{"id":719,"date":"2024-12-12T11:39:59","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T10:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/?p=719"},"modified":"2026-07-11T12:23:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T10:23:03","slug":"doctoral-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/2024\/12\/12\/doctoral-council\/","title":{"rendered":"The Doctoral Council at Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Doctoral Council <\/a>acts as the representative body for all doctoral researchers at the university. It was established in the State of Berlin following the implementation of the new Berlin Higher Education Act (Hochschulgesetz). At Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, the council comprises two elected members from each department, totaling 22 members. We interviewed Maren Vogel who is one of the elected member of the doctoral council since 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audio <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Highlights<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cI think personally the most rewarding was the amount of people that have approached me from my department but also beyond with their different personal stories, however big or small. Not all of them lead to kind of political decisions or political issues, but it’s just very rewarding to hear how much trust people put in the work that we do as a Doctoral Council.\u201d<\/p>\nMaren Vogel, representative of the doctoral council at FUB<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

SUMMARY<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

English:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this episode, we spoke with Maren Vogel, a PhD student at Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin and the first speaker of the newly elected FUB Doctoral Council as of May 2024. She tells us about the Doctoral Council’s role in the university and how doctoral students can get involved, as the Council aims to represent doctoral students, provide support for them, and promote networking. It expresses doctoral students‘ needs to the university authorities, addresses issues in various departments, and builds academic connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant recent achievement of the Council was changes in the regulations of new structured PhD programs at FUB\u2019s Department of Education and Psychology, establishing clearer guidelines for the programs and reducing the pressure on students regarding their milestones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, Maren became involved in the Council through her interest in the Dahlem Research School and her desire to represent the doctoral students\u2019 diverse experiences and find broader solutions to common problems. Regarding her workload as the Council’s speaker, she explains that they hold meetings every six weeks, which require some preparation. But commitment levels among Council members vary, as it aims to respect its members\u2019 personal responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maren encourages doctoral candidates to reach out via email or the council\u2019s upcoming website, as they welcome suggestions and engagement from all FUB doctoral students. She also discusses her hopes for better support for doctoral candidates, focusing on financial stability and resolving conflicts of interest between candidates\u2019 dissertation work and research assistant roles. In this context, Maren stresses the importance of good leadership from supervisors and improved communication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also shares insights on how experiences vary among doctoral students from different departments, with factors such as job roles, study backgrounds, and personal situations impacting their individual journeys. Maren invites feedback to the Council and suggests that everyone\u2019s perspective matters in shaping the PhD experience \u2013 including non-native German speakers, as meetings can be conducted in English to accommodate more perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[see the full transcript of the episode here<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

German:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

F\u00fcr diese Folge haben wir mit Maren Vogel gesprochen, einer Doktorandin an der Freien Universit\u00e4t Berlin und \u2013 seit Mai 2024 \u2013 ersten Sprecherin der neu gew\u00e4hlten FU-Promovierendenvertretung. Sie erl\u00e4utert die Rolle des Gremiums an der Universit\u00e4t und die M\u00f6glichkeiten f\u00fcr Promovierende, sich zu engagieren. Das Ziel des Gremiums ist es, die Interessen der Promovierenden zu vertreten, ihnen Unterst\u00fctzung zu bieten und Vernetzung zu f\u00f6rdern. Die Vertretung bringt die Anliegen der Promovierenden gegen\u00fcber der Universit\u00e4tsleitung zur Sprache, greift Themen aus verschiedenen Fachbereichen auf und schafft akademische Verbindungen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ein wichtiger Erfolg des Gremiums in j\u00fcngster Zeit war die \u00c4nderung der Regelungen f\u00fcr neue strukturierte Promotionsprogramme am Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie der FU. Es wurden klarere Richtlinien f\u00fcr die Programme geschaffen und der Druck auf die Studierenden hinsichtlich der zu erreichenden Meilensteine \u200b\u200bverringert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maren begann ihr Engagement im Gremium durch ihr Interesse an der Dahlem Research School und den Wunsch, die vielf\u00e4ltigen Erfahrungen von Promovierenden zu vertreten und gemeinsam L\u00f6sungen f\u00fcr h\u00e4ufig auftretende Probleme zu finden. Bez\u00fcglich ihres Arbeitsaufwands als Sprecherin erkl\u00e4rt sie, dass alle sechs Wochen Sitzungen stattfinden, die Vorbereitung erfordern. Das Ausma\u00df des Engagements variiert jedoch, da der Rat R\u00fccksicht auf die pers\u00f6nlichen Verpflichtungen seiner Mitglieder nimmt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maren ermutigt Promovierende, sich per E-Mail oder \u00fcber die in K\u00fcrze verf\u00fcgbare Website der Vertretung in Kontakt zu treten, da Vorschl\u00e4ge und Beteiligung aller FU-Promovierenden willkommen sind. Zudem \u00e4u\u00dfert sie die Hoffnung auf eine bessere Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr Promovierende, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf finanzieller Stabilit\u00e4t und der L\u00f6sung von Interessenkonflikten zwischen der Dissertationsarbeit und der T\u00e4tigkeit als wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in liegt. In diesem Zusammenhang betont Maren, wie wichtig eine gute F\u00fchrung durch die Betreuenden sowie Verbesserungen in der Kommunikation sind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Au\u00dferdem gew\u00e4hrt sie Einblicke in die unterschiedlichen Erfahrungen von Promovierenden aus verschiedenen Fachbereichen; Faktoren wie die Art der Besch\u00e4ftigung, der akademische Hintergrund und die pers\u00f6nliche Lebenssituation beeinflussen den individuellen Promotionsverlauf. Maren l\u00e4dt dazu ein, der Vertretung Feedback zu geben, und unterstreicht, dass jede Perspektive wichtig f\u00fcr die Gestaltung der Promotionszeit ist \u2013 dies gilt ausdr\u00fccklich auch f\u00fcr Nicht-Deutsch-Muttersprachler: Sitzungen k\u00f6nnen auf Englisch abgehalten werden, um mehr Perspektiven einzubeziehen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Doctoral Council acts as the representative body for all doctoral researchers at the university. It was established in the State of Berlin following the implementation of the new Berlin Higher Education Act (Hochschulgesetz). At Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin, the council comprises two elected members from each department, totaling 22 members. We interviewed Maren Vogel who … \u201eThe Doctoral Council at Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin\u201c<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6863,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6863"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1640,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719\/revisions\/1640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}