Onboarding Event for New Doctoral Candidates

On 4 November, 29 doctoral candidates who started their doctoral studies in 2025 accepted the invitation and took part with great interest in the new event format, which was jointly organised by the Welcome Centre, the Graduate Research School and the Unit for Young Academics.

Prof. Wolfram Berger, Vice President for Internationalisation at BTU, opened the event with a welcoming speech in which he outlined current developments in research at BTU and highlighted the university's international orientation in particular. For example, around 40% of doctoral students at BTU come from abroad. This high degree of internationalisation was also evident at the onboarding event, which was attended by German and international doctoral students from 16 nations.

After the informative input, there was a short warm-up session that encouraged interaction between the participants. Creative answers were sought on topics such as the best piece of advice or what would constitute a perfect day. The most important information and service offerings for doctoral students were then presented. These included further training and qualification programmes, opportunities for stays abroad and the structuring of the doctoral agreement.

In addition to the transfer of knowledge, the opportunity to network was not neglected. After the official part of the programme, the informal get-together began with a coffee break. This provided the opportunity to talk to the organisers of the event, clarify questions and share suggestions. In addition, the onboarding event provided an excellent opportunity to get to know other doctoral candidates and expand one’s professional network. 

This event was supported by DAAD financed by funding of the Federal Foreign Office.