Lab Integration

PhD students will right from the start be integrated into the research programs of the participating institutions, with the Bonn Max Planck Institute serving as the hub. Every week, the institute’s groups have lab meetings. There are regular seminars for outside speakers, and internal seminars on research related topics as they present themselves. This integration will immediately make PhD students members of a research team. Currently, there are 17 PostDocs working at the institute, all in areas related to the focus of the proposed IMPRS. The weekly seminars will provide PhD students with ample opportunities to specify their research questions, to learn about the standards expected in the respective disciplines, to try out ideas, and to find partners for joint projects. Typically the first one or two projects will be such joint endeavors, during which PhD students learn on-the-job, and develop their own research personalities. The more they mature the more they will themselves take the lead in collaboration, or embark on single authored projects.

University of Cologne, University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute have their labs for running computerized experiments. It is in principle also technically feasible to run experiments outside these installed labs (although building the infrastructure for a field experiment may be beyond the scope of a PhD project). Students of the proposed school have access to these facilities. Funds dedicated to the school are used for financing experiments run by PhD students. All PhD students will have access to the Max Planck library and data facilities of the institute.