Instructions for Research Module (Forschungsmodul) applicants

Finding suitable project

  • Check project list for available projects or consult the general research directions of the group
  • Contact Mark Harrison for all general enquiries or the supervisor of a specific project directly.
  • Arrange start and end date with project supervisor. Additional time may be arranged at the start of a project to train python skills if necessary - usually 1-2 weeks. Our course materials will be provided for this training and feedback will be given by the project supervisor.

Project

  • On the first day you have to fill in a milestone sheet with the supervisor which serves as a guide for progressing through the project. These can be adjusted during the project.
  • Arrange introductory (within first 2 weeks) and final (1-2 weeks before report deadline) talks to be held within the Tuesday group journal club. Contact: Seminar organiser
  • The student generally begins the project with a literature review with the intention of formulating a research question, hypothesis and experimental design within 1 week and sends this to supervisor.
  • Official supervisor-student meetings take place at least once a week (aside from informal meetings upon reqest), in which milestone achievements are discussed and adapted where necessary. Notes and revisions of milestones are added to the milestone sheet.
  • The student's work during the project (achievements and project management) counts 50% to the final grade. Further 50% depend on the write-up and the presentations. Write-up will be marked by the supervisor and some other group memeber independently.
  • All group seminars (Tuesday 2pm) will be attended. Active participation is expected and considered for project management grading.

Talks

  • The introductory talk serves to introduce the project and the student to the group and can take around 10 minutes. Not graded.
  • The final talk, to be given shortly before the end of the project, should serve as a communication exercise. The presentation should contain the standard sections: background-research question/hypothesis-methods-results-discussion. It is important that the project is (i) presented in a suitable manner for the target audience - a range of scientists and students with varying areas of expertise; (ii) well-structured and (iii) the strict timing of 20 minutes is adhered to.
  • The final talk is graded (10%). Feedback on a draft of the presentation will be given by the supervisor. The talk will be graded by two other group members and some may not be experts in the specific field.

Report (40% of grade)

  • Keep making notes and continue writing from the very beginning.
  • Start writing the report as soon as possible!
  • The report should be written in the style of a scientific article with the standard sections. See the how-to-write section for more details
  • An early version of the report should be shared with the supervisor at least 10 days before the handing-in date (last day of module at 4pm). This can, for example, be the introduction which can be based on the literature review from the start of the module; as well as bullet points showing the overall proposed structure of the report.
  • Additional feedback on the report can be given 3-4 days before the deadline.

Instructions for students requesting supervision of an external module

  • The main supervisor must be scientifically established at the level of a habilitation.
  • The module must be described in detail, i.e. including short background, aims+objectives, methods to be used and milestones added.
  • Students must, during the module, attend 2pm EBB group seminars (Tuesdays).
  • Students must stick to the usual procedures of weekly formal meetings with short handwirtten notes signed by the supervisor on the milestone sheets, including reason why e.g. milestones need to be reconsidered.
  • Students must adhere to the writeup rules as laid out, they are also encouraged to get some feedback on a draft no later than a week before submission deadline.
  • Students must adhere to the presentation rules as laid out. They are also encouraged to get some feedback on a draft no later than a week before the talk which in turn should be before the submission of a draft essay (see previous point). Final marking will be done by EBB or a senior postdoc in ebb-group with the marking of the scientific supervisor taken into account as laid out on the marking sheet and after recieving the filled in milestone sheet.