Viadrina PhD/PostDoc Network

INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF OUR NETWORK

Introduction

The topic covered during the meeting was whether to invest resources and effort into institutionalizing our network, i.e. turning it into the PhD and Postdoc Network of the European University Viadrina.

During the meeting, the participants stressed the relevance of our Network for them, with ideas ranging from the helpful advice we provide to newcomers regarding the procedures or the University, to provide for an informal forum where questions can be asked with more ease.

Opinions on whether to institutionalize or not:

For

·         More visibility

o   Currently, it is rather difficult for PhD students and Postdocs to find out about the Network. Through institutionalization, thus by becoming part of the university structure, we could gain more visibility, e.g.: by being inserted into the University brochures, by publishing the access to the Network via Immatrikulationsamt, etc.

·         More access to necessary infrastructure: e.g.: rooms may be provided for meetings

Against:

·         Good to have a network independent from the official university structure/chairs of the university

·         Institutionalization could mean more dependence on various university factors.

Q&A:

·         What advantages arise from the institutionalization as regards our relationship to the university?

o   Institutionalizing could enable us to use the (physical and digital) infrastructure of our university: inserting our content on the University website, allowing us access to the resources of the university, or distributing our announcements through the University network of academic or non-academic partners.

o   As part of the university structure we would be better positioned to engage with other similar networks or institutions in other cities or countries, in this manner reaching much beyond university borders in our exchange.

o   The University could assist us with reaching out to new PhD researchers that could become members of our network, while we can assist the university in hearing the needs and wants of those researchers who are not affiliated through an employment contract to a chair.

o   Institutionalization may inspire cooperation, both among the members of the network and between the network and the University.

·         How sustainable is the organizational structure at the moment? What happens if the career takes one Orga-team member away from Viadrina?

o   Currently, the VPPN working group is composed of volunteers, nobody was elected for anything. A system of electing may be necessary if only a few people are left to cope with the organizational duties of the network.

·         Does our work overlap with that of other university bodies? Concern: We shouldn’t do what the university is supposed to do.

o   Our Network is complementary to the University structure. Our work does not overlap with the work of any of the University bodies. We are a decentralized non-hierarchical group drawing on peer-to-peer informal interaction.

o   Even there where we duplicate the work of the University (e.g. by providing guidance and information that is already available on the EUV website) we do that with a higher degree of informality, using different means and channels, and pulling different resources.

o   If becoming the official PhD/Postdoc Network of the University we could pull resources to support financially the efforts of the Orga-team.

Benefits of the VPPN according to participants:

·         Easier to talk to peers than to official university bodies.

·         Easier to meet people, and get answers, especially for those not employed at the EUV

·         Through the Network, you can get feedback on your research even from people inside or outside your field. You can present your research in an inter-disciplinary cross-university setting.

·         Connecting with other PhD students and Postdocs in both formal and informal formats

Next steps:

·       Work on a concept paper before mid-October, get feedback inside the network and then set up a meeting with representatives of the University. After that present to the wider network the results of the meeting.

Off-topic issues:

·         Proposed topics to be discussed during the next meetings:

o   Uni-related bureaucracy

o   Get to know the research topic of other PhD candidates

o   How to structure your work, how to manage your time

o   How to relate to your colleagues at the chair

·         Next network meeting will be an informal one, in person for drinks.

BUREAUCRACY AND FORMALITIES IN THE PHD LIFE: Q&As

Introduction

In our network meeting on 11.06.2021 we tackled issues around PhD bureaucracy and the formalities that go along with it. The moderator of the event was Gautam Chakrabarti, who started the meeting by welcoming each participant.

After a round of mutual introductions and getting to know each other, questions regarding bureaucracy were collected.

Issues that were raised during the meeting:

·         Information regarding the next steps once one has handed in the PhD thesis.

·         Steps and formalities addressed in the Promotionsordnung.

·         Bodies where one can address certain admin-issues or where concerns can be raised.

·         The probability that external and internal PhD candidates are treated differently

·         Discussion about #ichbinhanna (=trending hashtag through which researchers raise attention for problematic conditions in universities in Germany, including the “Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz”)

·         Apart from university bureaucracy non-EU PhD Candidates may also struggle with bureaucracy of the “Ausländerbehörde”

Regarding the process of handing in the dissertation: 

• Question: Do we have to register before handing in our dissertation? 

• Answer: hand in the dissertation a minimum of two weeks before the Promotionsausschuss meets. The defense can only happen during “Vorlesungszeit”.

·     Date of defense: What determines the day of your defense depends on how busy the supervisors are. If you want to hand it in early, talk it through with your supervisor.

·      Difference between a Master thesis defense and a PhD defense: Commission of five or six people. Gautam’s experience (his defense did not take place at the Viadrina): He had one or two Mittelbaus, first and second supervisor and an external person. He had to prepare a presentation of the dissertation thesis (roughly 10-15 minutes) and two “Thesenpapiervorschläge”.

• •   Note: Gautam’s defense did not take place at the Viadrina. According to the Promotionsordnung for EUV-KuWi there is only one Mittelbau allowed in the commission and there is no need necessarily for an external person. Neither of the two supervisors can chair the commission, the presentation in the beginning has to be 15 minutes and we need to submit only one Thesenpapier about one week before the defense. The relevant paragraphs from the KuWi Promotionsordnung of 2016.

§  § 4 Promotionskommission (3): Die Promotionskommission besteht aus:

- vier Professorinnen bzw. Professoren/Juniorprofessorinnen  bzw.  Juniorprofessoren oder aus drei Professorinnen bzw. Professoren/  Juniorprofessorinnen  bzw.  Junior-professoren  und  einer  habilitierten  Wissenschaftlerin  bzw.  einem  habilitierten  Wissenschaftler, 

-   einer promovierten akademischen Mitarbeiterin  bzw.  einem  promovierten  akademischen Mitarbeiter.

§  § 14 Disputation (3): Der  Promotionsausschuss  teilt  der  oder  dem Promovierenden  unverzüglich  die  Zusammenset-zung der Promotionskommission sowie den Disputationstermin mit und übersendet zugleich die Gutachten  und  eventuelle  weitere  Stellungnahmen. Die Promovierenden müssen dem Promotionsausschuss spätestens eine Woche  vor dem Disputationstermin  Thesen  zur  Dissertation  oder  eine  Zusammenfassung der Dissertation vorlegen, die der Ausschuss  an  die  Mitglieder  der  Promotionskom-mission weiterleitet.

§  (4): Die Disputation erstreckt sich auf die Dissertati-on,  die  Gutachten  und  die  eingereichten  Thesen bzw. die Zusammenfassung und beginnt mit einem maximal  15-minütigen  Vortrag  der  bzw.  des  Pro-movierenden. Die Disputation soll insgesamt ca. 60 Minuten dauern. Sie wird in der Regel in der Sprache  durchgeführt,  in  der  die  Dissertation  geschrie-ben  wurde.  Auf  Antrag  der  Kommission  oder  der bzw.  des  Promovierenden  kann  der  Promotions-ausschuss  auch  eine  andere  Sprache  festlegen. Dabei  muss  gewährleistet  sein,  dass  die  Verstän-digung  mit  der  Promotionskommission  gesichert ist.

"TO PUBLISH OR NOT TO PUBLISH...THAT IS THE QUESTION"

1. Sharing experiences with publishing journal articles or blogposts

• RESILIENCE:

Article Publication experience – rejections from several journals mean a lot of re-reading and editing and re-submitting to another journal.

The Journals have their own interests, their own considerations (as for instance ensuring a balanced coverage of different topics) – this means that a potential rejection is not necessarily related to the quality of the work, but maybe the priorities of the journals in terms of topics to be covered.

It is worth trying and getting published in the most prestigious journals.

An alternative to journal publications are the blog posts: entries could be sent to prestigious blogs.

There are many platforms where you can apply and send your article, as an alternative to your own personal blog-post: https://www.ejiltalk.org/,  https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/, https://strasbourgobservers.com/, http://cilj.co.uk/ are a few big platforms for law studies where you can send shorter opinion articles.

Concerning academic blogs there is catalogue avaliable here: https://www.openedition.org/catalogue-notebooks?page=catalogue&pubtype=carnet&lang=en

The blogs Hypthese.org or “The Conversation” are semi-academic sources and platforms for publishing in order to become more visible, which could support a career outside academia (such publications are in general not enough for an academic career).

• PUBLICATION PROCESS AND TIMING:

It is possible to use conferences as a platform for publishing, either through conference proceedings or collected papers published in a volume following the conference.

One could also start by searching for calls for papers/ publications or reach out to journals that are not so prestigious. In general, yearbooks take longer than quarterly publications. It may be an option to start with a lower-ranked publisher in order to maximize your chances for publication and minimize the scope for criticism. However, one can also use an application in a prestigious journal as a means to improve the quality of the article.

The jobs of the future require to have publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Not every publication which is quickly produced is bad, but a check is necessary: in terms of proper process (established editorial board, time of activity of the journal, thematic congruence). It ultimately depends on your goal, whether you are interested in an academic career or whether you intend to step out of academia. In Germany, many publishers have little peer review, which may make employers also more indulgent in judging your publication record. For an academic career it is of high importance to have at least some publications in peer-reviewed high ranked journals.

Every journal has its own formal requirements and processes. It is very important to inquire the journal about the form and formal criteria to be observed while writing the article.

Once the text is written, edited to comply with the requirements and submitted, it may take as long as six months to get a response. It is advisable to follow up with the journal in case the response is too much delayed.

The time in which an article reaches a publication depends on the basis/tempo in which the journal is published. It can take longer, sometimes years (1,5 – 2 years). In cultural studies and social studies, the more diverse the group is the longer it takes.

A challenge is also the time you have from the journal to adapt the text (which can be as short as 72 hours). It may be that you have a very short time to address a great number of comments; it may require a day and night effort. One can send the same text to a greater number of journals and select the best among the positive responses. The audience is also relevant in choosing the place of publication.

Maybe it is good sometimes to split a longer article in two so that you can multiply your chances for receiving positive reviews.

• WHERE AND WHEN:

There is an anxiety to publish. Sometimes you are invited to publish in lower rated publishers, new journals recently created, which may be an opportunity but which may interfere with your quality vs. quantity strategy.

Does it matter whether I publish during my PhD even if I do not want to stay in academia? If publishing, should it be rather policy papers or peer-review journals? How much am I supposed to publish? By necessity, you need to take a decision in this regard. For a career in International Organizations, they do not care about publications, but it is an advantage if you have a PhD – from this point of view you can invest time in the dissertation and be done as fast as possible.

You can also be lucky and publish without having this necessarily as a goal; you can be invited to publish and get a response with a request for minor revisions. You can be asked by professors if you have an article to publish and thereby have their support.

A new journal may be an easier route to take and it may grow into being an important publication. All the prestigious journals that are now exclusive started as a small group of professors looking for interesting publications and reaching out to their network.

Concerning the point - how to make most of your publications also consider publishing open access - you could have a look here: https://www.fosteropenscience.eu/node/260

1. The platforms we put in place:

• We have a linked-in account (https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9032768/)

• We have a Miro board where we note our experiences and interests and where we assemble and maintain a list of potential topics for discussion (https://miro.com/welcomeonboard/RNoxMny6o3zgWhuQbyeiz6TE32pX7S1IjOlDGasK5BNKr6JIlE7wfAb8lKo2CK9c).

3.  Ideas for a digital co-working space:

• We could have a co-writing space (a virtual Sta-BI) where we could apply some time-management techniques and work while being connected to one another virtually.