🔬 PhD Student Guide

Introduction

Welcome! We are happy you have decided to do a PhD in our team. This guide is here to answer some basic questions you might have at the beginning of this journey, and provide you with a rough framework of how the process, in Peter’s experience, should work.

Doing a PhD is significantly different from doing your Master’s thesis.

• Most obviously, it’s a much longer process: while your Master’s thesis should be around 6 months, your PhD will take around 3 years - or at least that’s what we’re aiming for.

• Most importantly, it’s an independent project: while the topic of your Master’s thesis as well as the tasks may have been suggested, discussed, and approved by your supervisor, during your PhD you have to demonstrate ability to do research independently.

• Most frustratingly, it’s a very individual task in two ways: first, no two PhD projects are the same, therefore it is difficult to have a one-size-fits-all framework; and second, you should soon become an expert on your topic, which means you should often know more about your project than your colleagues and Peter.

With that out of the way, let’s get started!

Make sure you complete your 🛹 Onboarding.

Workflow outline

graph LR;
  reg["🎒 First 3 Months"] --> first["🎂 First Year"] -.-> writing["✍️ Write-up"]--> sub["📔 Submission"] --> def["👨‍⚖️ Defense"];

🎒 First 3 Months

Settle in.

Use this period to settle into your new life. Find a long-term accommodation, sign up for a language class, join a gym, band, or a book club, and build a routine that works for you.

This is especially important if you’re new to Berlin. If you need help with anything, talk to Peter and to your teammates and colleagues.

• You will discuss and sign your 📜 Supervision agreement with Peter.
• You will present your Master’s thesis at the FGKW Team Meeting. Request an appointment at the FGKW Team Meeting as soon as possible.
• You will have frequent one-on-one meetings with Peter, likely weekly.
• You will work on your Research proposal including a Project Gantt chart and a 💽 Data Management plan.
• At the end of this period, you will have your first Review meeting.

🎂 First Year

• You will register as a PhD student at the Faculty. See Application as a Doctoral Candidate. Inform Peter once your registration is complete.
• We will adjust the frequency of our scientific meetings to suit your needs. By the end of the year, one-on-one meetings with Peter should be scheduled as necessary, instead of weekly.
• You will discuss your Data Management Plan with Peter:
  • learn good scientific practice,
  • learn to use datalab to manage your samples, and
  • learn to use Jupyter notebooks to process your data.
• You will attend your first conference, most likely presenting a poster discussing your research plan and maybe some preliminary results.
• You will present your progress at least once at the FGKW Team Meeting. Request an appointment well in advance.
• You should start working on multiple aspects of your project in parallel, e.g. while your calculations/experiments are running or you’re waiting for material, do a literature study, analyse data, or start writing.
• Towards the end of the first year, you should have a detailed outline for your first paper or thesis chapter.

Make sure you take advantage of your 🏖️ Annual Leave!

2️ Second Year & Onwards

• At the beginning of your second year, you should be competent with both datalab and use of Jupyter notebooks for data processing.
• Your PhD journey will be very individual after this point:
  • Don’t be afraid, we are here to help.
  • If you’re stuck with a scientific question for more than a week, ask colleagues for suggestions, or speak up during the Roundable part of our ConCat Team Meeting.
  • If you’re stuck for more than a month, take a break and work on something else.
• Use your One-on-one meetings with Peter, ConCat Team Meetings, and Review meetings to discuss any issues.

Research Proposal

Your research proposal is the first important scientific document you produce in our lab. It is your starting point for your project in our lab. The proposal serves the following purposes:

• it states your research question clearly, with supporting evidence (i.e. literature) of its importance or interest;
• it makes you plan your research over the 3-year period ahead of us in order to answer your research question;
• it will help Peter assess your scientific writing early on;
• it is required for registration as a doctoral candidate by the Faculty.

Your research proposal should:

• be a few pages long (~ 10 including tables, charts, figures);
• include references in an appropriate format;
• include a Project Gantt Chart.

Make it yours.

You will be given hints (suggestions, discussions etc.) and material (papers, other project proposals) which should help point you in a direction aligned with Peter’s. However, it’s your project, and the proposal also has to be yours.

Don’t worry:

• Your proposal is not set in stone! Three years are a long time, and everyone understands things will change.
• We will probably go through multiple revisions. Don’t be discouraged if your first draft is not perfect.

Supervision Agreement

The supervision agreement between you and Peter serves as a more formal basis for our collaboration, in addition to your work contract with the University. It agrees the following items:

• Who your PhD supervisor is.
• Who your secondary supervisor is, if necessary.
• What your thesis title is, if agreed.
• What the frequency of review meetings is.

It also binds both you and Peter to certain commitments:

• Provision of funding for your travel.
• Conditions / expectations of your progress.
• Necessary or missing infrastructure for your work.
• Other items and milestones as necessary.

The supervision agreement will be reviewed together with Peter every Review Meeting.