Julia Zilles
I was elected vice GGG PhD students’ representative in June 2017. Since September 2014 I have been working at the Göttingen Institute for Democracy Research. Currently I am PhD students’ representative at the Faculty of Social Sciences and at the same time, I am equal opportunities officer at the Institute for Democracy Research. I studied politics, German philology and philosophy at the University of Koblenz and Landau. I continuously had worked as student assistant and tutor at the Institute for Social Sciences and as vacation substitute at the office of the vice-chancellor, which provided me with valuable experience in higher education policies.During my studies I have already been actively involved in higher education policies, for example as student representative in the faculty council and senate, as student council (AStA) expert for internal university policy and as deputy at the student parliament. Based on the "Bildungsstreik" ("education strike") I stood up for reducing bureaucracy in B.A./M.A. studies and improved sustainable financing of higher education institutions. In this context I became aware of how much one can achieve and improve with proper communication between all involved parties. As PhD students’ representative I would like to become the communicative link between the heterogeneous group of PhD students, all with their specific interests, and the various boards and committees (faculty council, GGG board etc.).
In addition, I would like to focus on equal opportunities policy, especially regarding parents. I myself am a mother of two children and thus, as PhD students’ representative, I want to keep improving the general conditions for PhD students with children both within GGG and in the faculties.