Ways in which we support you during your doctoral project

Are you afraid of the blank white page as you write your dissertation? Have you lost track of your research results’ relevance in a heap of statistical data? Are you asking yourself which digital tools are actually helpful?

During the long time you dedicate to your doctoral project, you will be faced with new challenges time and again. In addition to the intensive supervision by your doctoral supervisor, we offer you points of contact, workshops and individual assistance to support you in all research, teaching and writing circumstances. As a side effect, you will get to know other researchers, make new contacts and thus expand your network for your academic career.

IT services and tools for research and teaching

E-mail account, software portal, ILIAS

HSBI provides you with a modern IT infrastructure and up-to-date IT services. These include PC workstations, e-mail accounts, software provision, personal storage areas, use of the campus data network and access to HSBI’s university-wide portal for digital teaching and learning (ILIAS). In addition, you will receive a CampusCard, which can be used for various services. It is also your library lending card.

If you’re employed at HSBI during your doctorate, your HSBI login will be created automatically by the personnel department as soon as your employment status has been established. After your employment relationship has ended, you can request to keep your access to the services mentioned above for up to 18 months. This means that you will be able to keep using your user account, and thus your e-mail account and personal storage area, for up to 18 months. As an external doctoral candidate, too, you can use all our IT services. For the request procedure, please contact us at promotion@hsbi.de.

IT services: training for doctoral candidates

How do I handle cloud services? Which software products may be useful in research and teaching? What do I have to consider in terms of information security? HSBI’s Data Processing Centre has various training offers. Please find information on the programme at the following link:

Publication and open access

Are you looking for appropriate journals to publish open-access? Are you interested in financing open-access publications through the publishing fund? Would you like to make your publications available on HSBI’s publication server? Our Open Access Service Team provides you with assistance and advice on open-access publishing.

Contact: open@hsbi.de

Offers for effective research and writing

Qualification programme for early career researchers

In this programme, we offer classes, workshops, individual and group coaching sessions, e.g. on networking and team management. An integral part is the group coaching “klug begleitet” (“accompanied smartly”): once a month, you get to meet other doctoral candidates for a digital coffee break with Dr. Sissy-Christin Lorenz. A lecturer for special assignments in marketing and technical sales with a doctorate in biotechnology, she gives valuable advice on personal management and resilience. Please find the exact dates in our event calendar.

Defence training with Dr. Sissy Lorenz

Mastering your defence easily without stressing yourself about it – does that sound too good to be true?

While a successful defence is the icing on the cake as your doctoral project ends, it is also a great challenge. There are many training offers intended to prepare participants for this big day with regard to subject and methods. However, they usually don’t provide enough space to respond to individual problems. Dr. Sissy Lorenz’s offer aims to take a different approach: it focuses on mental preparation instead. Together you will work on appropriate strategies to reduce nerves and stress early on and to build up the confidence it takes to unlock your full potential.

After a personal meeting in which you get to know each other, the training consists of three 90-minute individual coaching sessions and is supplemented with additional materials. 

Workshop programme at PK NRW

In addition to the scientific work as part of their doctoral projects, PK NRW offers its members opportunities for interdisciplinary qualification and training. If you decide to do your doctorate at PK NRW or participate in one of the structured doctoral programmes, you will be able to enhance your personal, academic and professional skills in (online) workshops. Some of the offers are also available for those who don’t do their doctorate at PK NRW.  

Statistics advice and foreign languages services for doctoral candidates

Statistik-Beratungs-Centrum

Are you in need of advice for the quantitative part of your dissertation? Bielefeld University’s Statistik-Beratungs-Centrum (StatBeCe, centre for statistics advice) offers all doctoral candidates of HSBI (irrespective of whether and where they are enrolled) free advice on data collection, suitable statistical methods and statistical data analysis.

Proofreading of English texts

Are you uncertain about your English grammar skills? University translator Ana-Katrina Büttner offers doctoral candidates of HSBI free proofreading of English-language academic texts for journal or conference contributions. The proofreading does not include content issues, but focuses on language aspects such as grammar, orthography and style. For capacity reasons, entire dissertations cannot be proofread as part of this service. Important note: Please contact Ms. Büttner in good time and give her some information regarding the topic and length of your text so that she can check whether she will be able to proofread it.

Language Centre

As a doctoral candidate at HSBI, you can attend the language courses offered by Bielefeld University’s Language Centre for free as a visiting student. There are courses in 15 languages to choose from, including English, Turkish and Chinese.

Support in teaching and training

If you choose to do a cooperative doctorate as part of an employment as research associate at HSBI, teaching will usually be part of your job. This means that you will switch roles and stand in front of a seminar room full of students in order to impart knowledge. The workshops of the university didactic training institute hdw nrw and our digital teaching training offers will support you in becoming more comfortable applying university didactics.

hdw nrw: further training for teaching staff

Be it digital teaching, development and evaluation or examinations and assessment – there are a total of eight subject areas in which the hdw nrw network offers (online) workshops for teaching staff. The network serves as the university didactic training institute for the 20 universities of applied sciences in North Rhine-Westphalia. If you’re unsure about which offers might suit you, please feel free to contact Prof. Dr. Dominic Becking, mentor for the hdw nrw network at HSBI.

hdw nrw also offers subject-specific didactic work groups in which you can exchange views with colleagues and thus receive input on your subject and subject-specific didactics. Work group members meet once a semester at one of their members’ universities on a rotating basis.

HSBI workshop on digital teaching

Webex, Sciebo, Tweedback etc.: Which digital tools can I make effective use of in teaching and how? How can I incorporate videos into my classes in a didactically meaningful way? What do I have to be mindful of when using creative commons materials? We provide an extensive range of support services such as workshops, e.g. on media didactics, and individual advice at beginners’ and advanced levels.

Contacts and news for doctoral candidates

F.I.TT. team

F.I.TT. stands for the German words Forschung (research), Innovation and Technologietransfer (technology transfer). The team will assist you during all stages of your third-party research project: making preparations, drawing up the research proposal and conducting it. In addition, the team sends out the monthly “Fördernachrichten” newsletter (in German).

Mailing list

If you’d like to be updated on our offers, events, awards etc., we will be glad to put you on our mailing list for doctoral candidates. Please send an e-mail to: promotion@hsbi.de.

You can also send an e-mail to this address if you think we should add a specific offer or workshop to our programme. We are happy to receive suggestions that help us improve our support programme.

More information

Would you like to read more about doctorates or are you looking for a PhD position? Please find more information at the links below.