Category: Soft Skills

[in conjunction with IMPRS-STNS] Good scientific practice seminar (January 23, 2019)

This seminar presented the basic principles and rules of good scientific practice. Fundamentals of scientific work, i.e. professional standards and documentation of results, were discussed. Further topics were handling of primary data (backup and storing) and scientific publications (authorship and scam journals). Also management of research data, following the FAIR principles was briefly introduced. The then recent examples of scientific misconduct illustrated the official procedures at the institutions and possible consequences. The rules apply worldwide and for all subjects and every researcher at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics has to comply with these rules. 

Target audience

Doctoral students and PostDocs Continue reading “[in conjunction with IMPRS-STNS] Good scientific practice seminar (January 23, 2019)”

Developing and structuring ideas in the world of projects (November 27, 2018)

Every project starts with an idea. However, you cannot develop every idea into a project. It seems trivial that developing ideas is a crucial part of the scientific work life, but have you ever spent some time on finding out more about this important process for your career? How to create, develop, select, evolve and realize ideas in the context of research projects? In this workshop, we provided information on some aspects of idea development and enable you to find out how you can train and optimize idea development according to your own preferences. The target audience of this workshop were PhD-students and early postdocs. Continue reading “Developing and structuring ideas in the world of projects (November 27, 2018)”

Good scientific practice seminar (November 20, 2018)

Every scientist doing research at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Leipzig University has to comply with the rules of good scientific practice.

In this workshop principles of good scientific practice, e.g. professional standards such as honesty and openness, as well as data preparation and documentation were discussed.
Continue reading “Good scientific practice seminar (November 20, 2018)”

Time and Self-Management (November 9, 2018)

Working toward a doctoral degree can be challenging, as doctoral students are required to meet several demands from personal and professional areas of life: they have to plan and master deadlines, solve problems, participate at meetings, communicate with colleagues and supervisors and find a balance between work and private life. A number of PhD students even want to drop out – but if the reason for not finishing the PhD is the feeling of being overwhelmed by work it is possible to counteract: with the use of efficient methods and strategies they will be able to finish their thesis. Continue reading “Time and Self-Management (November 9, 2018)”

Know your competencies – find your job: job search for scientists (February 4-5, 2019)

Careers in German universities and research institutes are difficult. Towards the end of your PhD or at the beginning of your postdoctoral years you need to decide whether you like to continue your career up to the professor or if you leave academia and public funded research institutes. This step is difficult to the biggest part of PhD-students because until then they did not find or try alternative career paths.

In the workshop participants learnt to go the different steps of job search: to be aware of their competencies, skills and knowledge and to build their career strategies based on them.

Continue reading “Know your competencies – find your job: job search for scientists (February 4-5, 2019)”

[PhD initiative at UL]: Workshop on Stress Management (October 13, 2018)

We experience stress every day, but how do we cope with it? Living in a new country, work-life balance, other factors and of course Ph.D. itself bring a lot of stressful thoughts. During the workshop, participants learnt the main techniques of relaxation, analyze the current causes of stress and developing their own strategy of stress management.

Target audience

Doctoral students and postdocs

Course objectives:

Participants learnt the most used relaxation techniques and develop their stress management strategies. Continue reading “[PhD initiative at UL]: Workshop on Stress Management (October 13, 2018)”