Supervision & mentoring

In addition to the structured curriculum, IMPRS-µLife PhD candidates are provided with individual supervision through their Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) based on an annual progress report and meeting. Also, PhD candidates can engage in mentoring/teaching of undergraduate students. 

An advisory committee consists of minimum three members selected among the IMPRS-µLife faculty and always includes the main supervisor. The TAC members are nominated under mutual agreement of the candidate and the main supervisor; TAC is assembled within the first three months from the beginning of the PhD work. Ideally, they are experts on the research project of the PhD researcher and cover different, complementary aspects of the project. The advisory committee meets at least once per year with the PhD candidate to follow the progress of the project, discuss the scientific results, provide critical input on further research directions, and identify and mitigate apparent conflicts if needed.

To provide IMPRS-µLife PhD students with experience in teaching and mentoring, each student has the option to assist in teaching. This may include teaching of other IMPRS-µLife PhD candidates in the scientific workshops or laboratory courses for undergraduate students at the UMR. PhD students can also (co-)supervise students who are doing practical work for their Bachelor and Master theses.