There are now 41 internal and 25 external doctoral students working at Hochschule Offenburg. The Graduate Academy aims to facilitate exchange and networking among them. In addition, the Academy aims to provide interdisciplinary support and help them with the administrative implementation of their work. Professor Christ also emphasized during the event that with this institutional anchoring, doctoral students will become more visible as an interest group at Hochschule Offenburg. Furthermore, the election of a spokesperson from among their ranks, who will also participate in the meetings of the Research Committee, will make their needs and issues better heeded in the future.

Following the induction of the Graduate Academy, the doctoral students themselves took center stage. In three-minute presentations each, they provided insights into the subject and current state of their dissertation projects. A poster exhibition also presented 26 research projects to an interested audience, spanning the fields of production engineering, optics, information technology, energy and electrical engineering.

The event was part of the doctoral research colloquium “Research on Campus” (Forschung auf dem Campus, or FadC) organized by the Institute for Applied Research (IAF) every three semesters. It was moderated by the two heads of the IAF, professors Elmar Bollin and Thomas Seifert, as well as research adviser Dr. Ira Pawlowski.