The LGSA Procedures

Selection of PhD Students

1. All PhD student candidates are interviewed and selected by the PhD recruitment committee, irrespective of the source of financial support (FLI budget or grant).
2. The recruitment committee consists of six elected group leaders (3 senior, 3 junior group leaders). Prospective thesis supervisors are not present in the interview.
3. Interviews for the selection of PhD candidates are scheduled twice per year, in May and in October. At least three members of the interviewing committee have to be present at these meetings. As an exception, additional interview dates may be scheduled.
4. In general, PhD students are allotted to a project/research based on their declared project preferences, provided acceptance by the group leader.

PhD contracts

PhD contracts Unless students obtain their own fellowship, we offer a working contract with a salary according to German TV-L E 13 (salary agreement for public service employees) including health insurance and social insurance. PhD students receive initially a one-year contract which reminds the thesis committee at the same time to meet within the first year. The contract can be extended to three years with the possibility of an additional one-year extension, provided that a written positive statement from the thesis committee supports the extensions. At present, students receive a contract with a 50 % position during the first and second year and a 60 % position during the third and fourth year.
For contract extension please use the evaluation form for the thesis committee meeting below.

Supervisory committee for PhD students (Thesis Committee)

The PhD student and his/her supervisor select a PhD committee within the first 8 weeks after start of the contract. The PhD committee consists of the supervisor plus two group leaders or senior postdocs outside the group of the supervisor. Preferably, at least one committee member comes from another institute.
The committee monitors the quality and progress of the PhD project; the committee's task is to advise and help the PhD student, to ascertain success and sort out eventually occurring disagreements. The committee can be contacted whenever appropriate. The first meeting should take place within three months after beginning of the project, followed by - at least - annual meetings. For these subsequent meetings, the PhD student fills in an evaluation form and prepares a brief report (approximately 2 pages in English) on the progress of his/her work and future plans. The meetings have to be announced to the LGSA coordinator. A signed copy of the evaluation form and the written report must be forwarded. It is the responsibility of the PhD student to call in PhD committee meetings.
The evaluation form can be downloaded here as RTF or as DOC file.

PhD students' organisation

The PhD students at the FLI elect a speaker and a co-speaker as their representatives. The PhD students also elect a Dean of PhD students from the pool of FLI group leaders. The Dean serves as a contact person for organization, personal problems and any matter that the supervisory committee cannot solve.

Objectives to be achieved

The goal of a successful PhD study is to publish at least one first-author paper in an international peer-reviewed journal. At the end of the study a written thesis, an exam and a successful thesis defence qualify for a Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) degree at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. Students have the choice to receive their doctoral degree also from another university.

The Graduate School Courses

Participation in a number of activities and courses is obligatory. The current program is listed below. The detailed program is available on the home page and will be updated regularly.

1. Lecture series, to be held by all group leaders (also open for all interested and to be announced at the FSU). The topic of the lecture will be related to the FLI research focus, covering for instance cellular senescence, animal models of ageing, age-relate diseases. Lectures will be monthly, on Monday 9.00 in the Abbe Centre.

2. Thursday seminar series of external speakers. The talks will be scheduled at 1pm followed by a one-hour meeting with the PhD students, 'beer and bretzels' will be provided. Prior to the talk and after the meeting with the PhD students, the program is up to the scientist who invited the guest.

3. Fritz Lipmann lectures are a series of presentations by internationally renowned speakers,held a few times a year. The lectures are held at the Abbe Centre followed by a 'Happy Hour'.

4. Science and Society. Renowned scientists are invited several times per year within the new lecture series "Science and Society - Die alternde Gesellschaft" to talk about social, societal and demographic aspects of ageing.

Students are encouraged to invite and take care of speakers for the lecture series under #2 or #3. The student representatives will be equipped with a budget for this purpose.

5. The FLI work-in-progress seminar (currently on Tuesdays, 11.30) is obligatory for students, postdocs and senior scientists alike.

6. Journal club. Students have to attend one of the already existing or to be established journal clubs. Information will be available on the FLI website. As a rule, each student has to analyse and present two scientific articles a year.

7. Courses on methods. Students are encouraged to propose method courses.

8. FLI retreat. Participation in the annual institute's retreat with a poster presentation is also obligatory.

9. Meetings. Students should attend at least one international recognized meeting per year with a poster or oral presentation to get in contact with the community of scientists. For current meetings please check our website on news.

10. Students have to attend at least one seminar on technology transfer (TT) during their studies.

11. A Soft-skill training program will be organized in collaboration with neighbouring graduate schools.

12. Language courses . The FLI will provide the opportunity to learn German and English language.







update: 18/02/2011