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Elements of the qualification programme
SOUNDS is funded by the transformation program for Research and Knowledge Transfer Saar. As such, we want to conduct research that benefits the Saarland's society and industry.
The SOUNDS Graduate School's qualification programme supports this goal by focussing on the three following elements:
As a SOUNDS PhD student, you will focus on conducting our PhD research project. This also includes …
- Writing and submitting scientific publications (e.g., peer-reviewed journal articles, patents, workshop papers, poster presentations)
- Presenting your research at international conferences,
- Regular participating in the internal SOUNDS DISCO colloquium (Colloquium for Data Infrastructure, Science, Collaboration, and Outreach)
The SOUNDS DISCO colloquium is a weekly colloquium that takes place each semester. Each PhD student is required to present the state of their PhD thesis or PhD relevant work at least once per semester and give feedback on others’ presentations. This colloquium serves several purposes:
- PhD students receive helpful and constructive criticism for their research.
- The PhD students' presentations about the current state of their research serve the mentoring of their PhD project and may substitute written progress reports.
- During sessions with external experts, PhD students learn additional methodological competencies in Computational Social Science, Informatics, or AI.
All research at SOUNDS focuses on urgent societal problems and/or aims to have societal impact. As such, it is essential that research results and outcomes do not stay within the university, or the ivory tower. Instead, SOUNDS wants to take research into the real world, into politics, and into public discourse.
PhD students are therefore motivated to participate in the Outreach activities organized by SOUNDS (e.g., Open Campus, Kick-off events, stakeholder events) to present their work and the product of their efforts to a wider audience.
SOUNDS aims to facilitate the foundation of at least five start-up companies in Saarland. Consequently, SOUNDS cooperates with Triathlon - the ecosystem for Entrepreneurship, innovation and transfer at Saarland University.
In order to facilitate these start-ups, PhD studenst are required to attend at least one entrepreneurial workshop at Triathlon. This will give PhD students the necessary skills to envision, plan and possibly set out to create their own start-ups or effectively cooperate with entrepreneurs beyond their own PhD project.