WORKSHOPS

Workshops (Soft skills and interdisciplinary key qualifications)

To prepare our doctoral candidates for their scientific career in the best possible way, we offer the following soft skill and research-related interdisciplinary hard skill courses.

Workshop „Good scientific practice” (obligatory). We support the implementation of ‚Rules of Good Scientific Practice‘ as demanded by the DFG and in particular, the proper presentation of data and criteria for authorship. Dr. Anne Hamker trains our doctoral candidates in an essential 1-day workshop with lectures, practical self-study time in small groups, and a final discussion about the important key messages. So that all our doctoral students gain important knowledge on applying the rules of good scientific practice in their daily work life. 

Workshop “Biostatistics” (obligatory). The 2-day course, which will be offered by Dr. Matthias Englbrecht, a statistician from Erlangen, who already held the course for the former RTG1660, consists of short presentations about the most relevant statistical applications and examples from biomedical experiments. In addition, the participants will analyze their data in a practical setting and discuss them with colleagues.

Workshops „Scientific Communication“ (in part obligatory). To strengthen the key qualification „Scientific Communication,“ we organize two 2,5-day courses. The first is optional and will concentrate on the elements of oral and poster presentations and one-to-one discussions (elevator pitch) of scientific data. The second course is obligatory and focuses on scientific writing in English. In order to maintain the interactive style of the 2,5-day courses, the number of participants is limited to 12. To provide all fellows with these key qualifications, each course is, therefore, offered twice every two years. Dr. Deborah Bennett, who already offered courses for the RTG1660, will join us as a lecturer (Budget in Section 7.1.2.5).

Additional courses and workshops „Special and interdisciplinary key qualifications“. Additional optional interdisciplinary ½ – to 1-day courses are primarily designed to provide the methodological and technical skills necessary for a scientific career, e.g., flow cytometry, bioinformatics, Excel and Word courses, and literature search. Some of these events are offered by the FAU Graduate School and can be integrated into the curriculum of RTG module I+II (Figure 5), as part of the Jour Fixe and the Paul-Ehrlich-Club. Also, the doctoral candidates can participate in the workshop program of the FAU Graduate Center (about 45 workshops per semester on different topics are offered – see https://www.fau.de/graduiertenzentrum/kurse-und-veranstaltungen/).

Training courses on research involving animal experiments and genetically modified organisms. All doctoral Dr. rer. nat. candidates working with mice have to participate in an animal experimentation course (FELASA B) taught by Dr. Roland Jurgons and Dr. Susanne Schwarz from the “Präklinisches Experimentelles Tierzentrum (PETZ, the preclinical animal research center at FAU). During this course the doctoral students get insights into ethical aspects of mouse work, as well as the practical mouse handling and how to plan their experiments. 

Handling of research data. The transparent documentation of research data based on the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principle (https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/) is an essential part of our RTG (see 3.9). We, therefore, offer courses about data management in cooperation with the “Regionales Rechenzentrum Erlangen (RRZE)” and the Competence Center Research Data and Information (CDI). The University Hospital Erlangen supprts using Labfolder as ELN. Our students have an additional course held by Alankrita Doval  from the company labforward itself. During this course she shows our students the advantages of using Labfolder and is open to answer questions. Within these courses our students are not only encouraged to use ELNs but also learn how to use them.

Career development measures. To introduce our doctoral fellows to professional career choices and job opportunities outside of the academic research environment, we will invite colleagues from pharmaceutical companies to our Paul-Ehrlich-Club. Additionally, together with the doctoral fellows, we organized a local symposium entitled “Career Day – Day beyond academia.” We invited experts from companies, public officers, and colleagues from different fields and institutions, e.g.,  pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies like Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, CureVac, start-up founders, and journal editors. In addition, we organize a scientific speed dating of all RTG doctoral candidates with the speakers to foster networking. To also strengthen the network of our Dr.rer.nat. Candidates PIs and Doctoral Students of the graduate school will also invite speakers from academia to give talks about their scientific career and their current research topic.A workshop on “job-hunting strategies” in academia and beyond complements the symposium, which also features personal coaching of doctoral fellows. Interview skills are trained with practical exercises. On day 2, participants receive a detailed check of their CV and individual coaching.