During the autumn, elections will be held for the new head of MedDocs, an umbrella organisation which represents PhD candidates at MED and coordinates the Faculty’s PhD forums.
What does the head of MedDocs do?
“It’s certainly quite a job to be head of MedDocs,” says Johanna Wagnerberger, departing manager. The duties mainly consist of meetings of The Council for Research Education (FU), PhD forums and working groups. There are also some administrative duties.
“I would estimate that on average I spend around half a day a week on MedDocs-related tasks, although sometimes there is nothing to do, while at other times I need a full day to catch up,” she says.
MedDoc’s managers are therefore given an extra month for each year that they spend as manager. This is intended to prevent the job from eating into the time they spend on their degree.
The main task of the head of MedDocs is to stay in touch with the PhD forums within the faculty in order to encourage discussion concerning topics that engage the PhD students. What emerges from these discussions must then be passed on to the The Council for Research Education through participation in the Council’s meetings which are held on a monthly basis.
“I have personally chosen to stay in touch with the PhD forums through a common mailing list for occasional updates, along with a general meeting each semester where we delve a little deeper into both new and older topics,” says Johanna Wagnerberger.
Leadership is a useful experience
“I have learned a lot about how our faculty is structured and how large our PhD programme really is,” says Johanna. She advises her PhD colleagues to seize the opportunity that is presented by the autumn election.
“I think very few research fellows would have guessed that we have 1,400 PhD students! I have also gained a deeper understanding of how important it is that we talk together in order to pass on what we need.
Wagnerberger has learned that her experiences of being a PhD fellow are quite different from those of many others, even those who are taking their degree in the same faculty at the same time. It is hard to imagine what it is like to be a research fellow today if you don’t hear it from those who are experiencing it themselves. Today’s experiences are different from the experiences that others who are part of The Council for Research Education (FU) had in their time as a doctoral research fellow.
Many people want to see changes made to the supplementary rules
Johanna Wagnerberger says that, in her time as head of MedDocs, a couple of key topics have emerged that repeatedly come up in discussions. Many students want to see changes to the supplementary rules for the PhD program at MED.
“The PhD students I’ve spoken to specifically want to see a change to the rule that candidates must write three articles as part of their degree,” says an engaged MedDocs manager. This is because the work involved in a publication can be very variable based on a range of factors, including the subject area and the research group’s ambitions for the article,” she adds.
Johanna is now participating in a working group which is working to revise MED’s supplementary rules. She wants to replace this clause with a different wording which takes the requirement from a set number of articles more towards a wording that emphasizes publishability and the requirement for the work to correspond to what can be expected from 2.5 years of full-time research.
Challenges relating to supervisors
Another recurring theme among the PhD forums are the problems and uncertainties in the relationship between supervisors and students. Many PhD students feel that the safety nets that are in place for dealing with conflicts are inadequate, and that communicating with their supervisor or other superiors can be difficult.
“This clause has many different facets and different underlying causes which are impossible to summarise in a single overall conclusion or solution,” says Wagnerberger.
To prevent some of the most common challenges, she is currently participating in a working group which is preparing a mandatory course for all doctoral supervisors in the faculty.
“We hope to both contribute to an understanding of the laws and rules surrounding the PhD programmes, and support supervisors in their actions and reflections concerning the role of supervisor,” she says.
Input to the course portfolio evaluation
Going forward, The Council for Research Education (FU) will revise the faculty’s course portfolio for PhD students, in accordance with MED’s annual plan. Johanna Wagnerberger passes on input from the PhD students as regards the courses they lack. At the very top of the wish list are courses on academic writing, and a basic course on programming.
Recommendations for the new manager and other doctoral research fellows
“The most important consideration for a new manager will be to stay in touch with other PhD forums, and ensure that the work we have now started is continued,” says Wagnerberger.
She believes it is important to ensure that the continuity of the work for the research fellows is maintained, which can be difficult given the short-term nature of the positions.
“It is important that doctoral research fellows contact their PhD forums, talk about their everyday lives and become involved! Academia has changed so much in recent years, so supervisors, professors and administrative managers cannot be expected to know how we are doing without our input,” says an engaged MedDocs manager.
Most PhD forums are primarily designed to create a local arena where PhD students can meet. If you are struggling with feelings of isolation or of being alone with your own issues, it may help to simply take part in events or courses.
“You don’t necessarily have to deal with the big issues yourself – you can also just drop by your forum and learn something new and meet new people,” says Johanna Wagnerberger.