Integrated Graduate School (MGK)

Description

The primary task of the Integrated Graduate School in the SFB 632 is to ensure that SFB PhD students receive a comprehensive, discipline-wide scientific training. The ultimate goal is to broaden the horizon of the PhD students, extending it from the specific requirements of their respective projects to encompass the overall approach of the SFB, offering them in this way not only new impulses for their work but also scientific skills, improving significantly their chances in the academic and non-academic job market. Establishing a central, quality training for all SFB PhD students will (i) support the direct communication between the SFB projects on a doctoral student level, (ii) quickly familiarize the PhD students in the individual projects with the relevant theoretical background and the methodological approaches taken in the SFB 632 and (iii) enable the PhD to complete their dissertation in a reasonable time frame. The concept of training builds on the experience gained in the first two funding phases, when we offered block seminars to PhD students and organized guest lectures of general, theoretical SFB-overarching interest or of methodological interest. The events that were until now organized and offered on an individual basis are now replaced with a centrally organized training and support concept. This will be done in consultation with the Potsdam Graduate School (PoGS).

Moreover, the Integrated Graduate School offers the opportunity to SFB external doctoral candidates to carry research on phenomena related to information structure within a specific SFB project through short-term grants (up to 12 months). The aim of such affiliations is either the subsequent employment of the PhD student in the SFB or the establishment/strengthening of existing research collaborations with external partner universities. Such co-operations will serve the further spread of the empirical, theoretical and methodological results of the SFB. The target group for the short-term grants is (besides qualified applicants from within the country) qualified foreign PhD students from universities and research institutions with which we plan to initiate or consolidate collaborative research and PhD students with non-Indo-European native language (e.g. from Africa, (South)East Asia and Latin America) who will be working within the SFB on information structure phenomena in their respective languages (possible affiliations with subprojects: A1, A2, A5, B7, C6, D5).

The coordinated training programme in the integrated graduate school consists of the following nuclear components:

• Regular lectures from SFB members and visiting scholars on theoretical, empirical and methodological core issues of the SFB 632. The lectures are organized in the form of 2-3 long seminars (run during the whole semester) per year as well as in the form of block seminars (1-2 weeks) and workshops.
• Selectively offered training (1-2 days) for scientific work and key qualifications either in the SFB internal events (by SFB members) or SFB externally e.g. within the Potsdam Graduate School (PoGS).
• PhD-Colloquia (PhD-Days, twice yearly) (Conferences & Workshops)
• Intensive supervision of the doctoral students by two SFB members with research-plan agreements and regular progress checks. The organization and coordination of the training offered from the integrated research training group is done centrally from the coordinator in cooperation with the principal investigators of the projects.

Complete description (excerpt from the request) here

Actual Call for applications here

Principal Investigator

• Prof. Dr. Heike Wiese, University of Potsdam
• Prof. Dr. Malte Zimmermann, University of Potsdam

Coordination

• Anja Gollrad, University of Potsdam

Former Staff Member

• Dr. Stella Gryllia
• Dr. Jana Häussler

Scholarship Holders