The Graduate School regularly offers specialised doctoral workshops, often jointly with faculty from the local partner universities. Renowned professors are invited to these workshops to lecture on their research. The workshops give advanced doctoral students the opportunity to present their own research results to a highly specialised audience. Students are able to discuss their work with the invited professors, experts from the partner universities and with doctoral students working on related issues.
The participating departments of the Graduate School run several departmental research colloquia and brown bag seminars. These forums give doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to present and discuss their ongoing research. Advanced doctoral students and postgraduate researchers can invite guest speakers of their choice to these events. Following the lecture, students are able to meet and discuss with the guest speaker.
Doctoral students are encouraged to participate in extra-curricular reading and discussion groups, which are organised by advanced doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, junior professors or fellows of the Zukunftskolleg. In these groups, students meet on a weekly basis to discuss either the research projects of the group members (discussion group) or recent publications in a specific research field (reading group). Students can also submit their draft working papers to the group participants, who provide the author with feedback at the group meetings. At least one faculty member attends the group meetings and acts as the moderator of the discussions. The groups contribute to the development of writing and presentation skills and foster the students’ ability to critically evaluate the merit of academic publications.
The Graduate School offers various measures for the development of transferable skills. In cooperation with the Academic Staff Development service, a programme of workshops and seminars for young researchers at the doctoral phase and beyond is offered, aimed at competence development and career planning. Among the courses offered are academic writing, time management, negotiation, leadership and team development skills, social networking in a scientific environment, job application training and project management. Specific counselling and coaching measures are available to female researchers, such as family and career compatibility or address the needs of international researchers.
For doctoral students who wish to enhance their teaching qualifications, the University Didactics Centre offers relevant workshops.
The University’s Research Support Service offers workshops to assist young researchers in writing applications for the acquisition of third-party funds.
The Graduate School offers tutorials in the use of statistical software packages. The School also organises presentations by professionals from companies and by representatives of international organisations and public institutions. Doctoral students have the opportunity to undertake internships, for instance, at our partner institutions, the Centre for European Economic Research (Mannheim) and the Institute of Economic Research (Munich).
The Graduate School offers workshops to improve presentation techniques and to familiarise students with the academic job market. Students are instructed in how to present their research at international conferences. In the reading workshop “Successful Candidates on the Job Market”, students are introduced to the most promising job market candidates. They present and discuss the candidates’ job market papers and learn what makes a top job paper. Students also receive guidance on the more technical side of the job market and are introduced to its “DOs and DON’Ts”.
In order to acquaint our doctoral students with the norms, habits and rules of the academic community and to enable them to present and discuss their research results to a wider audience, they are encouraged to attend international conferences and workshops. These visits can be financially supported by the Graduate School, if a paper or poster of the student is accepted for presentation and if the conference or workshop satisfies high academic standards.