Research Training Group – what’s this?

30 November 2020, by Website Team Biologie

Photo: UHH/RTG2530

The research object of Research Training Group 2530: the Elbe estuary.

Graduate School, Doctoral College or Graduate Programme - there are many different terms for Research Training Groups (RTGs). What is the purpose of these institutions?

Currently there are six different Research Training Groups at Universität Hamburg - four of them alone belong to the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences (MIN). These includes our Research Training Group 2530, which is located at the Department of Biology of the MIN Faculty. In principle, Research Training Groups are limited-term projects that serve to train doctoral students and pursue a common research question. The heart of a Research Training Group is a research idea that focuses on a specific guiding theme.

In RTG 2530, for example, doctoral students will systematically analyze the importance of biota for the carbon cycle in estuaries. The overall theme in RTGs can be divided into different sub-questions and research areas, so that each PhD student will investigate a specific aspect of the guiding theme in their dissertation project. For example, while one doctoral student will investigate the influence of geese and sheep on plant-mediated greenhouse gas fluxes into the atmosphere, another will study the metabolic pathways of microbes and the degradation of organic matter in estuarine marshes.

In this way, the doctoral students will work on their own topic, but at the same time will gain an overview through the overall context of the Research Training Group.

What is special about the Research Training Groups is that they offer a structured qualification programme: The doctoral students not only work on their research question, but also go through joint seminars, lectures and workshops on various topics such as career development, data science, good scientific practice or gender equality. In this way, they are prepared for the diverse challenges of an academic career. 

At RTG 2530, 15 PhD students are initially supervised by professors of the Department of Biology and Earth System Sciences. With one scientist from the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), the RTG 2530 also has an external member.

Research Training Groups are mainly located at universities, since they have the exclusive right to award doctorates in Germany. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is financially supporting many RTGs in Germany. RTG 2530 is also funded by DFG, initially for 4.5 years. After that, the DFG will conduct an evaluation – and the RTG can be funded for another 4.5 years.