Elections and Candidates 2025
We know you have a lot on your plate — experiments, deadlines, writing, rewriting… and maybe even sleep, if you’re lucky. But there’s one small thing you can do that makes a big difference: vote in the upcoming FAU elections for your Doctoral Researchers Representation!
Good news: Voting in the FAU election is very straightforward!
It’s possible within 1 minute online:
Remember: You have 2 votes in total and can give either 2 votes to 1 candidate or 1 vote each to 2 candidates.
The elections run from 04.06.-12.06.2025.
Marlene Compton
My name is Marlene Compton, and I’m a PhD candidate at the chair for English Cultural and Literary Studies. My research focuses on the memory of the Holocaust in contemporary poetry, building on my previous work on antisemitism and comparative literature at the Zentrum für Antisemitismusforschung (Technische Universität Berlin) and the Peter Szondi-Institut (Freie Universität Berlin) respectively.
During my master’s degree I was elected representative for my cohort and shortly after joining the FAU, I founded its Queer Staff Network. These experiences have given me insight into the workings of university politics and a strong commitment to advocating for the interests of underrepresented groups.
At ProKo, I hope to be active on the Kommission für Lehre und Studium (committee for student affairs), since I strongly believe that high-quality teaching is the cornerstone of academic work. If elected, I would advocate for the incorporation of diversity, equity and inclusion in all classrooms.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Josephine F. Paul
My name is Josephine. I am a PhD student in mathematics education and work in an intercultural project between Taiwan and Germany (TaiGer Noticing). In the project, we aim at a culturally sensitive measurement of teacher noticing/professional vision. Besides my work, I volunteer as a member of our professional society’s young researchers’ representatives, as it is important for me to represent the interests of other doctoral students. From this context, I have experience in planning events for PhD students and standing up for their interests. I would like to contribute my experience to ProKo. Thus, aspects that I would like to focus on are
1. Networking opportunities for doctoral students (from different disciplines),
2. More support for travel and publication funds for doctoral students,
3. More specific offers for doctoral students (e.g., for the preparation of their own courses/lectures),
4. Increasing our visibility, especially when we are affected by cuts at the university.
We are not alone in our journey – let’s shape a better PhD experience together!
Luiza Sydorova
Lukas Thronberens
My name is Lukas Thronberens. I am currently beginning to work on my doctoral thesis at the Lehrstuhl für Klassische Philologie (Latein). I would like to join the Convent of Doctoral Candidates to ensure that the voices of doctoral students are represented and heard in the various committees and commissions of our FAU.
As a litterary scholar the library is a particularly important concern to me. I would like to contribute to ensuring that we have the best possible working and research conditions in our departmental libraries for the time being, and that the new humanities library in the Himbeerpalast will become a useful working tool in the future.
Leonie Manzke
Hi everyone, I am Leonie, a PhD student in Information Systems with a background in Psychology. In my research, I focus on how digital interventions shape human behavior.
For the past year, I’ve been active in ProKo, working to stay informed on key issues affecting Doctoral Researchers. After all, we can only advocate for ourselves if we 1) know what’s going on, and 2) have a seat at the table.
I truly believe diversity can be a strength and a boon, which is why I serve in the university’s Commission for Equal Opportunities. I am also a part of the Queer Staff Network (we are really cool by the way, feel free to reach out! :D). Among the scientific staff representatives in the university senate, I am also the only young(er) and female candidate.
Right now, I am particularly passionate about promoting good academic practice in the age of Generative AI. The university offers many opportunities for students to leverage AI, but we at ProKo are also pushing for solutions that support doctoral researchers – especially to provide legal clarity for those using these tools in their dissertations.
Every PhD deserves a positive journey, so let’s use our voice and support each other!
Nils Igler
Hi everyone!
My name is Nils and I have been pursuing my PhD in employment law since April 2024. At ProKo my main goal will be to enhance the networking among the PhD students in my department, as well as (if possible) across departments, by maintaining and expanding existing opportunities such as regular meet-ups. In general, I aim to be a contact person for all PhD students, advocating for fair doctoral conditions and decent supervision.
Best Regards
Nils
Anna Gottwald
Hello everybody,
My name is Anna, and I am currently pursuing my doctoral thesis in the Department of Radiation Oncology. As a member of the graduate program GRK2599 – Fine Tuners of the Adaptive Immune Response, I have come to truly value the interdisciplinary exchange between MD and PhD students. This collaboration has greatly enriched my scientific perspective and underscored the importance of dialogue between different academic paths.
At many institutes within the Medical Faculty, MD and PhD students work side by side, creating a unique opportunity for mutual learning and growth. The role of a ProKo representative from the Medical Faculty has often been difficult to fill, largely because MD students are frequently unavailable for the full term due to clinical responsibilities or the start of their Praktisches Jahr.
With this in mind, my goal is to ensure that both MD and PhD students of the medical faculty have a strong and continuous voice within the ProKo. I am committed to serve as a point of contact for all doctoral candidates from the Medical Faculty and to foster better communication, collaboration, and representation across disciplines.
Gerrit Roellinghoff
With friends spread over many disciplines doing their PhD, I am aware of the large spread between the quality of working environments for PhD students, sometimes even within the same faculty. Often, it seems like PhD students have very little recourse against mistreatment, be it a product of the system or personal. I aim to raise awareness of PhD students’ rights and to provide backing for anyone standing up for them. The process of doing a PhD should be enjoyable for everyone, as contributing to science is an inherently joyful thing. Everyone’s work environment should strive to meet this standard, and I want to do my part in making this a reality.
Beyond addressing immediate concerns, I am committed to ensuring the long-term stability and effectiveness of the Doctoral Researchers’ representation. This means working to secure our inclusion in more decision-making processes that affect PhD students, from policy development to resource allocation. Too often, decisions are made about us without us having a meaningful voice at the table.
Philipp Laub
My name is Philipp and I am a second-year PhD student at the Erlangen Centre for Astroparticel Physics (ECAP), working on radio detection of cosmic particles with SKA-low.
Timo Schwall
Hey Folks! I am Timo and in my second year as a PhD student at the Institue for Electronics Engineering. The focus of my research is chip design for communications, especially towards next generation mobile communications and beyond.
My motivation to run for Proko is to ensure appropriate representation of doctoral candidates in the relevant committees and to act as a contact person in case of trouble or problems for PhD students at the FAU.
Rajesh Chirala
I’m Rajesh Chirala, a second year doctoral researcher from the chair of electron devices (LEB – Dept. EEI, TechFak). After completing my Masterstudium from Halle (Saale), I moved to Erlangen in the latter half of 2023 to start my professional career as a doctoral researcher in the Junior research group funded via DFG – Emmy Noether-Programm „Neue Nitridmaterialien für elektronische Bauelemente“ (AG Schimmel). My research duties entail characterization of novel nitride semiconductor crystals in ammonothermal environment via X-ray imaging and optical spectroscopy for better understanding of dissolution kinetics and time-temperature dependent solubility of the same. For more info, please visit https://www.leb.tf.fau.de/forschung/nitrid-halbleiter-ag-schimmel/
I want diversity to be well complemented by integration. For that I am pushing hard for having continuous and dedicated language proficiency courses for the doctoral researchers . We all need to share our lives and become a community. By sharing, we get to know precisely the little fragments of individuality that we all carry, we also develop crucial relationships with the people that surround us. I want to actively encourage arts and hobbies of scientists. Enjoying the little facets that make us all our own person enlightens a person as much as a microscope. In fact, I formed a filmmaking club (Hochschulgruppe) to make short/feature films, so that I can share the I love I have towards my other passions and I’m grateful that I found some like-minded people due to ProKo’s networking. Maybe these little steps I took could inspire others to do the same with THEIR passions besides nurturing an art form.
Bastian Rüppel
My name is Bastian and I am currently in the second year of my doctorate. At the professorship for Fluid Systems Technology in the CBI department I work on Raman spectroscopy in gases. This is an optical measurement technique that helps us with research on any hydrogen-fuelled energy conversion system – whether it is fuel cells, internal combustion engines or whatever you can think of.
Last year, I came across the work that ProKo does in the context of the renewal of RPromO and TechFak’s FPromO. I think that showed it’s important for us as doctoral candidates to keep an eye on what is going on in the university’s committees and in that sense I want to continue the good job ProKo did so far.