Transferable skills and professional training

To optimally prepare doctoral candidates for future careers in academia and industry, the IHRS NanoNet strongly invests on the training of professional and transferable skills and competencies of the candidates. This includes training in presentation techniques, scientific writing, research and project management, group dynamics, and leadership.

Transferable skills courses

Once a year, the IHRS NanoNet doctoral candidates will participate in a transferable skill course organized by the Helmholtz Association in cooperation with coaches from the Imperial College London. The transferable skills courses are attended by doctoral candidates of all Helmholtz Research Schools and are compulsory to all NanoNet PhD candidates. Each course is adjusted to fit the different career stages of the doctoral candidates:

• 1st year students: Research skills development
• 2nd year students: Presentation and communication skills
• 3rd year students: Career and leadership

The schedule of upcoming transferable skills courses can be found in our event calendar.

Please contact the IHRS NanoNet coordinator for further information and to register in the transferable skills courses.

Professional training

In addition to the standard scientific guidelines provided to every graduate student, the participants of the research school will receive intensive training on some of the basic aspects necessary for their future careers, as for example concerning publishing and writing proposals.

Scientific publishing

To provide a detailed insight and training into the mechanisms of scientific publishing at an early career stage, all NanoNet participants are involved in the publication of an annual internal scientific journal (NanoNet JOURNAL) not accessible to an external audience.

All publications submitted to the NanoNet JOURNAL are peer-reviewed by at least two other participants of the school. Every participant of the NanoNet research school should act at least twice as referee. The editorial board of the NanoNet JOURNAL (composed of 4 PIs of the research school) is responsible for final decisions on the submitted manuscripts. A successful PhD candidate is expected to have at least one publication in the NanoNet JOURNAL, and use these as seed for submission to international scientific journals.

Annual deadline for submission of manuscripts: 15 October.

Writing a proposal

Each PhD candidate is expected to write either a research proposal (ca. 1 page) for a postdoctoral position in either academia or industry, or alternatively elaborate a business plan, in order to be funded immediately after conclusion of the PhD project. The proposal should be based on the results of the PhD thesis but also demonstrate the capability of the doctoral candidate to envision follow-up research beyond the scope of his/her own PhD project. The proposal will be evaluated by the TAC, and is to be written following the committee’s meeting at the end of the 2nd year. The deadline for submission is 6 months thereafter. The approved (by the TAC) proposal should be sent by the scientific or doctoral supervisor to the coordinator.