Department doctoral representatives
Department Doctoral Representatives can have a wide variety of responsibilities, depending on the department’s needs and culture. Generally, your duties will include improving education and the work environment for students in your department. Specifically, you will be asked to participate in the admission seminars, establishment of new doctoral positions and have close contact with the study director. In some departments, you might be invited to the discussions regarding the green light applications for supervisors. Some Department Representatives also choose to organize socials events to improve the communication between all students of the department. You can also opt for additional roles like department council and support the Prefekt if you choose to.
As a representative, you will have more bargaining power to create positive change in your department. You will also function as a contact point between the DSA and the students in your department – both to relay information from the DSA to students but also to highlight local issues through the DSA to the central KI level.
Additionally, you can opt in to become a Student Safety Representative (Safety Ombudsperson), which increases your field of influence to safety issues. This will make you a possible first contact for students with proposals or who experience issues with their work environment. As a safety student representative, you will be invited to sit on the work environment group of your department. While the additional workload associated with being a Safety representative is usually negligible, you will receive special training through KI to give you the necessary skillset.
Becoming a Department Student Representative ensures that your voice is heard and gives you leverage to improve the situation for you and the students in your department. It is a great way to improve your network within your own department and improve your CV at the same time.
There are many open positions for representatives per department, so these positions are easier to be elected to and the responsibility is shared over multiple people. Each department has its peculiarities when it comes to representatives, so it is worth checking in with your current representative when you choose to apply.
The language of communication is department-dependent (the majority of the departments use English). It is encouraged to contact the current representatives of your department for more information (see link below) or reach out to Dina Dabaghie.
Deadline to apply: October 6
The application period to be evaluated by the DSA’s nomination committee has now closed. It is still possible to candidate for positions by attending our annual general meeting on October 16. More info with times and zoom links will be posted soon.
At DSA’s annual general meeting, Saturday, October 16, you will be called to present yourself and your candidature.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us by email at [email protected] or reach out to the current representatives:
