The Jena School for Microbial Communication cordially invites you to attend two events on Friday the 5th of October that aim to explore means of Coping with pressures during PhD studies. It is increasingly acknowledged that the PhD is fraught with unique external and internal pressures ranging from work-related stress and mental health imbalance to the supervisory relationship and uncertain career prospects. We want to engage in an open a debate on these subjects with the students, faculty and staff at the various research institutes in Jena.

We are very pleased to announce that Prof. Katia Levecque from Ghent University will speak on her pioneering research into “Work organization and mental health in PhD students” (Research Policy, 2017), which has made international headlines and has been the subject of intense discussion in leading scientific editorials. Executive coach Susan Sommerville (Mighty Atoms, UK) will share her experience in organizational development and team management. These presentations will be followed by a panel discussion that also includes Dr. Anne Warskulat from Curiositas coaching. The presentations and discussion will take place in the FSU aula, Fuerstengraben 1, from 16:00 to 18:00.

Questions and comments for the panel discussion can be anonymously submitted here: https://ww3.unipark.de/uc/coping_with_pressures/
A selection of representative topics will be discussed by the panel and audience.

In the evening, we invite you come to Café Bar „Zuhause“ at the Weigelstrasse 7 from 21:00, where faculty members will share formative failures that impacted on their careers under the motto „Failure sucks but it instructs“. Afterwards, there will be opportunity for further discussion and socializing in a relaxed atmosphere.

All are welcome to attend.

We look forward to seeing many of you on the 5th of October!