This year the University of Freiburg opened a new doctoral candidate lounge on Erbprinzenstraße. The room provides doctoral candidates an ideal opportunity for exchange. Alumni Freiburg e.V. provided funding to establish the lounge through donations from former students.

The University of Freiburg has brought together several resources for doctoral candidates under a single roof at Erbprinzenstraße 12: The International Graduate Academy (IGA) is the university’s central service department for doctoral candidates. Among other things, it offers a transdisciplinary qualification program for doctoral candidates with 35–40 courses and workshops in English and German each semester as well as training in core competencies and key qualifications in various areas. Other resources located here include the offices of the network for junior researchers “SciNet” and the doctoral candidate initiative “ProDoc,” both directly adjacent to the doctoral candidate lounge. Thus, visitors of the lounge can always take advantage of the services provided by these groups.

The lounge provides doctoral candidates an opportunity to discuss their research as well as to talk with their peers about other questions that arise during the course of a doctoral program. The bright room with a panorama window is furnished with various modern seating accommodations – from a two-person bistro table to a 10-person conference table. It is a place where doctoral candidates from different disciplines can meet. Bookshelves on the walls are filled with informational material on doctoral training and career opportunities for graduates. Dr. Carolin Schuchert, who supervised the project, also names further potential uses for the room: “Doctoral candidates can also use the lounge for networking meetings or small-scale workshops. In addition, there is the possibility to put artworks or photographs on display.”

The feedback from doctoral candidates has been very positive. “The room demonstrates that doctoral candidates are important, gives them a place to meet that previously wasn’t there, and thus makes it possible for the first time ever for young researchers from various disciplines to gather in one place,” says Erika Schmidt, who is writing her dissertation in psychology. Judith Praßler, German studies PhD candidate, confirms that a room like this was needed: “Since it opened, the lounge has been used for the regular meetings of the ProDoc group as well as for meetings of individual work groups within the group. So it is in constant use. Moreover, public events aimed at doctoral candidates are also held there.”

The new doctoral candidate lounge, a project the university was particularly keen on realizing, was made possible with the help of roughly 24,000 euros in donations made by alumni.