PhD & Early Career Program

Finding support

While working on your dissertation or postdoctoral project, disagreements and tensions may arise between you and your advisors or other parties for a variety of reasons. Possible causes of conflict include interpersonal differences, excessive demands on a person’s time, or violations of the supervision agreement. Cases of abuse of power, insults and humiliation, and scientific misconduct may also occur during the academic career development phase.
In such cases, talk to your supervisor immediately and describe the situation. Misunderstandings or unspoken expectations are often the cause of tense situations. If specific conflicts have arisen due to differing views, it may be helpful to discuss the issue with a neutral party, such as an ombudsperson or the (AC)³ IRTG team.

Within (AC)³

IRTG coordinator
irtg_christa_genz_foto_stefan_bernhardt

Dr. Christa Genz

phone: ++49 (0) 221 470 4127

e-mail: christa.genz[at]uni-koeln.de

irtg[at]ac3-tr.de

IRTG project leaders
B03_B05_E04_Susanne_Crewell

Prof.’ Dr.’ Susanne Crewell

phone: ++49 (0) 221 470 5286

e-mail: susanne.crewell[at]uni-koeln.de

A02_A03_C01_Z01_Manfred_Wendisch

Prof. Dr. Manfred Wendisch

phone: ++49 (0) 341 97 32851

e-mail: m.wendisch[at]uni-leipzig.de

D03_E04_Gunnar_Spreen

Dr. Gunnar Spreen

phone: ++49 (0) 421 218 62190

e-mail: gunnar.spreen[at]uni-bremen.de

(AC)³ PhD Council

In order to represent our doctoral researchers also in the management of (AC)³, we have established our PhD Council, which consists of local PhD representatives at each site. They are elected once a year, usually during one of the (AC)³ General Assemblies or PhD retreats. The council represents the concerns and ideas of the PhDs and is their voice in the Scientific Steering Team (SST) meetings. The SST meets on a more or less monthly basis to discuss the direction of the project. The SST consists of the Speaker, Deputy Speakers and Cluster Speakers of (AC)³, representatives of the institution, leaders of the Cross-Cutting Activities (CCAs), representatives of the central projects (Z01, IRTG, INF, Z04) and representatives of the doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. If there is something you would like to bring up at the meeting, please contact your local or the main PhD representative or the IRTG coordinator.

Of course, you can always contact the council if you have any problems during your doctoral studies. Your concerns will be kept confidential. However, for serious issues, ombudspersons have been established within (AC)³ and beyond; more information below.

Anything you are concerned about?
Contact the Council’s Anonymous suggestion / comment / concern box (“Kummerkasten”).

PhD Council 2024

During the (AC)³ kick-off meeting in May 2024, the new PhD council (see above) was elected, who followed our previous council. We as a council are representing the concerns and ideas of the PhDs and are the student’s voice in the Scientific Steering Team (SST) meetings among the Professors, PLs and other senior researchers of (AC)³:

On general matters we are working as a team. You can contact your local rep at any time:

The council works as a team on general issues. Feel free to contact your local representative at any time.

We also organize virtual meetings (“Scientific-Kaffeekraenzchen” or virtual lunch breaks) or even scientific speed-dating.

Check out if there are any workshops or conferences which may be relevant for you. Let us know if you feel that something is missing.

Want to get more involved?
The Council meets once a month via Zoom to discuss ideas:
How do we want to organize? What should we propose to the Scientific Steering Team (SST)?

All doctoral researchers are very welcome to attend the meetings or to contact the council members with new ideas or just out of curiosity. The dates – and zoom link – of the meetings can be found in the calendar on the internal data sharing portal (https://cloud.ac3-tr.de/).

(AC)³ Equal Opportunities Board (EOB)

The (AC)³ Equal Opportunity Board was established during phase I and has been continued to evolve during phase II. It is always open to suggestions from the entire (AC)³ community. It has successfully implemented several measures aimed at complementing the variety of support and measures provided by the universities and research institutions in (AC)³.

  • Support for family services during (AC)³ workshops and conferences or field campaigns
  • Encouraging female researchers or researchers from underrepresented groups to take on leadership roles within (AC)³, for example by supporting coachings, networking workshops or leadership training
  • (AC)³ mentoring program
  • Increase the visibility of role models by inviting senior female Arctic researchers to (AC)³ workshops, winter schools and conferences
  • Active role in STEM outreach activities for school children
  • Initiate of a ‘Person of Trust (PoT)’ during field campaigns

Want to get more involved?
Contact the EOB via eob@ac3-tr.de

Institutional Ombudspersons and Conciliators

Leipzig University

University of Cologne

University of Bremen

University of Potsdam

AWI

TROPOS Leipzig

Doctoral representatives of universities/institutions
(AC)³ Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA)
What is MHFA?

MFHA is the German version of the Australian Mental Health First Aid Program which is spread over 26 countries. The German network is operated by the “Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit“. More information about the German and international program can be found »here and »here.

Why MHFA?

Almost everyone knows someone who suffers or has suffered from mental health problems. (AC)³ actively promotes trained MHFA as contacts for employees who are also able to actively approach people and offer support. The earlier affected people get help, the better their chances of recovery.

What to expect?

The (AC)³ MFHA provide first aid counseling for emerging mental health issues and acute mental health crises. Any member of (AC)³ can take advantage of this support.
Our (AC)³ MHFA

irtg_christa_genz_foto_stefan_bernhardt

Christa

phone: ++49 (0) 221 470 4127

e-mail: christa.genz[at]uni-koeln.de

irtg[at]ac3-tr.de

Z01_Brückner_Marlen_Photo_Swen_Reichhold_web

Marlen

phone: ++49 (0) 341 97 32877

e-mail: m.brueckner[at]uni-leipzig.de