Academic writing for doctoral candidates: A surprising number of scientists are only confronted with longer scientific prose texts when writing their theses. This can have noticeable consequences during the doctoral and postdoctoral phases—for example, in the form of negative peer review reports on articles submitted to journals or problems with writing the dissertation itself.

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.

Good scientific practice: Ethical challenges and strategies: The workshop will sensitize participants to ethical issues relating to their own scientific work. It will enable them to identify and analyze specific problem areas within their research work. Participants will develop action strategies for the cases they have brought with them.

How to write a paper: In this tutorial, participants will learn how best to write a paper, what things are important to keep in mind, and how to stay as motivated as possible.

Make a convincing impression with your self-presentation in your application and during the interview!: An important preliminary step in your application process is to become more aware of your individual skills, strengths, and resources. The next step is to present your profile in your application documents in a way that is as concise, attractive, and informative as possible. In the interview, professionalism and commitment become effective tools for persuasion through authentic body language. However, we often find it difficult to present our messages in an assertive manner.

Parenting and Academia: Managing the Mental Load: How do we juggle work life balance when “life” comes with such a huge mental load? When the family to-do list is three mes as long as the work to-do list and it is you feel like you are always the one that has to remember. The thinking part of having children is permanent and it’s exhausting. It’s invisible, unmeasurable and often inescapable. How do we thrive at work whilst navigating the worry and guilt of managing a family at home? How do we learn to share the planning and management of our homes and not just the delegation of a never-ending task list in our minds? It is possible.

Thesis Defense Training: In the first part of the course the participants get practical tips for their thesis defense presentation: how to structure the presentation, how to build a sound argument, what language to use, etc. The second part of the course addresses problems that can occur during the discussion. We look at various types of difficult questions and discuss strategies that the participants can use to respond to them. In the third part, participants get the chance to practice their presentation and to receive feedback from the group and from the trainer. To participate in the course, doctoral students don't need to have their thesis defense presentation prepared yet, and they don't need to be in the final weeks before the defense. The goal of the course is mainly to help them prepare central elements for the summary of their research that they have to present in the thesis defense, so the course can also be helpful for participants who are still in the writing-phase.

Writing Week 2026: Book an entire week to learn about Self-management for the scientific writing process, discuss about procrastination and just write – alone and in tandems! Use the opportunity to establish writing groups.