News

Dear fellow doctoral candidates,

We are happy to see the growing number of dedicated people that want to support fellow doctoral candidates! Everybody can and is welcome to support the Graduate School in defending the interests and rights of the University of Bayreuth's doctoral candidates. This commitment to advancing interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration in the early stages of the scientific career can help tackle tomorrow's (scientific) challenges.

The last year's legislative period included the Graduate School's 10th anniversary, which we celebrated with the keynote speech of Rob Thompson and a subsequent 'pub night'. Apart from this very special occasion, the regular get-togethers in the form of the "Promovierendenstammtisch" have facilitated a stronger connection between doctoral candidates across various fields and faculties. Furthermore, the ShowME events provided great insights into the everyday work of fellow doctoral candidates and researchers. We hope that in the future, even more people will provide insights into their research and working routines.

The talks we shared with members of the Graduate School during the legislative period have shown that we need to further work on offers that can help guide doctoral candidates in making informed career decisions and planning their careers. The initial questionnaires we shared helped us get an initial understanding, and we hope that step by step, the Graduate School can offer such guidance, e.g., in the form of small interviews or podcast sessions with alums.

With the changes in how and when doctoral candidates are considered members of the university's research staff (through the BayHIG, which came into effect at the beginning of 2023), many can now cast a vote in elections, such as faculty council elections. We implore all doctoral candidates to use this new right to defend the interests of the Graduate School's members.

As your representatives in the academic senate and the convent of research associates (Konvent der wissenschaftlichen Mitarbeiter), we actively participated in the meeting, voicing concerns, and using voting rights to represent the doctoral candidates' interests. Concerning the planned changes in Germany's "Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (WissZeitVG)", we support the upcoming position paper of the Network of the Doctoral Candidates' Representatives of German universities. Furthermore, we participated in meetings of the Network of Doctoral Representatives in Bavaria (LaProBay).

At this point, we would like to invite all doctoral candidates at the Graduate School to actively participate in enhancing the life and experience of doctoral candidates. You can start with sharing experiences (e.g., through the ShowME format), discussing issues (with your research, colleagues, or supervisor), or celebrating your successful paper publication. Take the opportunity to build a network with people that share common problems and goals across different scientific research fields and views.

We encourage each and every one of you to get in touch with the representatives of the Graduate School to contribute to improving the doctoral experience!

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent van Gogh

Sincerely yours

Andreas, Edith, Franziska, and Florian