Honours Programme for Future Researchers
One of the core activities of the University in its teaching and research is the promotion of talented students who are enthusiastic about research. Teaching staff at all faculties make an effort to identify students excelling in their studies, provide them with individual support, and enable them to engage in research activities. As the Executive Board of the University is set to encourage this very mission and increase its visibility, the University has initiated the Honours Programme for Future Researchers in 2019. The programme is about giving those students a deeper insight into research processes during their studies, enabling them to participate in the scientific community, and preparing them for an academic career.
Coordinated by the Graduate Academy, this cutting-edge programme is one of the essential parts of the “LIGHT, LIFE, LIBERTY – Connecting Visions” strategy of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. It is funded by the university allowance provided by the Excellence Strategy of the German government and the Länder.
The programme consists of three components::
Honours mentoring: involvement in research activities and individual support
Upon successful application, the selected students will be supervised by the researcher with whom they have applied in tandem. The University invites professors and advanced postdoctoral researchers to opt for supervising talented students. Depending on the research culture, the supervision may comprise a small individual research or publication project or the responsibility for a subsection of a joint research project; it may also be combined with participating in graduate programmes, advanced seminars or doctoral colloquia as well as with participations in congresses and conferences.
Honours workshops: key qualifications and interdisciplinary exchange
The Graduate Academy offers several workshops and other events to the selected students. These events will focus on certain topics beyond the standard contents of undergraduate programmes. Among others, there will be workshops on scientific writing and presentation, on good scientific practice, time management, philosophy of science, research ethics, and last but not least, on the very first career steps of an academic career. In taking part in these workshops, the participants will be able to train research-related key qualifications at an early stage of their studies as well as reflect on their own research and their experience of the research culture. Through these workshops, as well as through regular networking events, the University also seeks to encourage the interdisciplinary exchange of the selected students, and strengthen their sense of belonging to the scientific community.
Honours funds: financial support
The funds should support those activities of the selected students, which are not directly related to the requirements in their studies but to their research project, for example, travel expenses when taking part in congresses, or other material costs of up to €1,000 per year. In addition, also initiatives of the Honours students may be funded, for example it is possible for the students to invite visiting lecturers to the University or to organize their own student research congresses.
There are also numerous other events such as regulars' tables, evening talks and peer men-toring. Please find more information on the website: https://www.uni-jena.de/en/honours-programme.
At the end of their studies, the students will be awarded a certificate confirming their mem-bership and their research and educational activities within the Honours Programme.
Who may apply and what are the requirements?
The University encourages top-performing students of all disciplines, who have a particular interest in, and a considerable talent for, science, to apply for the programme. Students may apply if they are enrolled for at least 4 semesters within one field of study. Students shall apply together with a professor or an advanced postdoctoral researcher who shall later supervise and lead the student to individual research activities. If it is a post-doctoral researcher supervising the student, the researcher shall have conducted research for at least two years after the doctorate and shall stay at the University for at least one more year in order to supervise the student.
The Senate Commitee for Young Researchers will select up to 80 students to take part in the Honours Programme. In addition to academic achievements above average, the applicants need to submit a proposal of an individual involvement into research activities.
Student applicants must submit:
- a motivation letter;
- CV;
- final certificates, academic achievements of previous studies;
- a proposal stating the student’s individual involvement in research activities for the upcoming months (1–2 pages) with
- a roughdraft of their own research project resp. of the subsection of a joint re-search project,
- a description of the concept of supervision and
- the intended participation in academic exchange (e.g. participation in research groups or colloquia).
