Excellence in the qualification phase : Date:
How can doctoral studies at universities of applied sciences and universities succeed on an equal footing? With its cross-institutional doctoral network, in which professors from Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin collaborate as equal partners, the project "Transdisciplinary Democracy and Education Research" takes a new approach and creates ideal conditions for doctoral candidates
Anyone wishing to pursue a doctorate in Germany almost always needs a university. Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) have so far generally not been permitted to award doctoral degrees. This confronts UAS professors with the problem of usually taking a back seat in doctoral supervision, rather than being able to act on an equal footing. The project "Transdisciplinary Democracy and Education Research" (TransDeBiFo) at Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin (ASH Berlin), funded through the "Research Space Qualification" funding line, takes a different approach. Together with Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin), the project creates optimal conditions for all those involved, particularly for the five doctoral candidates currently enrolled, thereby demonstrating that equal supervision of early-career researchers is both possible and in keeping with the times.
Clear rules for joint doctoral supervision
The six professors involved from ASH Berlin and FU Berlin jointly negotiated framework conditions for equal supervision and summarised these in target agreements for the "TransDeBiFo Research Network". For example, this now also enables HAW colleagues to act as first examiners. Alongside scientific excellence, transdisciplinary research is also a key focus, allowing practice partners to be involved in research projects from the outset. The next step will now be a jointly submitted application for a doctoral training group with the German Research Foundation (DFG), based on the equal collaboration between ASH Berlin and FU Berlin.
Early-career reaserchers from TransDeBiFo network nationwide
The five doctoral candidates from the project were recently accepted into the "German Educational Research Association (DGfE)", the largest German professional association for researchers working on education and pedagogy. Membership enables them, among other things, to engage in dialogue with experienced experts from the relevant academic fields at specialist conferences and to present their own work there. As the resulting research space offers optimal conditions for national and international networking, they are also able to set up their own hybrid workshops for doctoral candidates and invite young international researchers to take part.
Text source:Teofilos Chatzistamatis, ASH Berlin