Supervision
We believe that the doctorate is the most important and decisive period in a young researcher’s career planning process. Therefore, all doctoral projects are generally co-supervised by two advisors to ensure a constant feedback from two independent backgrounds. The main advisor is the leader of the project the researcher is employed in and a second advisor preferentially with an orthogonal expertise is chosen in agreement between doctoral researcher and advisor. The second advisor may also come from Vanderbilt University. In addition, modern science is highly international and interdisciplinary, therefore, we strongly encourage our researchers to indulge in such international exchange and expose themselves to a solid piece of work experience abroad.
All doctoral researchers and thesis advisors need to sign a mutual supervision agreement that regulates the details of the support, expectations, the frequency mode of progress reports and other practicalities during the thesis. Also, measures of conflict resolution will be detailed in this agreement as well as support for young parents. We will also discuss these issues with all Project Leaders on the first retreat of the CRC and develop a common text that can be used by each group.
