The PhD Representatives at AWI
The "DokTeam"
All PhD students who are working at AWI are represented by PhD representative – the so-called "DokTeam". This annually elected group typically consist of 13 PhD students – seven located in Bremerhaven and two at each of the other AWI locations Potsdam, Helgoland, and Sylt. A lively exchange between the DokTeam members is ensured due to video conferences once a month.
Areas of responsibility
We advocate the interests of all PhD students at AWI, e.g. concerning working contracts, working environment, and supervision. As persons in charge we can be contacted at any time by PhD students that need support.
To represent our concerns at the political stage of AWI, we send a representative to all faculty meetings, are informed about the outcomes of the scientific council meetings, and meet annually with the directorate. Besides, we stay in close contact with the coordinators of the Graduate School POLMAR.
For expanding our political outreach, we designate representatives being part of the Helmholtz Associations' inititative Helmholtz Juniors (HeJu).
Finally, we regularly conduct surveys on the situation of PhD students at AWI to get an impression of the major issues that move AWI's PhD students.
We act as contact for information and questions concerning all topics relevant for PhDs. We send important information to all PhD students and mediate in various issues between the students and the respective parties.
We provide advice and assistance for potential future PhD candidates and offer new PhDs a mentoring program to settle more easily into the PhD life.
To promote networking and exchange between the PhD students, we organize various activities such as
- PhD Days: PhD students get the chance to network and present their research to fellow PhD students. Venue changes yearly among the AWI sites Bremerhaven, Potsdam, Helgoland and Sylt.
- AWI Science Meeting: During this one-day symposium, PhD students in their 3rd year get the chance to present their research to all interested AWI staff.
- Monthly get-together: "PhD and PostDoc Feierabend"
- Summer BBQ, Christmas Party and Kohltour as well as special events like Breminale, game night, ...
In our opinion, our responsibility as scientists doesn't end when we have managed to publish our scientific findings in a journal that is only available to a very limited circle of professionals. We would like every citizen to have the chance to participate in our work and get to know more about what we are doing. We would like to give back to the public by sharing our awesome findings as they have substantially supported our research through their taxes.
We inform PhD students about all the means of sharing scientific findings that are in their disposal, as well as encourage and support them to present their gained knowledge to a broader public or to pass it on to junior scientists. Additionaly, we are in close collaboration with the department Communications and Media Relations at AWI in order to give a voice to the PhD students in internal as well as external media channels.
We are working with the department Technlogy and Environmental Protection in order to keep improving the sustainability of AWI. We convey your ideas and critisism concerning sustainability to the responsible experts and inform the PhD students about recent developments and steps that are taken towards an increasingly sustainable AWI.
The regular maintenance of the external and internal PhD websites allows us to make important information accessible for (future) PhD candidates. In addition, we regularly announce important information, e.g. about upcoming events.