CC-Workshop "Supervision of doctoral candidates"

Career Center Workshop

Date: Feb 27, 2026
Time: 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Carmen Ulrich
Professor Dr. Carmen Ulrich, Wuppertal, is a consultant for internationalisation and quality management at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal and a freelance lecturer, author, and business coach with more than 20 years of experience at various .universities in Germany and abroad. Her fields of professional activities include academic teaching [literary and cultural studies], project management, personal and scientific advice, and training. She works primarily in the areas of interculturality, diversity, conflict coaching, leadership and team communication, time management and career counselling.
Location: online
Room: Zoom
Host: Career Center
Contact: careercenter@ipp.mpg.de

Supervising doctoral candidates is expected of professors when they are first appointed, and the corresponding tools are tacitly assumed. In order to manage this important and complex task well, leadership expertise and communication strategies are required in addition to professional competence. The workshop provides an overview of possible forms of supervision and explores the scope and limits.

Registration via https://plan.events.mpg.de/event/553/

Participants reflect on their various roles as supervisors, learn how to deal with different expectations in a goal-oriented manner and develop their personal supervision strategy in all doctoral phases.

Contents of the workshop:
I. Clarifying the framework conditions
• What forms of supervision are conceivable?
• Criteria for the acceptance of doctoral candidates
• Framework conditions and room for maneuver
• Clarifying and communicating mutual goals and expectations

II. Designing supervision
• Using the supervision agreement efficiently
• Preparing meetings and protocol management
• Efficient communication and collaboration, monitoring
• The five phases of the doctorate - different tasks of supervision

III. Leadership skills
• Recognizing leadership styles and your own roles
• Effective communication, giving and receiving feedback
• Encouraging and motivating individuals, methods for identifying strengths
• Taking on and delegating responsibility in a resource-oriented manner

IV. Mastering challenging situations
• Recognizing and communicating problems at an early stage
• Dealing with power and hierarchy
• Developing and implementing conflict resolution strategies
• Mental health – staying physically healthy

Methods: Needs assessment, input, interactive discussions, small group work, case studies, practice-oriented exercises, games/challenges, self-learning components, peer counseling, resource-oriented NLP, feedback, evaluation at the end.

Participants are given sufficient opportunities to reflect on their experiences and challenges and to develop their own mentoring strategy.