Curriculum & Training

In autumn through to spring, IMPRS-LS organizes a weekly lecture from one of our faculty members. The broad scope of the lecture series covers various aspects of biochemistry, cell biology, molecular medicine, neurobiology and structural biology.
To make the lecture series accessible for all, faculty members are encouraged to give broad introductions to their chosen topic. Through these lectures, students have the opportunity to learn about new techniques, cutting edge research and the latest results from neighboring research groups. The interdisciplinary nature of the lecture series gives students the opportunity to think about their own research in a different light.

A “Get together” after the lecture allows students to come together, discuss the lecture and socialize with each other over drinks and snacks.

IMPRS-LS Interdisciplinary Lecture Series program

Twice a year, the entire school comes together for the IMPRS-LS seminar which gives our students a platform to present their research findings to fellow students. Our seminars consist of poster and talk sessions and are designed to allow students to hone their presentation skills in a professional yet friendly environment. To this end, presentations are video recorded and offer presenting students the opportunity to obtain some feedback on their presentation skills. IMPRS-LS Seminars also offer plenty of opportunities for our students to discuss methodologies and results amongst themselves.

The best posters and talks are voted for by students and the winners receive prizes organized by the coordination office. At the end of the seminar we celebrate with a BBQ (in summer) or a Christmas party (in winter) to give our students the opportunity to socialize and end the day in a casual get together.

Our workshops are a very important part of our curriculum and give our students the opportunity to improve skills which are essential, not just as part of a PhD, but also in a wider sense in many job sectors. We work hard to ensure that our trainers offer only top quality workshops that are relevant to our students and regularly request feedback from our students to ensure our program continually meets their requirements. Our workshops normally last 2-3 days and are planned so that students do not have to take too much time out of their schedules in order to attend.

Workshops are grouped into four distinct topics: Writing and Presenting, Communication and Project Management, Career Development and Computing Based Workshops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary of IMPRS-LS workshops offered on a regular basis.

Students that wish to practice project management and leadership skills have the opportunity to organize the student symposium, “Interact”. The symposium aims to provide a platform for young scientists to network and share scientific results with their peers and typically attracts some 300 junior scientists from the Munich area. Organizing teams initially participate in a two-day workshop to acquire skills in project management, leadership and fund raising. Following this, the team is fully in charge of organizing the entire event including fundraising, marketing, scientific content and logistics. Most organizers find this experience extremely rewarding since it not only fosters transferable skill development but also is a genuine confidence builder and an asset when it comes to putting together a CV for a job application outside of academia.

Various opportunities to learn new methods are available within the research school. For more general methods typically used by a number of students, method training workshops are conducted by faculty members and external trainers. Should students wish to learn a more specialized and advanced technique, they can also visit Munich based partner laboratories or collaborating laboratories outside of Munich. Moreover, students are encouraged to participate in external training activities including EMBO workshops, advanced summer schools or Marie Curie Training Courses, which offer excellent opportunities for training, networking and scientific exchange. A generous IMPRS-LS travel allowance is available to fund external training activities and conference attendance.

Excerpt of selected method workshops and training opportunities offered by our university and institute partners.

 

IMPRS-LS also collaborates with other Munich based PhD programs to organize whole day events based on further developing researchers’ skills in a particular area. We have previously organized events such as “Responsible Research”, "Sustainable World", "Seq-Spotlight" and “Bioimaging Day” (see below).

 

We recognize the importance of training and preparing our students for life after their PhD in whatever field they choose to go into. With this is mind, IMPRS-LS students have many opportunities to develop their skills and improve their knowledge of what it is like to work in different job sectors.

To ensure our students are attractive to future employers, IMPRS-LS organizes workshops specifically tailored towards career development, whether this be in academia or in other fields. Our popular career development workshops give students the chance to work at a personal level with a trainer to improve their CV, interview skills and writing skills. For more information about our workshops, please see above.

IMPRS-LS has an ever increasing number of alumni. Events where our current students are able to interact with former students are particularly popular as students are able to directly relate to the career paths followed be their former colleagues. IMPRS-LS alumni have previously been invited to speak at our annual 3-day retreat based on “Career opportunities in academia and beyond”. We aim to organize a retreat with this particular theme once per cycle to allow all students the opportunity to attend, with the next one planned for 2017.

There are many additional events covering career development on the campus, including the seminar series “Careers for PhDs”, organized by the Graduate Program of the MPI of Biochemistry. "Careers for PhDs" aims to give graduate students an insight into the diversity of jobs that can be occupied by scientists holding a doctoral degree.
The “InPharma” career conference has a different focus and introduces students to a variety of job opportunities within pharmaceutical and biotech companies from the Munich area and beyond.

Every year, IMPRS-LS organizes our 3-day retreat, which takes place at various locations in Bavaria. Our retreats have different themes from year to year. In the past years, we have organized retreats based on:

• Team and leadership skills (outdoor training)
• Career opportunities in academia and beyond
• Cutting edge methods and technologies
• Biological model organisms

Whatever the theme, our retreat aims to combine learning with socializing, away from the research environment. Our retreats are a great platform for bringing everyone together and encouraging our students to get to know each other better.