The qualification programme is tailored towards rapidly setting doctoral researchers on track with respect to their research objectives. Successful and effective collaboration within interdisciplinary and international teams is a fundamental measure for success. The qualification programme is organised in three overarching phases:
- Training for a sound background in scientific research methods within an international team (first semester)
- Training for goal-oriented research in individual topics (second semester)
- Independent research phase (second and third (final) year)
Educational targets of the first semester are:
- Manifesting interdisciplinary team work
- Providing a broad overview of the topic
- Identification of personal strengths and weaknesses
- Training on general research methods
- Preparation of individual project work plans
Within the jour fixe meetings, we will establish weekly group sessions, where doctoral researchers will work in close collaboration in interdisciplinary teams.
During the second semester, the weekly group sessions will advance from introduction level to scientific research level. Interdisciplinary teams of doctoral researchers will review together the state-of-the-art literature relevant for their research topics. This phase will be complemented by an introduction to general research skills, for example:
- Target oriented literature research (TIB)
- Rules of good scientific practice - protecting scientific integrity
- Research data management
which will be complemented by concepts of modern software development, e.g. in the format of mini hackathons.
The second and third years are dedicated to individual scientific research under the guidance of the mentoring principal investigators.
Additional measures within IRTG 2657 are
- Annual internal workshops organised by the doctoral researchers themselves
- Active participation in European and international scientific conferences
- Participation in the annual German-French colloquia of the IRTG
- Active participation in an international symposium, which will be organized once per cohort
