FAQs

The members of the Mentoring Committee are appointed by the doctoral student.

The members of the Mentoring Committee are appointed independently of the official supervisor of the doctoral thesis. If the official supervisor wishes to participate, this is of course also possible.

The Mentoring Committee consists of three supervisors, of which at least one (medical students: two) member must be entitled to confer the PhD degree.

Yes, at least one member of the Mentoring Committee must belong to another institution.

• Medical doctoral candidates: initial meeting at the beginning of the experimental work (full time research/scholarship), meeting after completion of the experimental work (full time research/scholarship), then annually until submission of the PhD thesis.
• Scientific doctoral students: initial meeting, thereafter annual meetings until the end of the research work, final meeting

Yes, when you are a member of the IZKF Research Training Group or member without GRK-connection. A copy of the minutes of the meeting must be sent to the Life@FAU administrative office. This serves as interim proof of the fulfilment of the requirements in the Studienbuch, which are examined by the Mentoring Committee and recorded in the minutes. This does not apply to members of other research training groups.

Each doctoral student must present their doctoral project by submitting a research proposal or a project outline and a lecture to the Mentoring Committee 3 months after admission to the Life@FAU. A copy must be sent to the Life@FAU administrative office, this does not apply to members of other research training groups.

No. Life@FAU cannot provide any travel funds itself.

The travel costs must be borne by your institution or your graduate school. Please note: Within the IZKF Research Training Group, the IZKF travel pool is only available for doctoral students financed by IZKF projects.

The Life@FAU Steering Committee and the IZKF Management Board decide on the establishment of a Jour fixe (JF). In principle, the JF must meet the following requirements: a thematically coherent concept (description on half a page/DINA4), usually interdisciplinary, generally open to further participants and publicly announced via the Life@FAU homepage, and in any case a sufficient number of doctoral candidates (approx. 30 participants in the long term), so that a critical mass can be guaranteed in each meeting. The programme of the JF has to address content-related- (lectures of the doctoral students) and methodological aspects (presentation of technologies). In addition, each JF requires a supervisor (usually an appointed professor) who guarantees the functionality and quality of the JF.

Yes, that is possible.

You are obliged to attend at least six meetings per year and to present your own work (once a year).

Yes, you can switch from one JF to another. It is also possible that you may attend meetings of a JF even though you belong to another JF. Please inform the JF spokespersons and the Life@FAU administrative office. The dates of the JF meetings can be found under the following link: https://www.life.fau.de/veranstaltungsuebersicht/seminare/

Guest speaker seminars are lectures by renowned scientists from other domestic and foreign institutions. They are announced publicly. The seminar must take place live.

You will find an overview of the lecture series that you are welcome to attend on the Life@FAU homepage. This list does not claim to be complete. Of course, you may also attend other guest speaker seminars and have them documented in your Studienbuch.

No. The attendance of several guest speaker seminars at one symposium can only be considered as one lecture. If the symposium is also evaluated as a retreat or congress participation, an additional credit as a guest speaker seminar is not possible.

No. The courses are offered and financed by the respective Research Training Groups. Life@FAU does not have any funds at its disposal in this matter.
Please note: Interested doctoral students who register in the Life@FAU can, if they do not belong to another research training group, join the IZKF Research Training Group and then make use of the training offers of the IZKF. In addition, each participant can take advantage of free places in courses offered by Life@FAU. If you do not wish to join the IZKF Research Training Group, you and your direct supervisor are responsible for fulfilling the prescribed training modules through other suitable offers (e.g. from the Graduate School, external offers). This includes bearing the costs for further training programmes etc. yourself.

No. Word and PowerPoint are regarded as basic knowledge and cannot be credited as soft skills courses.

Only courses offered within the programme of Life@FAU and the Research Training Groups as well as the Graduate School can be recognized. As a rule, a minimum duration of 8 hours is required for courses. In individual cases, courses offered by external providers may be also approved. Please contact the Life@FAU administrative office in advance on this matter. New courses must be listed in the training programme of Life@FAU and the Graduate School and be announced via the corresponding websites and distribution lists.

No. However, a lecture/presentation at a congress (exceptionally and on individual request) or at the IZKF Postgraduate Workshop/ IZKF Symposium, provided that a poster is presented there, would be creditable. No contribution can be credited twice.

If you do not wish to join the IZKF Research Training Group, you and your direct supervisor are responsible for fulfilling the prescribed training modules through other suitable offers. This includes bearing the costs for the retreat etc. yourself. An additional participation in a national symposium (exceptionally and on individual request) or the IZKF postgraduate workshop instead of a retreat is acceptable.