Chances and Challenges - The BGHS Podcast

In this episode, Sabine Schäfer from the BGHS talks to Simon Groß, doctoral researcher at the BGHS and currently working as an integration helper in a school for children with special needs, about his PhD conditions. Simon gives insights into how he got the job, his daily routines of reconciling academic work and employment, and the joys of academic thinking.

This episode is a guest episode of "Chances and Challenges - The BGHS podcast" hosted by four BGHS doctoral researchers: Iris Bartelt, Jakob Krusche, Josué García Veiga, and Christina Zschieschang. We discuss how we experience daily life as scholars in the humanities and the social sciences, how we find routines and structures with alternating tasks and under uncertain circumstances and how we exp...

In this episode, Sabine Schäfer from the BGHS talks to Clara Buitrago, a BGHS alumna and coordinator for internationalisation at the BGHS, about how Clara coped with a chronic illness during her PhD and her professional career at university and what it has meant for her life today.

In this episode, Sabine Schäfer from the BGHS talks to Sophie Borchelt, doctoral researcher at the BGHS and coordinator for internationalisation at the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University, about what it feels like to reconcile children, employment at university, and working on the PhD. They are addressing the challenges of this situation, but they focus especially on the rewards and on ho...

In this episode, Sabine Schäfer from the BGHS talks to Thomas Faist, professor of sociology of transnationalisation, migration, and development at Bielefeld University, about transitions and developments of doctoral researchers during the PhD phase. They are dealing with issues such as the transition from student to researcher, the impact of different funding conditions of doctoral researchers on...

In this episode, Martina Kessel, professor of modern history and gender history, shares her view on PhD supervision, internationalisation, and gender history. In her talk with Sabine Schäfer, executive manager of the BGHS, she gives insights into what has changed during the last decades and what she is expecting and also hoping for the future.

This episode offers insights into what it's like to quit the PhD. Mariza Mathis, a former member of the BGHS, talks to Sabine Schäfer, executive manager of the BGHS, about the process she went through when she had doubts about continuing her PhD and how she finally decided to quit and take on a job in science management.

This episode sheds light on why it makes sense for PhD researchers at German universities to engage in academic self-government. First, it ensures that all members of the university bring their perspectives to the institution's decision-making processes. And second, it helps to get acquainted with the institutions’ structures and people, which might boost the academic career. Sabine Schäfer, execu...

Todays Episode will be about one of the leading principles of the bghs: Internationalization. Around 36% of our doctoral researchers are internationals, which shows that that topic is extremely important to us. We offer a programme that can be entirely completed in English without knowing german, all of the information we give out comes in a german AND English version and we have a Coordinator for...

In this episode, we will get another perspective from a professor und the dissertation phase – this time from Professor Ruth Ayaß, she is Professor of Qualitative methods of empirical social research at the faculty of Sociology here at Bielefeld University and of course, she is the director of the BGHS.

Today we will talk about a topic that can be easily overlooked while doing a PhD at a university, even though it makes up a big part of the opportunities you have after finishing your Dissertation: non-academic career paths. We at the bghs really put in effort to show that becoming a professor is not the only career goal you can have after finishing your PhD, but there are so many more options out...

Today, we will have a little peek on the other side, because I will talk to a professor about his perspective on his PhD Phase, as well as his view on the supervision relationship. My Guest today is Frank Grüner, he is Professor of Eastern European History at Bielefeld University. His research interests center on Russian and Soviet history. He also participates in and organizes academical exchange...

I am very happy because I will talk to another doctoral researcher from the BGHS today! Last time it was about a Research Stay and this time, I will talk to Ilgim Simsek about her field work. A lot of our doctoral researchers do field work for their dissertation to generate data to analyse, but I am sure that even though it is so common, or maybe because it is so common, the whole thing can feel l...

Today will be less about the academic side of a PhD, but rather the logistical side of life: Finding a place to live, sorting through all that paperwork or finding your way around the bureaucratic system in Germany. It will be mainly aimed at international doctoral researchers, but there is also enough information about things that could help people from Germany as well. My Guest is Monika Bokerma...

Writing a dissertation can bring up some challenges along the way, so we want to give you some insight into how to best tackle them. For that, I talked to Stefanie Haacke-Werron, an expert in academic writing and PhD coaching from the Writing Lab at Bielefeld University. We will start at the beginning with how to write a proposal, and talk about, among other things, feeling stuck, asking for feedb...

In today’s episode, I am very happy to welcome a doctoral researcher of the bghs, Ragna Verhoeven, to the podcast! She will join me and talk about her research stay in Paris. The purpose of this episode is to make you aware that a research stay is an option you can pursue during your Doctorate and to show you what that could look like. So Ragna will be sharing her individual experiences before and...

Today we will talk about a rather important topic, but one that is sometimes overlooked: Learning German. It may sound trivial for me as a native germanspeaker myself to say: “You are in Germany, so learn german!” Because that is way easier said than done. Even I, as a native speaker, make mistakes. So I can only imagine how hard it has to be to have to learn it from the beginning. Especially duri...

In today’s episode we are having a look at one of the main factors that has the potential to impact your Doctorate in a huge way, positively or negatively: The Relationship with your Supervisor. They can be a great asset in giving input and criticism and help you write your dissertation. But in the same way, it can also be a cause for issues that, if not dealt with at an early stage, can evolve in...

Hello and welcome to our new Podcast! We are thrilled to finally present you the first episode. In it, we will give you a short introduction into who we are, what this Podcast will be about and also a first look into how the academic system, in context of a PhD, works in Germany. Please don’t forget to follow our podcast if you are interested in everything to do with doing a PhD in Germany!