Excellent trainings for doctoral researchers!

The partner institutions of Berlin University Alliance have teamed up to organize their Graduate Studies Support Program, a broad portfolio of trainings, retreats, conferences and other events. The program is open to doctoral researchers from all subjects, as long as they are affiliated to Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, or Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. It is free of charge.

Further information on the Graduate Studies Support Program

Workshops & Events

Doing a doctorate: yes or no? This interdisciplinary intensive workshop is aimed at master's students and graduates who would like to pursue a doctorate at an institution within the BUA network (HU, TU, FU Berlin & Charité) or who are currently in the decision-making phase. For technical reasons, only BUA members can currently register via the booking platform. All others should register by emailing hgs-workshops@hu-berlin.de. In this intensive workshop, you will reflect on questions such as “What do I want?”, “Do I really want to pursue a doctorate?” and “How can I tackle and persevere with this major project?”. The one-day seminar will help you clarify your personal attitude toward your dissertation project and make statements about its feasibility. You will thus develop a sound basis for deciding for or against a dissertation.

Introductory events for new PhD students: In cooperation with the faculties, the Center for Junior Scholars at Technische Universität Berlin organizes annual introductory events for new doctoral candidates (and postdocs). In addition to networking, formal questions about doctoral registration are answered and the most important contacts are introduced, from doctoral offices and faculty service centers to doctoral advisors and representatives on academic committees.

Kick Off Your Doctorate: As a face-to-face event for doctoral students starting their doctorate in Berlin, the Berlin University Alliance offers a two-day retreat. Accompanied by experienced trainers, a selection of key tools will be tested in exercises and opportunities will be identified to explore these in greater depth across institutions in further follow-up workshops. Group-building activities form the core of the event, making the kick-off a valuable networking event.

Presenting with confidence: Work on Body, Voice and Charisma: This workshop is about mastering a convincing presentation in scientific and non-scientific contexts and getting to the heart of one's own core messages. Participants learn how to capture the interest of their audience and hold their attention. The focus is on active exercises in body language, vocal expression and personality. The participants learn to integrate breath, voice effect and non-verbal language as supporting elements for a strong performance. Based on this, a quick-witted handling of critical questions can be trained. Individual feedback makes one's own potential visible, strengthens one's self-image in appearance and thus the sovereign effect in the outside world.

Setting Sail for Mental Health – Strengthened and healthy through the doctoral thesis: Do you have the feeling of being constantly tense, sometimes unable to cope with problems and no longer experiencing any fun in your daily work? A doctorate means more than just writing the dissertation. The pressure to perform and the degree of personal responsibility are high. What can you do to experience the doctoral phase in a healthy, even joyful way? This module has a fine repertoire of creative methods from Positive Psychology and Happiness Research, MBSR (Mindful Based Stress Reduction) and Resilience Coaching. It enables you to better deal with doctoral-related stress, strengthens your psychological resilience and supports you in dealing appropriately with the various challenges in the doctoral phase and in maintaining your mental health.

The Dahlem Research School Podcast: Navigating the Doctorate: The Dahlem Research School podcast for prospective and current doctoral researchers was created to help support individuals who are considering a doctorate or who are already working on a doctorate. Across various seasons of the podcast, you’ll hear from former and current researchers talking about their experiences with the doctorate and in their transition to the job market after completing their doctorate as well as from various experts at the Freie Universität and beyond.

Freie Universität Berlin - Dahlem Research School: Dahlem Research School (DRS) is the central institution for young researchers at Freie Universität Berlin. It coordinates a broad range of doctoral programs, advises on all issues related to structured and individual doctoral studies, and offers an inspiring qualification program.

Humbolt-Universität zu Berlin - Humboldt Graduate School: The Humboldt Graduate School is the central institution for the strategic promotion of scientists and scholars in the early career phase at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Technische Universität Berlin - Center for Junior Scholars: The Center for Junior Scholars acts as a kind of pilot for all questions concerning young scientists from the doctoral and postdoc phases to junior professorships or junior research group leadership.

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin - Doctoral College: The Doctoral College of Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin offers students and doctoral candidates of Charité an extensive and free range of student tutorials on basic skills of scientific work.

Agile Project Management: The compact course is intended to give a quick insight into the world of agile project management and to show its applications in scientific projects. A basic understanding of concepts, mindsets and practices of agile project management will be provided and practiced using the most widely deployed techniques. However, participants are also encouraged to bring in their own preferences and to question and vary the presented methods. All activities will be based on the participants' individual cases, which results in a concrete approach to use agile techniques for their own projects (e.g. the doctorate).

Easy to understand at a glance – Designing scientific posters with a clear purpose and creating effective visuals: Scientific posters are the ideal visual presentation medium at academic conferences. Designed to be clear and concise, they provide the foundation for presenting your research project in a way that engages your audience, sparks conversation, stimulates discussion, and helps you network. To get your target audience excited about your topic, you need a clear structure, a text format optimized for readability, and well-chosen graphics and visualizations. You should also carefully consider how to arrange the content on the A0 format in a clear and effective way. Basic design rules and foundational knowledge of layout techniques will help you present your topic in a visually organized and appealing way—so that it is noticed, heard, and understood.

Good Scientific Practice - Ethical Challenges and Strategies: The aim of the workshop is to help the participants become more sensitive regarding the ethical problems of their own research. Thereby, they will be enabled to identify specific problematic fields within their work and to analyse them. For that, they learn about the basics of good scientific practice and apply them to their own cases. Finally, the participants work on strategies to deal with their discussed cases.

Good Scientific Practice for Natural and Life Sciences: In recent years, plagiarism and the falsification of research data have repeatedly made headlines. The internet has made knowledge highly mobile and easy to redistribute in repackaged forms. Although deliberate academic misconduct is far from representative, the practice of good scientific work still raises a number of challenging questions and persistent problems for researchers, and unintentional violations can also occur. Nevertheless, there are basic and useful principles that researchers should know and be able to apply. When these principles are understood, it becomes possible to act appropriately even in difficult situations and to avoid serious pitfalls in an academic career. This workshop introduces participants to the principles of good scientific practice. It provides guidance on ethical and legal standards and, using typical issues and problem cases, demonstrates how these principles can be applied in research in a practical way.

Good Scientific Practice – Protecting Research Integrity: This course provides participants with research ethics knowledge, gives them space to reflect on their values and attitudes as researchers, and allows them to practice skills in dealing with conflictual situations in their research practice. Participants acquire knowledge about the rules of good scientific practice and train their competences to make responsible decisions in everyday research.

Make Contacts that Count: Networking and Personal Branding: Knowing how to develop and maintain an effective network is a key career strategy. To build a well-functioning network is a vital component in planning a science career. Many highly-qualified scientists have taken a route to build their career that has been arduous and lonely. This module explores less stressful methods of career development, by the strategic use of networking. Whether planning a career in the scientific or commercial world, awareness of the priorities and needs of funding bodies or potential employers or backers is a key to success. This seminar provides an overview of the structure of networking - the strengths and weaknesses of working in networks and allows for an opportunity to optimise your own networking activity and strategies for acquisition.

Research Integrity: Introduction to Data Management in Humanities and Social Sciences: Digital research data are generated or collected in almost every research project. Researchers are faced with the challenge of not only managing and documenting these data, but also preserving them and making them available for reuse. The workshop offers a general introduction to the various aspects of research data management.

Self-care during your doctorate: In addition to academic demands, the time spent on a doctorate can also mentally be very challenging. Pressure to perform, high demands on your own structure and the one or other obstacle? In this workshop, we would like to talk about methods of self-care and strategies to not lose sight of yourself.

50/10: JustWrite! Just Write! is an open online writing group that offers regular focused writing sessions and helps participants develop writing routines. The group is self-organized by the participants and supported by the ZEWK.

AI and Expert Authorship in Academic Writing: AI-based writing tools play an important role in academic writing today. They are used (openly or covertly) to generate new text, as well as to rewrite and revise texts written by the authors themselves. However, this takes place in a situation that is unclear in at least two respects: On the one hand, many doctoral candidates wonder whether it is legally and ethically permissible at all to use AI-based writing tools. On the other hand, it is not obvious how AI-based writing tools can be integrated into the writing process in a meaningful and effective way. In this workshop, we will therefore explore AI-based writing tools by examining our own, entirely human writing competence: What constitutes competent authorship in the academic world? The ability to generate new texts is certainly part of it—as is the ability to rewrite, critically evaluate, and improve existing texts. In the workshop, participants will have the opportunity to try out and compare relevant human and AI-supported writing techniques.

Career Day: The Career Day is an annual event organized by the Berlin University Alliance. It is primarily designed for doctoral candidates in Berlin who are looking to expand their horizons and learn about the various career options available to them. It is an excellent opportunity for doctoral candidates in Berlin to explore future perspectives and meet exciting guests. The Career Day will provide an opportunity to meet and speak directly with professionals from various industries and sectors. Participants will be able to attend round table discussions and world cafés, as well as meet with professionals who can provide valuable insights and advice on their future prospects.

Clear and Compelling Scientific Texts: The practice-oriented workshop provides the know-how needed to write well-structured, convincing and easy-to-read scientific texts in the STEM research fields.

Mastering journal publication and peer review: Strategies for success in the natural and life sciences: The course familiarizes participants with the steps of the peer review and publication process and helps them understand and meet the expectations of reviewers.

Optimize your writing productivity: The course teaches techniques that make it possible to write efficiently and with ease. Participants learn to dissolve writing blocks. They develop individual action plans to sustainably improve self-management and writing productivity.

Thesis Defense Training: The final major milestone of the doctoral program is the oral defense of the dissertation, which presents unique communication challenges. This workshop is designed for doctoral candidates who wish to prepare intensively for their defense. At the beginning of the seminar, the traditional procedure and significance of a defense will be presented, and questions typically asked during defenses will be compiled. Subsequently, various strategies for presenting a convincing argumentative and rhetorical case during the defense will be taught. All doctoral candidates will have the opportunity to simulate their defense during the seminar and receive detailed feedback.