Steering Group
The Steering Group is the main contact between doctoral researchers and the Headquarters of Max Planck Society in Munich. They coordinate the communication within the PhDnet and outside of it. The members of the steering group are elected annually at the General Meeting and assume office each year on January 1st.
The Steering Group consists of a spokesperson, three representatives for the different sections (BM/CPT/HS), the deputy spokesperson (financial officer) and the general secretary. The members of our current Steering Group are:
| Spokesperson | Lea Heckmann |
| Deputy spokesperson (financial officer) | Sarah Young |
| General secretary | Florian Teichmann |
| BM section representative | Marga Albu |
| CPT section representative | Johannes Bischoff |
| HS section representative | Aroma Dabas |
Agenda of Steering Group 2021
Excellent doctoral researchers deserve outstanding working conditions, career development and communication.
To achieve this, Steering Group 2021 will collaborate with the General Administration and diverse Max Planck Society bodies on the following key points:
Employment rights and statutes
- Clarifying the difference between contract types
- Equal employment for equal work - Understanding the reasons for section-, gender-, nationality-based differences in working conditions
- Increasing the weight of doctoral researchers in key position hiring procedures
- Promoting and improving the use of the Thesis Advisory Committee
- Monitoring the impact of the pandemic on PhD researchers and their careers
Support & Inclusion
- Clear onboarding procedures from recruiting until settling in to enhance equal working conditions
- Career development and offboarding for academic and non-academic positions
- Promoting mental health support and reporting lines
Communication
- Improve the PhDnet interaction with all doctoral reserachers in the Max Planck Society
- Further increasing the visibility and inclusion of PhDnet inside the Max Planck Society
- Enhance section-wise communication channels
- Showcasing the achievements of PhDnet and its members
We are always open for input on any topic! For this, questions, and advice don't hesitate to contacts us via steering.group@phdnet.mpg.de
We are looking forward to an interactive year!