Guideline for Scholars in the Leibniz Graduate School of Molecular Biophysics, Berlin

The PhD program intends to achieve a broad education in the field of molecular biophysics. Therefore, the following goals have to be achieved in order to qualify for the defense of a PhD thesis.

1. Each PhD thesis is set up as a collobrative effort between two or more groups. Each graduate student is therefore asked to select three advisors at the beginning of his/her thesis, which should guarantee a successful PhD thesis. The second advisor must be selected at the latest at the end of the first year of the thesis. The third advisor has the function of an independent observer (assigned by the coordinator) and is not directly involved in the research project. The graduate student is supposed to discuss his/her PhD thesis with the second advisor at least three times per year. For this purpose, the two co-advisors will join the PhD seminar of the primary group in which the scholar presents his/her work.
   
   
2. Within the first and second year of the PhD thesis, each graduate student has to select two practical classes / lectures in order to increase his/her knowledge in biophysics (see "Teaching"). Ideally, the courses are related to the research project of the graduate student. Topics covered in these courses may be subject to the PhD defense.
   
   
3. Focussed mini-symposia and summer schools are obligatory for students of the PhD program (3-4 times/year).
   
   
4. Each year, all graduate student have to submit a written research report to document the progress of their work (5 pages +). In addition, the scholars have to defend their research projects after the second year in front of a general audience. This defense shall be as well used to present a research proposal in which the graduate student suggests a novel experiment that could be carried out at the end of the PhD thesis.