Mental health, scholarships, career coaching: advice for doctoral researchers

What subjects do doctoral researchers and those who are considering a doctorate need advice on?

Minkus Teske: Our general advising service concerns basic questions, such as, should I pursue a doctorate and if so, how? What form should it take? After all, there are various paths to a doctorate. Then there are also organisational questions on the process of acceptance as a doctoral candidate or enrollment. I also provide advice on the issue of funding options for the doctoral project, for example on scholarships. Together with potential doctoral researchers, I then examine individually what specific funding options they might be able to apply with their background. Even during doctoral studies, there are always questions about financing travel expenses, from research stays to publishing costs.

Dr. Tina Lampe: Then there is also the ombuds process for advice on conflicts during doctoral studies. Furthermore, we organise coachings by external coaches and offer career coaching, which we introduced in June 2024. Career coaching is something that is dear to my heart and I think it’s great that the University enables doctoral researchers in the final phase of their doctorate to consider “What do I actually want to do afterwards?”

The demand for advising services in relation to mental health has increased throughout society. Have you seen signs of this and how do you respond?

Dr. David Willmes: Issues relating to mental well-being play a major role in our counselling. This can include problems with motivation, self-doubt and isolation. It’s not just the number of enquiries but also the depth of the topics has changed. Mental health is a major concern to us, because doctoral researchers are at a particular high risk of mental stress.

Why are doctoral researchers particularly at risk?

Willmes: There are certain stress factors for doctoral researchers compared to people who are similarly qualified but work outside academic institutions. Stress factors such as high pressure relating to assessment, performance and time, often combined with fixed-term employment and a high degree of dependence on specific people. Added to this are uncertain career perspectives.

There are also personal stress factors that can contribute to this. For example, perfectionist behaviour and identifying too closely with the doctoral project. This can lead to neglecting other areas of life. Mental health can also deteriorate in conjunction with a lack of recovery time.

Taking the step of turning to an advising service such as GraCe with personal problems or conflicts during doctoral studies certainly isn’t easy for everyone.

Willmes: I can well understand concerns in this regard, some of which have to to do with the extensive dependencies in the academic system. Doctoral researchers then fear, for example, getting a negative assessment from their supervisor or their contract not being extended if it becomes known that they have reported a conflict in the supervision relationship. And to dispel this directly: everyone who is involved in the central ombuds process is bound by confidentiality, that’s the basis of our work. Information is never passed on without the express consent of the person who seeks advice. So the process is at all times in the hands of those seeking help from us. To keep the inhibition threshold as low as possible, the process is structured in two stages: Tina Lampe and I are usually the first points of contact at the office – and we also work independently of instructions. In a second step, a professorial ombudsperson can be called in and, if requested, contact other affected parties and moderate a discussion. Of course, the ombudspersons can also be approached directly, that is without previous contact with Tina Lampe or myself.

Lampe: All our advising services are strictly confidential – those seeking advice need not fear that anything will get out. Of course, we’d like doctoral researchers to come to us with their problems and conflicts at an early stage, because they can be resolved more easily if the escalation level is low.

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What feedback have you had and what in particular motivates you?

Teske: Those who come to us are of course all different and have widely differing backgrounds. I find considering every life journey completely individually and dealing with it in the advising an extremely fulfilling activity. Then, when they get in touch again a year later and are overjoyed to tell me that they’ve finally succeeded in getting a scholarship, that pleases me a lot, of course.

Willmes: I’d like to quote Marshall Rosenberg. He said he believed that people actually enjoy nothing more than contributing to the well-being of others. I believe that too. And I find it very valuable that I’m always learning from the people sitting opposite me.I really want to know how they are doing, what they are like, to immerse myself in their world. I find it enriching to be able to experience this.

Lampe: The feedback is very motivating. For example, I had one client who told me that she wouldn’t have completed her doctorate if she hadn’t spoken to me. But basically it’s about what’s best for the individual person – and sometimes that can also be discontinuing the doctorate.

Knaut: We have a wonderful target group. They’re interesting, highly motivated and dedicated people with visions and goals that they want to achieve. It’s a lot of fun offering them a range of services and helping to improve the conditions at the University.

What are your current aims for GraCe?

Knaut: We are constantly looking at which new topics we can address and how we can improve the overall conditions for doctoral researchers. For years we’ve seen that transitional phases between completing a Master’s and starting a doctorate, and between the doctorate and a postdoc, repeatedly require financial support. We know that throughout Germany there are practically no funding options for the completion of doctoral projects, and that it’s always assumed that three years is enough. On average however this phase takes around five years, and this is associated with gaps in funding and therefore again and again with insecurity. It’s our role to be able to offer something for these gaps. Networking among doctoral researchers is also very important to us and we offer various events for this purpose, such as the welcome event Doc on! or the summer festival Doc Hock. A recent new addition is a two-day retreat for doctoral researchers, which will take place at the beginning of May 2025.