Representation lies at the heart of the DocSchool PhilKult; it knows that it can only flourish if its doctoral students flourish.
The creation of the new DocSchool PhilKult in spring 2024 marked a paradigm shift in doctoral education within the Faculty. Of course, the Faculty is known for the heterogeneity of its teaching and research across 13 diverse institutes – and the Centre for Translation Studies – covering a broad range of languages, cultures and practices. But there is also a heterogeneity in the different types of people undertaking doctoral studies in the Faculty: many combine their research with employment in a wide range of contexts and family responsibilities; some seek to realise their research ambitions later in life; and others pursue their doctoral research as paid PraeDoc university assistants or researchers on third-party projects.
The DocSchool PhilKult is inclusive: it stands open for all doctoral students in the Faculty and membership is optional. Being a member and becoming involved in its activities, however, opens up access to grants, funding and a range of courses and workshops in transferrable skills. In addition, it introduces you to researchers with common interests and thus contributes to building up a sense of peer-group support. Such support, alongside funding and good supervision, have been shown in studies to lead to better outcomes in doctoral education.
This is why the DocSchool PhilKult has placed representation at its heart. The three doctoral student representatives have been integrated in the process of designing and building up the DocSchool from the very beginning. In addition, they have equal representation on the Leadership Committee (with three representatives) and are members of the Scholarship Committee. They are involved behind the scenes in numerous ways from developing policies to representing the views, ideas and criticisms of the doctoral students which are welcome as part of a transparent process to build up a truly inclusive, outward looking and inspiring DocSchool.
The current representatives (from left to right) are Catriona Weiser, John Moberg and Katharina Gerhold. They can be contacted on their own e-mail address: