Complementary Skills
TC-I and TC-II: Tutorials on Complimentary Skills
1. Module on Writing Research Articles
This module will be offered by Dipl.-Angl. Thomas Wagner from the department of “Business English and Management Communication” at the University of Giessen. The training unit helps non-native speakers of English develop essential skills and strategies required for writing journal research papers. The main content areas to be covered are writing process and strategies, structure and format of research articles (incl. relevant style/citation guides), and language skills (incl. grammar, spelling, punctuation and style). Participants are encouraged to approach research article writing as a matter of continuous effort and gradual improvement. For this reason, they are expected to study distance-learning materials offered for the training unit and complete various writing exercises prior to and after participating in the tutorial.
2. Module on Scientific Word Processing with LaTeX
This module provides a practical introduction to the scientific word processing tool LaTeX. It will be offered by Dr. Dorothea Reimer from the department of business administration and economics at the University of Giessen. LaTeX is an excellent programme for type-setting mathematical expressions and scientific equations for publication. The course will be held in the department’s own computer laboratory allowing the participants to practice.
3. Module: Introduction to Matlab
This module, also taught by Dr. Dorothea Reimer, offers a practical introduction to Matlab, which is the software package for numerical scientific computations used in several of the research projects undertaken within the RTN. The course introduces the structure and syntax of the Matlab language and how to apply its basic principles of programming. Participants will acquire knowledge of basic Matlab functionality, programming in Matlab and using Matlab as a
visualization tool. The participants can practice writing Matlab functions that are useful for their specific research activities.
4. Module: Third Party Finance
This module will be offered by Europapol (Gunter Gerlach), a joint institution of the Universities of Giessen and Marburg for the support of European research activities, in cooperation with KoWi, the European liaison office of the German research organisations. The module provides information about national and EU-funding opportunities. It will focus on reinforced “Marie Curie actions” of the Seventh Framework Programme. The session will deepen the knowledge of the individual researchers who wish to apply for funding to move to another country (worldwide) to carry out postdoctoral research. It will also focus on the schemes for emerging researchers to create/develop research teams.
5. Module: Presenting Research Results
Young researchers will have to share their results with the science community and industry. This module will focus on guidelines for oral or poster presentations (complementary to the 1. module on writing research articles). The participants will learn how to structure their presentation by providing an introduction to the problem to be studied, the relation to the literature, a description of the data and methods, a presentation and analysis of the main results, and a discussion of the importance of the findings. The participants will acquire knowledge on presentation techniques, interaction with the public, timing of presentations etc.