Career Perspectives with a PhD in Natural & Life Sciences // June 11, 5 – 6 pm

Looking for career options after your doctorate? And not sure what is “out there”? With the series "Career Perspectives with a PhD in Natural and Life Sciences", we would like to offer an opportunity for interactive and informal exchange about career-related topics.

Thursday, May  14 is bank holiday – we will not meet.

On Thursday, June 11, we welcome Dr. Sergey Trishin, a physicist who works as postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Berkeley (UCB). All information and the meeting link can be found on this website. 

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Open online consultation hours from the Graduate Center // Tuesdays from 11 - 12 

The graduate center coordinator Simone offers regular open online consultation hours.

The consultation is always strictly confidential! 

You have questions about:

• the mentoring programs at our department,
• the awarded titles Dr. rer. nat. or Ph.D.,
• the planning of your further career, training and education offers,
• the admission obligation on good scientific practice,
• the formal aspects of your doctoral procedure,
• or any other topics related to your doctorate?

None of your problems are too small or unimportant—come by and ask your questions.

Join me online via Webex (please wait in the lobby - I will let you in as soon as the consultation room is free). Always on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 12 noon.

The advisory service is also open to master's students who seek advice in starting a doctorate. Please feel free to pass on this information.

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Scientific workflows: Tools and Tips / Online lecture series by Dr. Selina Baldauf // May 21, 4-6pm

In this lecture series we will explore a diverse range of topics, including R code quality and efficiency, reproducible document creation, version control with Git, literature management, and academic notetaking. You'll learn practical tips and tricks that can help you optimize your research workflow and increase your productivity.

We will meet online on the 3^rd Thursday of every month during the lecture period and you are welcome to join. 

The next session will be “From default to publication-ready ggplot2”. Find further information and the meeting link here. 

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Info event series: Doctoral studies at the BCP department // May 22, 11 am – 12 pm 

The Graduate Center is organizing an information series for doctoral candidates at the BCP department. Once a month, the focus will be on a specific topic related to doctoral studies at the department, with a short input and the opportunity to ask questions. 

The next info event in our series takes place in May 2026 and deals with the topic “Defense”

Who organizes the disputation? When can my disputation take place at the earliest? When should the disputation be announced? How many members of the doctoral committee must be present? What is the function of the substitutes in the doctoral committee? How long does the disputation take? What format is possible?

Join the online meeting, gather some information and ask your questions! 

Further information and the Webex link can be found here: https://www.bcp.fu-berlin.de/en/graduiertenzentrum/promovierende/veranstaltungen/info-events/index.html

Here you will also find the presentations of past information events as well as helpful links on the respective topic.

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Summer festival of the BCP department // July 2

You are warmly invited to mark the date of the next summer festival of the BCP Department:
Thursday, July 2, 2026
From 3:30 p.m.
Arnimallee 22, large lecture hall & outdoor area between Fabeckstr. 34/36 and Arnimallee 22

In keeping with tradition, the Award for Excellence in Teaching will be presented in conjunction with our celebration. A detailed program can be found here.
We look forward to seeing you there!

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Dahlem Research School (DRS)

Exchange forum „Dialogue on doctoral education“: Stakeholder meeting
Join the dialogue about good supervision by coming to the stakeholder meeting of our exchange forum „Dialogue on doctoral education“ on May 18. It invites a wide range of participants involved in doctoral education, emphasizing the value of practical experience and diverse perspectives. The event will include both collaborative work sessions and networking opportunities, with catering provided.
Target group: Freie Universität members only (as registered doctoral researcher you are member of FU Berlin) . All interest groups that are involved in doctoral education (especially doctoral researchers and supervisors)
Date: 18 May 2026
URL:  https://www.drs.fu-berlin.de/en/node/131382 

Open Door Talk: AI-Basics (online)

Date: 17. Juni 2026, 13:00-15:00 hrs / 1:00-3:00 pm Berlin time
format: online @ Dahlem Research School
Language: English

AI-Basics offers doctoral researchers a concise introduction to large language models and their scientific implications. Explore how LLMs work, what they truly “know,” and how to use them responsibly in research maintaining high standards of scientific integrity.

Registration: https://www.drs.fu-berlin.de/en/node/132123 

 

Open Door Talk: AI & Research Integrity: What to do and what to avoid (online)

Date: 24. Juni 2026, 13:00-15:00 hrs / 1:00-3:00 pm Berlin time
Format: online @ Dahlem Research School
Language: English

New technologies cause uncertainty – this is especially true for Artificial Intelligence (AI). Meanwhile, researchers find a huge array of AI-based tools at their disposal with new opportunities emerging almost daily. Our rulebooks on good research practice can hardly keep up with this development. Accordingly, many questions arise: Can I use AI tools for my dissertation? Should I make it transparent, which AI tools I use and, if so, how? How shall I document the use of AI? When publishing, can AI assist me or even be an author?

Registration: https://drs.fu-berlin.de/en/node/131035

 

Open Door Talk: Prompting and Literature Search (online)

Date: 16. Juli 2026, 10:00-12:00 hrs / 10:00-12:00 am Berlin time
format: online @ Dahlem Research School
Language: English

Prompting and Literature Search introduces PhD students to practical strategies for using large language models and AI-based search tools. Get hands-on experience through guided examples that help you craft prompts and integrate AI-enhanced search into your research workflow.

Registration: https://www.drs.fu-berlin.de/en/node/132129 

 

New -  for first generation doctoral researchers!

FIRST GENERATION DOCS CONNECT

Date: June 2, 4pm – 7pm

Venue: https://beachmitte.de/

URL: https://www.drs.fu-berlin.de/en/node/123217

 

Open Door Talk for/on First Generation PhD Students (online)

Date: 6. Juli 2026, 15:00-17:00 hrs / 3:00-5:00 pm Berlin time
Format: online @ Dahlem Research School
Language: English

In this Open Door Talk, two members of the association "Erste Generation Promotion – EGP e. V." (PhD First Generation) will engage in dialogue with you about the challenges for first generation PhD students and give you an insight into their advocacy work. Both first-generation (PhD) students and anyone interested in the topic are welcome.

https://www.egp-verein.de/

Direct link: https://fu-berlin.webex.com/fu-berlin/j.php?MTID=m486f76cc2894cc33781f86b27f362d56

Registration: https://drs.fu-berlin.de/en/node/131414 

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Berlin University Alliance (BUA) 

E-Learning Module “Good Research Practice for Doctoral Researchers”

This online course covers responsibility and misconduct in research, managing research data, identifying and avoiding questionable research practices, plagiarism, authorship & publication, and conflicts in doctoral supervision. 
You can complete the course at your own pace. To fulfill the obligation to provide proof of participation in a course on good scientific practice worth at least one credit point (12 full hours) you also have to complete the optional chapter 2.2 Statistical Inference. 

A list of workshops and events from the BUA organizations for all doctoral researchers can be found here.

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Meta-science Summer School // Aug 23-28 // registration until May 22 

Meta-science Summer School: Get hands-on training in research on research

Are you concerned about the quality, reproducibility, rigor and transparency of research? Interested in learning how to use “research on research” to improve research in your field? 

Apply for the Meta-science Summer School (deadline May 22) to get hands-on experience, while collaborating with researchers from different fields and countries.

Meta-research studies the research process and tests interventions to improve research quality, culture and practice. During this week-long school (August 23-28, near Frankfurt am Main, Germany), participants will work in small groups with experienced meta-researchers to design and start meta-research, or science of science, studies. Participants may continue working after the summer school to finish and publish their project.

The school is open to researchers from any field and welcomes researchers who do not have meta-research experience. There is no cost to attend. Travel funding is available for a limited number of students. Instructors include Tracey Weissgerber, Vladislav Nachev, Malcolm Macleod, Anita Bandrowski, Rachel Heyard and Marlene Altenmüller.

Learn more about & apply: https://www.bihealth.org/en/notices/meta-science-summer-school-designing-and-conducting-studies-to-improve-research-1

The summer school is funded by Volkswagen Stiftung and organized by the BIH QUEST Center for Responsible Research and the EXCELScIOR ERA Chair meta-research team at the University of Coimbra. 

Supporting organizations include the German Reproducibility Network, meta-rep, iRise and the Portuguese Reproducibility Network. 

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International Conference: “Sustainability in Higher Education – Between Transformation and Vibe Shifts" // Sept 21 – 23 

From 21 to 23 September, Freie Universität Berlin, in collaboration with Una Europa, will host the international conference “Sustainability in Higher Education – Between Transformation and Vibe Shifts“.

Our conference aims to critically examine the current status of sustainability in higher education and the discursive shift surrounding the concept of transformation in recent years. Through engaging keynotes and self-reflective, practice-based workshops, we intend on finding answers to the conference’s guiding question: What’s next when “transformation” becomes yesterday’s vibe? 

Prof. Dr. Katrin Böhning-Gaese - Scientific Director of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - and Dr. Felix Matthes - Research Coordinator for Energy and Climate Policy at Öko-Institut - will open the conference as keynote speakers. 

Registration is now open. We explicitly invite contributions and participants from all universities.

Abstracts should be submitted online through ConfTool by May 31, 2026. We will inform all selected contributors by the middle of June.

You can find all relevant information on our website: fu-berlin.de/en/sites/higher-ed-sustainability-conf/index.html. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact conference manager Moritz Zöllner (events@nachhaltigkeit.fu-berlin.de).

We look forward to welcoming you to Berlin!