The workshop combines Good Scientific Practice (Part 1) with Negotiation & Conflict Management (Part 2). During your doctoral studies you will come into contact with other scientists and collaborate with them. Here negotiation skills can be helpful. This may even prevent potential conflicts with your supervisor.

Good scientific practice covers a substantial spectrum of scientific conduct: Dealing with data (including checking, recording, ownership and storage), the publishing process and authorship, responsible supervision, academic cooperation, conflicts of interest and dealing with conflicts. Inappropriate academic behaviour includes inventing or faking data, violating intellectual property (theft of ideas or plagiarism), and obstructing the research of others. More subtle topics, such as skepticism, critical thinking, reproducibility, handling creativity, the danger of axiomatic assumptions and confirmation bias occur much more often and therefore represent the “heart of good scientific practice”.

Every scientist should have a professional understanding of all mentioned topics.

The workshop aims at improving non-native English speakers’ academic writing skills by highlighting typical features and composing elements commonly applied and expected by native speakers of English. Participants will be equipped with a textbook written by the trainer that covers all the features introduced during the sessions, they will have ample opportunity to ask individual questions, and they will receive immediate feedback on their own writing. During the workshop we will

• reflect on how the character of the English language influences the Anglo-Saxon academic writing style and identify subsequent features in academic texts
• highlight pitfalls non-native speakers of English are vulnerable to when writing in English and introduce straightforward strategies to avoid them
• present techniques for developing a fluent and lively academic writing style
• introduce resources, aids, and methods to enlarge and retain vocabulary
• edit text passages written by the participants