Qualification program

The qualification activities of the RTG are organized around four modules. All doctoral researchers choose courses with an extent of 16 ECTS points and participate in regular as well as in one-time activities. These activities include mandatory and optional courses, the latter naturally in accordance with the individual needs of the doctoral students. Depending on the individual planning, some activities such as organization of the RTG colloquium, co-teaching, presentations at conferences and workshop organization also can be shifted.

Modules

Module 1: research and methods

Within the RTG, the following two programs necessary for a successful completion of PhD, will be offered:

a program of dedicated theoretical courses (including typology and formal models)
a methodological course program (including statistics, experimental methods, data elicitation and corpus linguistics).

Module 2 – teaching skills

Gaining teaching experience is strongly encouraged. Students can attend a basic workshop on academic teaching.

Module 3 – key qualifications

In this module, a number of workshops ranging over various topics such as science management, presentation skills, scientific writing, grant writing and academic career planning are organized. In addition, professional coaches offer workshops specialized on topics such as work-life balance, transfer of knowledge and knowledge dissemination.

Module 4 – organizational skills

All doctoral students are involved in the organization of an international workshop at the end of the second year. In addition, every semester a group of generally four doctoral students organizes the RTG-colloquium in consultation with the speaker of the RTG. PhD students also organize reading groups on topics relevant for their projects.

Study program

All PhD students choose courses with an extent of 16 ECTS points and participate in some regular as well as some one-time RTG activities. The program includes:

an annual retreat
semi-annual meetings with the entire thesis committee/TCM (in addition to regular meetings with individual members of the committee)
optional teaching experience
one summer school
one international workshop
weekly colloquium with internal and external speakers
theory and method courses
key qualification courses
reading groups
presentations at international conferences
encouraged stay abroad

Time course of the study program:

The qualification program is designed to meet the different requirements of the PhD students. In the first semester, the emphasis will be on theoretical background, research methods and consultation with the thesis committee. The second and third semesters are dedicated to advanced research, methodological courses and a teaching workshop (given the strong value of teaching experience when entering the job market). In the fourth and fifth semesters, students present their results at national and international conferences. The final semester is spent on completing the PhD thesis.
Towards the end of the three-year period, PhD students will also attend courses preparing them for the post-doctorate career phase.

Overview of the program

The qualification program of the RTG prepares our young researchers for a professional academic career in various fields of modern linguistics at universities and research institutions in Germany and abroad. Additional professional avenues include (i) science management, (ii) academic consultancy, (iii) teaching, (iv) (scientific) writing, (v) publishing and (vi) (public) organizations or NGOs. Scientific expertise and methodological training as provided within the qualification program of the RTG are requested in all these professional sectors. The training program is designed in such a way that students can schedule individual qualification paths.