.Phil. (Cambridge):

  • Studied Chemistry at Bonn and Cambridge
  • PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry
  • Habilitation for Pharmacy at Jena
  • Research and Teaching at Boston, Belfast and Regensburg
  • Since 2012 Professor for Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry at Würzburg
  • „Zertifikat Hochschullehre Bayern Vertiefungsstufe“
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Teaching at Queen’s University Belfast