Tag Archives: PhD student

PhD Life

How afraid are you of your supervisor?

A dry mouth, excessive sweating, aphasia – hopefully that is not what you experience when you need to talk to your PI. For some, however, the benign stress response ahead of meetings that you may be familiar with turns into an unbearable condition. Recently, Dr. Diamandis, professor at the University of Toronto, addressed what he recognized as a “growing phobia” in a Nature article sparking … Continue reading How afraid are you of your supervisor? »

PhD Life

Time to become a PhD – Time to fasten up becoming a PhD

In our last article I wondered how long it takes for students at our faculty to finally get their PhD after having submitted their thesis. Surveys among alumni (n=32) showed that this final step takes about five months. 70% of the former PhD students were not satisfied with how long it took from handing in their thesis until their defense could take place. This time … Continue reading Time to become a PhD – Time to fasten up becoming a PhD »

PhD Life

Time to become a PhD – The dream of graduating soon

Imagine, years have passed and you reach the far away goal of your dreams: You have written up your PhD thesis and are ready to hand in! And, almost equally satisfying, you are ready to smile back at those people’s faces who have been driving you crazy the years by asking “When will you be finished?“. After such a long time you can finally answer … Continue reading Time to become a PhD – The dream of graduating soon »

PhD Life

How to maximally piss off a PhD student in five words

It’s hilarious how a little innocent question is able to make PhD students all around the globe[1] feel miserable, feel hate for the inquirer, for his or her supervisor and/or for the world in general. I would assume that, by now, everyone is aware of the reflexes that it is causing, no matter if it is being asked by acquaintances, colleagues, friends or family. Obviously … Continue reading How to maximally piss off a PhD student in five words »

PhD Life

Stressed like a PhD student

In 2016 best ranking job, which takes into consideration also stress, careercast.com rated both biologist and university professor at place 38 out of 200. Not bad. Stress score was 16 for the biologists and 8 for the professors. That’s really low compared to the highest score (73) assigned to firefighters and surprisingly close to the lowest score (6) calculated for compliance officers. I agree – … Continue reading Stressed like a PhD student »

PhD Life

His name is Bockfred, he takes care – The penguin patron of PhD students

Since the dawn of civilization people have always been looking for spiritual help to secure their harvest in hard times, to protect their loved ones or to save their lives when it was at stake. There is a long list of patrons for every kind of job, illness or situation you can think of. The patron of drunk people is Noach or Noah. He was … Continue reading His name is Bockfred, he takes care – The penguin patron of PhD students »

How was...

The autumn school Merseburg – Immune system for beginners (and of course refreshers)

To be honest, when in spring 2015 an email from the cluster dropped in our mailbox, offering ten IITB travel awards for the autumn school of the German Society for Immunology (DGfI), we weren´t familiar with the concept of the autumn school at all. Getting more information about the program and the speakers from the autumn school, we got excited and decided to apply. But … Continue reading The autumn school Merseburg – Immune system for beginners (and of course refreshers) »

PhD Life

PhD vs Dr. rer. nat

Intensive sociological research  has led to uncover similarities between marriage and supervisor-PhD agreements. Whereas marriage and a PhD are not mutually exclusive choices per se, the decision to pursue a PhD or a Dr. rer. nat. usually is. In a follow-up study we now investigated the two different options for aspiring PhD candidates in the life sciences at the University of Bonn. Our results are … Continue reading PhD vs Dr. rer. nat »

PhD Life

Koalas, Wombats and Co.: Research in Australia and a new collaborative PhD Program

Don’t you dream about a warm and sunny country to live in these days with heaps of exotic animals and friendly inhabitants? Right now Australia would be your perfect destination since the summer is full on and a lovely place to spend your time with cute penguins and kangaroos everywhere. Just keep in mind that winter (and with that cold temperatures as well) will approach at … Continue reading Koalas, Wombats and Co.: Research in Australia and a new collaborative PhD Program »