Our motivation

All of us did a PhD and we all survived it somehow. But although we finished a while ago, we still remember very clearly how challenging it was to do the research and write a dissertation. From having no clue what topic to choose, difficulties with the supervisor or endless procrastination to nervousness during presentations or thoughts about quitting – we’ve all been there. This is why we know that…

It can help so much to simply sit down with someone
and think about solutions together!

Thoughts of quitting and doubts in yourself are very normal parts of the PhD process. Our main motivation to open up a dialogue with you is that we’ve all been there, too! We all more than once were at a point where we thought: there’s no use to continue. But we all had people in our lives that would sit down with us to talk things over. Having someone who listens and pitches ideas with you can be a (PhD) life saver – and this is exactly what we’d like to offer you.

We think that it’s almost always possible to find a solution. And you don’t have to find this solution all by yourself. We can search for it together.

What we offer you

We basically offer you to talk. It’s as simple as that.

Not everyone has someone in their working environment whom they can talk to in confidence. It might also be the case that you don’t want to turn to an official University service with your problem, because you don’t want to discuss it “one the record”.

If you’re simply looking for someone to speak about your PhD challenges with, you can come to us. When you get in touch with us, we will either arrange to meet with you 1-on-1 or, if you like, in small groups with fellow PhD travelers who are facing similar issues as you.

Whichever form of dialogue suits you best, we can assure you that our conversations will be:

Confidential
Informal
Patient
Exchange of experiences
Solution-oriented

We promise you that nothing we discuss will be disclosed to other people without your explicit consent. It will not make its way to your supervisor, and our conversations will be confidential and anonymous towards others.

Examples of topics we are happy to discuss with you are:
Self- and time management, overcoming procrastination, fear and nervousness, presentation skills, making time plans and sticking to them, problems with your supervisor, thoughts of quitting and whether you should do it, and many more.

What we can’t offer you

Whilst we are happy to discuss your challenges with you, there are also some promises that we can’t make.

We can speak about what worries you, share our own experiences, and pitch ideas about solutions with you. However, we will not find or implement those solutions for you. We merely offer to assist you in the thought process and tell you how we, ourselves, solved the problems we faced during our PhD journey.

We are not trained counsellors, neither do we have any expertise in psychology. If your challenges involve serious psychological conditions, we will have to advise you to get in touch with the University’s psychological counseling service.

We are happy do discuss scientific questions with you; however, we will not tell you what do to or how to design your research.

We do not offer mediation between you and a third party, and we cannot give any binding legal advice to you.

How to get in touch

Find out here how to get in touch with us. Don’t be shy! We’re all pretty nice 😉