WIAS PhD Group
Apes together strong.
To the website of the group of PhD students at the Weierstrass-Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics!
As of the concluded election in April, we welcome César Zarco Romero (RG 5) into the team of the PhD representatives!
César is taking over Daniel's part of the torch as representative and continues sharing it with Willem until after the coming evaluation.
| Date | Contribution |
|---|---|
| 20.06.2024 | Helia Shafigh (RG 5) Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeit eines Hasen unter Wölfen Abstract: In diesem Vortrag (der sich an Schüler richtet) geht es um einen einsamen Hasen, der in einer Welt voller Wölfe möglichst lange zu überleben versucht (random walk among obstacles). Wir besprechen drei verschiedene Modelle (1. unbewegliche Wölfe, 2. ein herumlaufender Wolf, 3. viele herumlaufende Wölfe), in denen wir uns für die (asymptotische) Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeit des Hasen bis zu einer festen Zeit interessieren. Die Neuigkeit dieser Modelle ist die, dass der Hase die Möglichkeit hat, sich in eine Höhle zurückzuziehen und in den Schlaf zu fallen, was ihn für die Wölfe unsichtbar macht (dormancy). |
The PhD lunch is still alive and happening regularly! 🌮
Every Tuesday at 12:30, you are happily invited to join us for lunch! We meet in front of the entry to the main building! 🥪
As a result of the employee survey (Mitarbeiterbefragung MAB), a committee was set in place to develop appropriate measures for improving the working conditions at the institute.
One outgrowth of that was to institute a buddy group of volunteers who meet up monthly to offer a platform for discussing challenges and filling general gaps for newcomers to the WIAS.
See also:
the MAB committee's webpage (only reachable from within the WIAS via e.g. VPN)
You may have heard through the grapevine that the infamous WissZeitVG is currently in the process of being reformed.
While some suggestions seem to actually constitute an improvement - such as the plan to mandate (within limits) three-year contracts for newly hired PhDs - other parts of it have caused quite a stir in the German academic world. Most notably, the plan is to limit the maximum post-doc employment period under fixed-term contracts to only 3 years.
This has been met with severe criticism by labor unions, some research organizations and even professors who regard this development as significant in impacting the working conditions in academia in a negative fashion.
If you are interested in reading more about the general background and recent developments, especially from an English-speaking point of view, check out the following links:
Leibniz PostDoc Network: a network of postdoc scientists within the Leibniz Association engaging in information gathering, communcation, and advocacy.
#ProfsFürHanna: an alliance of professors who have co-signed an open letter calling for the revision of the proposed amendments to the WissZeitVG.
GEW [German]: Educators' and Scientists' Labor Union providing some details on the proposed amendments and reactions to them in German.
NGA - Network for Decent Labor in Academia [mostly German]: a network of mid-level academics in Germany engaged in information-gathering and advocacy for better working conditions in academia.
For German sources, we warmly recommend running bits of text through the DeepL Translator.
