TUM Graduate Council (Speakers)

On Wednesday, May 04^th, the Graduate Council (GC) had the first in-person meeting since October 2021. The meeting was held at the TUM Downtown Campus and the GC welcomed the newly elected representative of the International Helmholtz Graduate School for Plasma Physics (HEPP) as well as a new member from the School of Engineering and Design. Within the meeting, the GC discussed the current state of the school transition, the planned activities of the Graduate Council in 2022 and the current projects of its working groups

Most importantly, the GC discussed the new draft of the higher education act, which was published shortly before the meeting. The next meeting will be held on June 1^st at TUM Campus Garching. All interested persons are invited to join. Please contact the speakers via email if you want to join.

The network LaProBay (Landesnetz der Promovierendenvertretungen in Bayern) has published its position on establishing doctoral representatives bodies at all bavarian universities.

Visit the website of LaProBay for more information: Link to the position

The TUM Graduate Council needs your help to implement and represent your interests during your doctorate at TUM and to improve the situation of all doctoral candidates.

The survey covers topics like your working conditions, supervision, and your current situation under COVID-19. Please take part via this link.

The survey time is from 15 October 2021 until 30 November 2021.

On October 20, 2021 the TUM Graduate Council had its first in-person meeting since February 2020. The meeting was held at the TUM Campus Olympiazentrum for the first time. Within the meeting the TUM Graduate Council reelected Sebastian Straßer as first speaker. Furthermore we are happy to announce to have a new Senior Advisor, Mónica Basilio Hazas (second speaker from 01/2021 until 09/2021).

On September 14, the Graduate Council gathered for its 88th meeting to vote on their speakers for 2022.

We are happy to congratulate Baraa Altaha (TUM School of Life Sciences)for being elected as new 2nd Speaker of the TUM Graduate Council. Since October 1, Baraa is officially representing the voice of the GC and thus, doctoral candidates at TUM.

On September 29, we introduced the new second speaker to President Hofmann during the regulary meeting between him and us.

Congratulations Baraa!

TUM Supervisory Award 2021

During the 87th meeting, the Graduate Council thoroughly discussed the TUM Supervisory Award 2021. We are proud to congratulate Prof. Dr. Felix Brandt (Professorship Decision Sciences & Systems)  for winning the TUM Supervisory Award 2021.  We thank Prof. Dr. Felix Brandt for his exemplary supervision and for his commitment to the training of his doctoral candidates.

This year the prize money of 5,000€, will be funded by the Bund der Freunder der TUM e.V. for the first time. President Hofmann will present the winner at this year’s TUM Awards Dinner.

On September 26, a new federal parliament is elected. This election affects all aspects of life, including the worklife of doctoral researchers, development of science and diversity in acadmia. To help doctoral researchers and other early-career scientists, several PhD networks have joined forces to provide them with a guide to navigate the elections using information that directly affects them. 

Report Wahlprüfsteine

The project was conducted by the the N² network (Helmholtz Association, Max Planck Society, leibniz PhD Network and IPP Mayence), the TUM Graduate Council of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the ProKo of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), THESIS e.V., the Doctoral Covenant of Baden-Württemberg, the Coucil of Doctoral Researchers of the Technical University of Brunswik, the ProRat of the University of Leipzig, and the DR.FSU of the University of Jena.

In June, the doctoral representations of Bavaria have joined forces and founded the Network of doctoral representatives in Bavaria (LaProBay). This network consists of the doctoral representative bodies from the universities in Bayreuth, Erlangen-Nürnberg, München (TU), Regensburg, and Würzburg.
LaProBay will speak up and fight to improve the situation of doctoral candidates across Bavaria and beyond. Stay tuned for more information!

Position Paper of the Landesnetzwerks der Promovierendenvertretungen in Bayern (LaProBay) about the Bavarian Higher Education Act

In 2020, doctoral representatives in Bavaria started exchanging ideas on matters concerning doctoral candidates and on how to build representative structures across the state. Since then, a network of universities with regular meetings was established: the Landesnetzwerk der Promovierendenvertretungen in Bayern, with members from the universities in Bayreuth, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Munich (TU), Regensburg and Würzburg.

In this position paper presented to the Ministry of Science and Art, LaProBay focuses on the doctoral-related topics of the Bavarian Higher Education Act. LaProBay calls for:
1. legal anchoring of the doctoral representations and their inclusion into the existing status groups.
2. promotion of young researchers and plannable career paths
3. participation of doctoral candidates in the development of rules on teaching load
4. framework conditions for doctorates at or in cooperation with universities of applied sciences (HAWs)

Please find the joint paper in our “Positions” section.

Joint Position Paper of the Student Council and the Graduate Council

Since the Bavarian Ministry of Science and Arts published the key points of the planned reform of the Bavarian Higher Education Act in October 2020, a broad and constructive discussion about the future direction of the Bavarian higher education landscape has flared up. In this discussion, the perception of the next generation of scientists, who are currently in training, is unfortunately only taken into account to a limited extent. At the Technical University of Munich, for example, this generation forms the largest group with approximately 45,000 students and approximately 7,000 doctoral candidates, who share similar ideas for an innovative Bavarian university landscape.

Please find the joint paper in our “Positions” section.