Early career researchers

Integration into doctoral training programs: For the MCCR, close collaboration with partners and using each partners’ strengths maximize the effectiveness of early career support. This is why we will integrate our doctoral candidates into the Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences (GESS), the central pillar of doctoral training at the University of Mannheim. The GESS is an interdisciplinary graduate school that is organized in three centers: The Center for Doctoral Studies in Business (CDSB), the Center for Doctoral Studies in Economics (CDSE) and the Center for Doctoral Studies in Social and Behavioral Sciences (CDSS). The first two centers offer doctoral programs in business and economics, whereas the CDSS offers programs in political science, psychology and sociology. The success of the GESS is reflected, for example, by placements of graduates at renowned international universities such as Bocconi University, Cornell University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, European University Institute, King's College London, London School of Economics, National University of Singapore, Norwegian School of Economics (NNH), University College London, University of Bonn, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of St. Gallen, University of Vienna, or the Wharton School.

Mentors and supervisors are chosen by the doctoral candidates. Senior academic staff of the MCCR will be strongly involved in guiding doctoral candidates through their doctoral training. Principal investigators will meet regularly with early career researchers to discuss ongoing research and their dissertation progress. The goal of the graduate school is to train doctoral researchers in the development and application of quantitative methods.

The concept of the GESS consists of a mandatory core curriculum for doctoral candidates from all three centers consisting of courses from their respective discipline as well as methodological courses in data analysis, analytical theory, and experimental design. This course phase consists of up to two years of courses complemented by small group exercises, tutorials, and research training. In the first year, doctoral researchers have to take a series of core courses in quantitative methods and study various scientific methods and approaches as well as their application to relevant research areas of their respective field. This phase is followed by one year of specialized courses, where candidates are made familiar with substantive applications in their chosen research area. The multidisciplinary aspect of the MCCR is also reflected in the design of the course program. Doctoral researchers from all centers are required to attend at least one field course from one of the other centers.

Doctoral candidates will receive extensive supervision from the GESS and senior academic staff at the MCCR. At the beginning of the graduate program, the academic directors of the three centers assign each candidate a mentor. The mentor helps the candidate with difficulties during the course program and regularly monitors the candidate’s progress. Toward the end of the first year, candidates select a faculty member as a supervisor who will advise in the development of their doctoral thesis. The supervisor may not necessarily be the previous mentor. In addition to their main supervisor, doctoral candidates also receive regular feedback from other faculty members, from other doctoral candidates in their respective cohort in the GESS, and from their peer group at the MCCR or in compulsory doctoral seminars. These seminars offer candidates the opportunity to present their dissertation work and show their progress toward completing their thesis. In addition to the supervision at the GESS, doctoral candidates will also receive support from principal investigators and other senior academic staff members at the MCCR. Principal investigators will meet regularly with candidates to discuss ongoing research and the candidates’ dissertation progress.

In addition to the comprehensive course program, doctoral candidates will receive further training through specialized elective methods courses and workshops taught by faculty or guest lecturers and at international summer schools. This opportunity constitutes a complementary element in fulfilling the MCCR’s requirement for a high level of skills in formal theory development and application of quantitative methods. If a MCCR doctoral candidate is interested in a method course not offered by the university, the MCCR will fund participation in external summer schools (for example, Essex Summer School in Social Science Data Analysis, GESIS Summer School in Survey Methodology). We intend to stick to the successful strategy of having a two-year core curriculum to teach methods and develop skills of applying them to research. The integrated approach of complementing coursework with research will contribute to both a smooth research process within the MCCR projects and the success of doctoral candidates in the GESS and their careers.

The MCCR and GESS will collaboratively offer joint workshops as well. Early career academics will also benefit from external seminars held at the MCCR and the university’s other schools, departments, and institutes as well as GESIS and ZEW. The MCCR will offer a seminar series where candidates are exposed to frontier research presented by a wide range of internationally renowned speakers.

The transition period from being a student to working as a doctoral candidate is sometimes perceived as challenging and the problems resulting from working isolated from other doctoral candidates shall be counteracted by organizing the doctoral training in the GESS. Through joint courses, workshops, and doctoral seminars, they will get in contact with other doctoral candidates which supports the feeling of belongingness.

Integration into research teams: Our approach for integrating early career researchers into research teams can be summarized with “taking early career researchers seriously” and includes all levels of an academic career, from student assistants to postdocs. We support our early career researchers as they develop as independent researchers, employing a variety of measures which accompany their scientific career. It is our conviction that this independence grows every time when more responsibility for research tasks is taken over and support given when needed. As to that, the complexity of tasks and responsibility shall reflect the level of experience. For early career researchers this is integral for becoming a part of the scientific community.

The MCCR will encourage early career researchers to assume responsibility within their projects. For example, they will be given the chance to independently manage a specific work package of their project, with the principal investigator supervising and coaching where appropriate. In addition, early career researchers are encouraged to present the results of their respective project at international conferences.

Early career researchers will be encouraged to apply for MCCR lump sum funds, a measure that will be made available for innovative research ideas. This measure proved to be very successful at the expired CRC 884 and thus it is our intention to make use of this proven measure in the MCCR. Postdocs can apply for funding of additional, innovative projects out of the lump sum, which will be conducted under their leadership. Additional project funds will also be open for doctoral researchers, who can use them for projects of smaller scale. In these additional smaller projects, early career researchers can test, show and improve their research and management skills, for example by making valuable first experiences with supervising student assistants.

The MCCR will aim at integrating students and/or student assistants at the bachelor’s and master’s level into its research projects and into the research community in general. Student assistants will be actively integrated in specific research projects, helping our principal investigators and young academics with their research – but also developing their own research ideas. Such opportunities for students to participate in research projects will also serve as door-openers for becoming doctoral candidates within the MCCR or in the academic community outside the MCCR.

In addition to the collaboration with the GESS (as outlined above), the MCCR will particularly promote early career researchers by supporting them in presenting their work at international peer-reviewed conferences and publishing it in international peer-reviewed journals. As both master’s and doctoral classes are taught in English and provide students with solid training in formal theory and methodology, the MCCR is able to support its researchers at the very early stages of their career. The MCCR helps them to present their MCCR-related research at major international conferences and to invite guest researchers, which stimulates collaboration between the MCCR guests and early career researchers.

The MCCR is going to encourage young researchers to organize their own workshops and to invite guests for seminars or long-term visits. Funds for guest researchers and workshops will be advertised to young academics, and the central administration team will help them in all organizational matters. This should enable them to set-up an international network and to promote their own research. Furthermore, it helps them to get new insights and to collaborate with international researchers on specific research projects.

In order to become a successful researcher, academics have to become acquainted with other research institutions outside Germany. Therefore, the MCCR is going to encourage doctoral and postdoctoral researchers to participate not only in international conferences, to organize workshops or to invite seminar speakers but also to benefit from research stays abroad. Although they are urged to apply for external funding, the MCCR will support them with organizational matters and by covering part of the costs if they are not fully covered by a third party.