Gradschool Newsletter // Docs & Postdocs

Dear doctoral candidates and postdocs,

Welcome to a our spring issue of the GRADSCHOOL NEWSLETTER DOCS & POSTDOCS!

In LOOKING INWARDS, we are promoting the internationalization programme for female early career researchers offered by Leuphana's Office for Equal Opportunities.

In LOOKING OUTWARDS, we refer to the dissertation competition 2023 of the Budrich publishing houses, in which you can win a publication grant, as well as to the further qualification for doctoral graduates quali.prof@HAW.

In our MEET OUR RESEARCHERS interview, Gitte Göllner gives an insight into her doctoral topic in the field of professionalisation research.

WHAT'S GOING ON @ LEUPHANA? gives an overview of free places in workshops and events of the Graduate School and Academic Staff Development in June and July.

If you have any suggestions for our newsletter, please send an email to: graduate.community@leuphana.de.

We look forward to your feedback!

Best regards,

The Graduate School Team

Looking Inwards

With the 'Programme to Promote the Internationalization of Female Early Career Researchers', excellent female academics in the qualification phase (post-doctoral researchers, junior professors, academic councillors as well as advanced doctoral researchers (after the opening of their doctoral procedure)) are given the opportunity to establish or expand these necessary international contacts and networks for research and teaching activities by means of a scholarship or a travel allowance. Further information can be found here

Note: Applications are possible until summer 2024, after which the programme ends.

Looking Outwards

If you submit your dissertation by 31.08.2023 at the latest, you can participate in the selection for the dissertation prize "promotion" of the Budrich publishing houses. Your dissertation will be evaluated by a jury of experts - the winner will receive free publication of the dissertation in the series "promotion" published by Barbara Budrich!

You can take part if you have written a dissertation in one of the five subject areas of the publishing house (education, gender studies, politics, social work, sociology), completed it within 12 months before 31 August and have not yet published it (not even digitally). Your dissertation must also have been assessed with at least "magna cum laude". You can find further information on participation here (website in German only).

As part of a BMBF-funded cooperation between the University of Kassel and the University of Applied Sciences Fulda, doctoral candidates in the final phase of their doctorate as well as postdocs can prepare themselves on a part-time basis for obtaining and leading a professorship at a university of applied sciences (HAW).
The target group is committed young academics from the University of Kassel and the University of Applied Sciences Fulda, as well as from other universities (as external participants).
Participants attend courses on leadership, university governance, development and management of application-related projects.
In addition, three to four appointments for individual coaching are available for each participant, in which the further professional career can be planned individually.
Applications are possible until 15.05.2023. Further information can be obtained here.

Meet Our Researchers

Three questions for ... Gitte Köllner

Working title of the dissertation: Reflection processes in peer feedback-supported portfolio work: A qualitative analysis of student reflection texts in English teacher education
Doctoral Research Group: Professionalisation Research

Contact: gitte.koellner@leuphana.de

1. "And what are you writing about again?" At a flat-sharing party, how would you summarise your research project in three sentences without using technical terms?

I am conducting research in the field of teacher education in English and am investigating how students can come to university and be encouraged at the beginning of their studies through a peer feedback-supported reflection format to examine, for example, their motivation, their experiences of their own school years and their own English teaching, as well as the meaning of language and culture. After all, becoming aware of one's own biography is a cog in the professionalisation process.

2. "Writings the world desperately needs!" To what extent does your dissertation fill existing research gaps in the professional community?

A big buzzword in teacher education is "reflection" and the promotion of reflection is demanded from all sides. But I see a gap in the field of English didactics in how this should be structured in terms of content, subject-specific for university teaching, outside of internships and teaching reflection, which I would like to close with my dissertation. In addition, there has been little research on the beginning of studies in comparison to the transition to the preparatory service or profession.

3. What links do you see to your dissertation topic in practice?

I believe that my dissertation has valuable implications for English teacher education, which can be incorporated into seminar content or examinations in order to sensitise students to critically reflect on preconceptions of the profession, to make the relevance of theory-based reflection clear early in their studies, and at the same time to practise and routinise reflection and feedback, both of which are essential for successful teaching and professionalism.

If you are interested in presenting your research project in our short interview in GRADSCHOOL NEWLSETTER DOCS & POSTDOCS, please write to: graduate.community@leuphana.de.

What's Going On @ Leuphana?

On June, 2 and June 9, Dr. Nina-Kathrin Wienkoop offers the GradSkills workshop "Strategically building and maintaining networks" for PhD students and postdocs (in German). You can find more info here.
The academic human resources development offers the online event "Publish and Shine. Maximising the visibility of your own publications" (in German). You can find more information here:

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