Members
The Promovierendenkonvent consists of the following members:
Legislative period of 2024/2025
Mohamed Khaled Elsayed
“Yes, we probably can” / ‘Ja, vielleicht können wir das schaffen” is my slogan. My name is Mohamed, for short (Mo). I have been a deputy representative ( to our fantastic college, Lisa Seuberth) for about a year now.
We have shackled the waves at FAU a bit, but there’s a lot of work ahead.
We, my colleagues and I, have tried our best to keep you updated, and this should be the case all the way.
I have three folds points on my program for this year, 2024/2025:
1. Better working conditions related to the hiring and contracting situation at FAU. There has been much momentum there, but we, as Proko, could channel this effect more effectively.
2. Diversity understanding. I am an Egyptian PhD researcher myself. I tried at first to start with dealing with the allocation of the maximum resources and possibilities to support/assist the professional/psychological aspects of doing a Ph.D. at FAU, and this is what I think is the way to go. And now the setup is actually a little bit too real for anyone to pick up and proceed.
3. Related to the internationalization concerns, I would try to maximize the appetitive attitude, which is honestly there at the FAU leadership level, to achieve its fair and beneficial outcomes in inclusive ways. Whatever our backgrounds or beliefs, this is, in my opinion of, FAU as a public space that has the tools and capacity to welcome and include literally everyone. It might be somehow optimistic, but afterall, yes, we probably can.
Clara Tristram
Hello everyone,
my name is Clara and I’m a PhD student at the Department of Sport Science and Sport at Friedrich- Alexander-Universität in Erlangen. With a deep focus on public health, health promotion in children and adolescents and the social sciences of sport, I am actively contributing to our academic community through teaching, working in research projects and publishing impactful research.
Beside my work as a research associate at the department and my thesis, I am highly interested in the university system and its political concerns. I first came into contact with university policy work when I was elected as the second representative of the mid-level faculty at our department.
During this time, I realised how important it is for doctoral students in particular to be represented in university policy committees, which is why I wanted to get involved in ProKo.
My motivation for working in ProKo is primarily to represent the voice of doctoral students beyond, especially from the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology, beyond the faculty level. I am convinced that our voice needs to be taken into account, especially when it comes to decisions that directly affect us, such as the current revision of the doctoral regulations.In general, I love being a part of ProKo because I believe in fostering a collaborative and inclusive academic environment in both research and the political concerns in the university system. As a member of ProKo I am responsible for Improving Working Environment and Conditions for Doctoral Research.
Please feel free to contact me – I am always looking forward to get in touch with new people.
Thanks a lot,
Clara
Kian Schmalenbach
I am Kian, a doctoral researcher in Information Systems and ProKo candidate for the School of Business, Economics, and Society (WISO). For the past two years, I have represented WISO in ProKo and am now the elected Co-Speaker of the Bavarian Representation Network of Doctoral Researchers (LaProBay).
During my time in ProKo, I have contributed to internal restructuring and process optimization, established a university sports course for doctoral researchers, and represented our interests in the commissions for internationalization and accreditation of study programs.
In the coming term, I would like to focus on expanding the Bavarian-wide Doctoral Representation Network by recruiting and mentoring new board members with the goal of forming a formal association. In addition, I plan to support ProKo in further promoting equal opportunities for doctoral researchers, especially in improving working conditions and addressing issues faced by international researchers.
Julia Klaus
My name is Julia Klaus and I represent the Faculty of Law and Economics, in particular the Law Department. In my interdisciplinary doctorate, I work on a legal group biography of the judges of the so-called Tokyo Tribunal (1946-1948). Just like at Nuremberg after World War II, the Allies set up a major war crimes tribunal for the East Asian sphere, at which the former leaders of Imperial Japan were tried for crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The eleven judges of the Tokyo Tribunal clashed on quite many points, both personally and legally, and I try to find out whether their partial inability to cooperate can be explained with their pre-1946 biographies.
Being in the sixth year of my doctorate, I am convinced that I have plenty of experience with the ups and downs of a doctoral researcher’s journey. It is this experience I want to bring into ProKo before moving on. At the same time, I am passionate about a few topics that seem to also bother many fellow doctoral researchers. These are notably the use of AI tools in our research and good scientific practice, respect for diversity and gender-sensitive language, and connecting external doctoral researchers better with the FAU “headquarters” in Erlangen.
Within ProKo I manage all matters connected to advancing good academic practice at FAU, which covers a broad range from avoiding plagiarism to potential power abuse by supervisors. My responsibility also covers the award for outstanding doctoral supervision, which the university will hand out for the first time in 2025.
Feel free to contact me with all matters connected to my topics of special interest and to good academic practice in general!
Ann Katrin-Hellmann
Delara Azodanlou
Hello everyone!
My name is Delara, I’m 23 years old and a fifth-year medical student working on my MD thesis in the Department of Dermatology for the past two years. My research focuses on ex-vivo expanded natural killer (NK) cells and their impact on (skin) cancer cells.
Through my participation in the IZKF doctoral program, I have had the opportunity to interact with many other doctoral students, particularly medical doctoral students. These interactions were highly rewarding and have shown me how different individual doctoral theses are in terms of supervision, goals and expectations.
One topic that is particularly important to me is to draw attention to the funding opportunities for MD students as many of us have to work on our doctoral thesis alongside our full-time studies or take a semester off. Another important point is to raise awareness of ProKo and its agenda among MD students.
It would be an honor for me to represent my fellow MD students as an elected doctoral candidate representative for the MedFak.
Verena Leopold
My name is Verena and I am doing my doctoral thesis in the field of quantum optics. I am for the second time a candidate for the election of the doctoral candidates’ representatives, more precisely a representative for the NatFak.
Thank you for making me an elected member for the current year. You might have noticed that me and my colleagues tried hard to fight for the rights of Doctoral Researchers at FAU. Besides my current aims: better food, better payment and more self-determination, I want to put my focus on power abuse and discrimination at FAU for the next run.
Only together we can make a change!
Gerrit Roellinghoff
Hello everyone!
I am Gerrit and in my second year of my Doctorates working at the Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics. My main focus is on gamma-ray astronomy, especially focused on background simulations and survey planning.
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 student’s 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. During my coming term, I aim to make this one of my main topics. Feel free to contact me if you have any troubles or want to raise any issues you are having.
I am thankful for your vote during the election and hope to meet your expectations!
Best,
Gerrit
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.
Markus Meindl
Hi everyone,
My name is Markus Meindl. I am a 31-year-old researcher at the Chair of Power Electronics and Fraunhofer IISB in Erlangen. I am currently in the final phase of my doctorate, which focuses on the pioneering research field of hybrid-electric aviation. This field combines the best of both electric and traditional aviation and is poised to revolutionize the industry. I’m excited to share my insights and experiences with you all.
Due to the connection between FAU and Fraunhofer, I could work on international EU aviation research projects during my doctorate. For example, I was the technical leader of the EU project GENESIS (https://www.genesis-cleansky.eu/ ). The consortium consisted of 10 international partners from industry and research. The independence and freedom of movement and supply chains of products for industry and private customers are valuable assets in the global economy. To achieve this in an environmentally friendly way, the electrification of competitive, alternative, and emission-free means of transportation (aircraft, ships, cars, etc.) is of great importance. This can be achieved through technical innovations. On the YouTube and Instagram channels of Energie Campus Nürnberg, for example, there are already some videos in which I explain hybrid-electric flying (https://www.instagram.com/energie_campus_nuernberg/?hl=de , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CFHcOZUcR0 ) I try to bring topics closer to people and understandably share my knowledge. I would, therefore, like to be a link between the Energy Campus Nuremberg, the technical faculty, and the doctoral students at the Fraunhofer Institute.
This also leads to my motivation for the ProKo. On the one hand, I would like to pass on my experiences during my doctorate to help other doctoral candidates with their doctorates. Due to my experience in international research projects, I can provide support and advice on some projects. In addition, I would also like to represent the Faculty of Engineering across universities, advocate for doctoral candidates and students, represent their interests, discuss them, and try to implement them accordingly.
Former elected members
- Shima Hosseinzadeh until September 2024
- Lisa Seuberth until September 2024
- Markus Weißenberger until September 2024
- Leonore Düfel until September 2024
- Annika Schnell until September 2024
- Timo Eckstein until September 2024 (former speaker)
- Gregor Hofmann until September 2024
- Andrew Wildermuth until September 2023
- Florian Birnmeyer until September 2023
- Willi Tang until September 2023
- Torsten Hoyer until September 2023
- Ingrid Zahn until September 2023
- Phillip Raffeck until September 2023
- Marc Vornehm until September 2023
- Julia Herrmann until September 2022
- Florian Nikolai until September 2022
- Jannik Alomo until September 2022
- Peter Tschapek until May 2021 (former speaker)
- Benedikt Slavik until September 2021 (former vice speaker)
- Vanesa Cotroneo until September 2021
- Jakob Gabriel until May 2020 (former speaker)
- Helena Muster until September 2020 (former vice speaker)
- Claudia Hachenberger until September 2020
- Sabina Walter until September 2020
- Florian Zeitner until September 2020
- Laura Kölbl until September 2020
- Simone Gehrer until September 2020
- Thorsten Wißmann until September 2020
- Timo Sestu until September 2019
- Matthias Lexow until September 2019
- Marie-Kristin Döbler until September 2019
- Maria Lehmann until September 2019
- Sabine Ebensperger until September 2018
- Robert Prophet until September 2018 (former speaker)
- Monika Doll until September 2018
- Annika Clarner until September 2017 (former speaker)
- Matthias Plennert until September 2017
- Veikko Ruth until September 2017
- Kerstin Lorek until September 2017
If you encounter any difficulties, please feel free to contact us at any time!