Networked and international – Doctoral seminar at the Chair of WOT

The doctoral seminar, which takes place once a year at the Chair of Materials and Surface Engineering, has been supporting young scientists on their path to a doctorate for several years now. From 13 to 15 July 2020, 16 doctoral students took the opportunity to present the progress of their dissertation topic and then answer questions from their supervisor Prof. Thomas Lampke and the interested audience. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the seminar took place under different conditions, but was nevertheless a complete success.

The decision was made in advance to hold the doctoral seminar for a limited number of participants as a face-to-face event at the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering (IWW) in the Erfenschlag part of the university, but at the same time to give other interested listeners the opportunity to follow the lectures online and take part in the subsequent discussion.

This was realised by using a video camera set up in the seminar room and the BigBlueButton conference system developed by Chemnitz University of Technology. This not only made it possible to attend the seminar from the office or home office, but also gave two international doctoral students the opportunity to present their topic live and online from the USA and Turkey.

A concept that had already proved successful at last year's doctoral seminar was continued: In consultation with the doctoral students, external experts - so-called peer reviewers - were once again invited to the IWW alongside the experienced internal professorial colleagues to ask critical questions and provide valuable advice for further work on the doctoral topic. In conjunction with Prof Lampke's assessment and suggestions, the peer review concept is perceived as very helpful not only by the internal professors, but also by the five external doctoral students working in various companies. Focussing on the main points, dealing with important but still underrepresented aspects and also having the courage to part with topics that are not relevant are essential prerequisites for a high-quality dissertation.

The candidates are now called upon to implement the knowledge gained in their work. Those whose doctoral process is not already coming to an end and for whom we wish every success on the home straight are cordially invited to present their new interim status at the Doctoral Seminar 2021 – whatever the conditions may be.

Picture:
Participants of the doctoral seminar 2020 during the presentation of M.Sc. Maximilian Grimm

7.8.2020 – Events of the professorship ( rico.drehmann@mb… )