PhD Handbook

4 DEAR FUTURE, NEW AND PROSPECTIVE PHD CANDIDATES, Welcome to the Helmholtz community! Are you considering or have decided to complete a PhD project within Helm- holtz? From our experience, you can expect to join rich national and interna- tional scientific networks with a wide range of research fields. In becoming a PhD candidate, you a will contribute to important latest research, and be given responsibility and freedom. On your journey as a PhD candidate you may face many challenges big and small, scientific and bureaucratic. In order to help you in making your way through the bureaucratic jungle, this booklet was put together from PhD candidates from the HeJu (Helmholtz Juniors) network who were facing these same challenges: figuring out what their working contract meant or where to find support when confronting problems. We encourage you to read this booklet closely and to use it make informed decisions before and during your PhD. Furthermore, we suggest talking to the Helmholtz Junior and DokTeam (PhD Representative Teams) at your center for local information and guidance from friendly faces to help you integrate into life at your center and in the city or town. We, as Helmholtz Juniors, are especially glad that many researchers from abroad are joining the Helmholtz community, enriching diversity and collaboration on both personal and scientific levels. However, especially as a foreigner you may bump into some additional challenges when starting your PhD, cultural differences and language issues and plenty of paperwork, which may confuse you at first. We hope that this booklet will guide you through the first steps and help you in deciphering the way of life in Germany. We wish you have a smooth start to your scientific career and encourage you to persevere through the highlights and lowlights and never give up too early! Your Helmholtz Juniors GREETING AND ADDRESS BY THE HELMHOLTZ JUNIORS “If we are continually finding points of contact and comparison in our notions, in thin- king, desires of the intellect and in our feelings; then we begin to see hidden capacities” (Hermann von Helmholtz)

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