Fragebogen: PhD-students and COVID-19

The participation in this survey is voluntary and anonymous. You can skip as many questions as you want; however, we are grateful for as many answers as possible to get an accurate overview over the situation of Phd-students at the University of Oldenburg during COVID-19.

1. What is your gender?

Female	(53% | 136/259)
Male	(44% | 114/259)
Other	(1% | 3/259)

2. What is your age?

18-24	(4% | 10/259)
25-29	(46% | 120/259)
30-34	(33% | 85/259)
35-44	(13% | 33/259)
45 or older	(2% | 5/259)

3. Which faculty do you belong to?

I: Educational and Social Sciences	(10% | 27/259)
II: Computing Science, Business Administration, Economics, and Law	(8% | 20/259)
III: Linguistics and Cultural Studies	(9% | 24/259)
IV: Humanities and Social Sciences	(6% | 15/259)
V: Mathematics and Science	(51% | 131/259)
VI: Medicine and Health Sciences	(16% | 41/259)

4. At which point are you in your PhD?

First year	(19% | 49/259)
Second year	(26% | 68/259)
Third year	(22% | 58/259)
Forth year	(17% | 45/259)
Fifth year	(7% | 17/259)
Sixth year or longer	(8% | 20/259)

5. Do you have an income during your PhD?

Yes, I have a position in a third party project (project at the university, DFG, BMBF, etc.)	(39% | 101/259)
Yes, I have an internal position at the university (state funds)	(33% | 86/259)
Yes, I have a scholarship	(11% | 28/259)
Yes, I have a side job	(8% | 20/259)
Yes, I have another income/I do not want to specify my income	(9% | 24/259)
No	(3% | 9/259)

6. Did your financial situation change during the COVID-19 pandemic?

It improved	(2% | 6/259)
It deteriorated	(14% | 36/259)
There was no change	(83% | 215/259)

7. If it has deteriorated, is your PhD endangered?

Yes	(8% | 22/259)
No	(17% | 44/259)
This does not apply to me	(62% | 161/259)

8. Were or are you restricted in your ability to work/continue your PhD? Are there any work limitations?

No	(16% | 41/259)
Yes	(83% | 215/259)

9. If yes, please specify.

Lack of workspace	(41% | 107/259)
Lack of data collection possibilities (e.g. closed laboratories, no experiments, no field studies, etc, …)	(59% | 152/259)
Increased family care workloads (e.g. children)	(14% | 37/259)
(Online-)teaching responsibilities (increased workload)	(24% | 61/259)
Other reasons	(20% | 52/259)

10. If you checked "other reasons", would you specify them? (Diese Frage kann auch auf Deutsch beantwortet werden.)

• Discussion with colleagues is really important, lack of communication leads to a reduction in performance.
• Isolation, difficult communication with colleagues/supervisor
• increased workload due to more tasks
• Disruption in work flow schedule and the motivation of work from the lab
• Kooperationen mit anderen Universitäten / Arbeitsgruppen können nicht weitergeführt werden, da viele Unis/Labore ebenfals geschlossen sind/waren. Selbst wenn aktuell wieder viele die Arbeit aufnehmen, haben diese ihren eigenen Workload der sich aufgestaut hat zu bewältigen, sodass viele Kooperationsprojekt eerst Mal auf Eis liegen.
• Erreichbarkeit/Hilfe von Kollegen, die durch Home Office, Kinderbetreuung verhindert waren.
• Mental health distractions caused by the pandemic
• Specially for international students, who are alone here in Germany, this Corona situation created even a depressive mood. We do not have contact that much to people. Work efficiency is dramatically low. We are also worried about our family in another country and do not have access to them (ex. there is no flight,..)
• DFG-Projekt ausgelaufen und nicht verlängert (kein Verständnis habe ich dafür). Wegen Corona hat mir Zeit im Labor gefehlt. Eine Verlängerung, die nur einige Wochen dauert, steht mir in Aussicht (Verwaltung ist lahm und unkooperativ). Nun muss ich unbezahlt experimentieren und der Arge zur Vermittlung zur Verfügung stehen und mich um einen Job bemühen.
• Projektdurchführung insgesamt eingeschränkt
• mental health
• Weniger Betreuung und Zeitverzögerung
• Lack of side job. A lot of financial worries and increased pressure due to covid. Trying to come up with a research proposal. Delays.
• Stark erhöhtes Arbeitsaufkommem im Job
• Libaries part time closed
• Geschlossene Bibliotheken in Niedersachsen und Bremen - dadurch kann ich nicht auf juristische Fachliteratur zugreifen und die Erstellung meiner Diss ist seit Beginn Corona sehr ins Stocken geraten.
• All processes have slowed down, especially outside the university, e.g. we have been waiting for months to hear back about funding for our study. Normally, this would not have taken so long.
• Finanzierungsprobleme (auch schon vor Covid-19), daher parallel zur Promotion z.T. mehrere Nebenjobs notwendig sowie zusätzliche universitäre und außeruniversitäre Berufsqualifikationen (z.T. schon erfolgreich abgeschlossen), dadurch natürlich Zeitprobleme und kaum Möglichkeit zur Arbeit an der Diss.
• Increased workload in day job, relocation, high psycological stress level and sickness periods
• Keine Meetings, erschwerte Interaktion / Austausch mit Kollegen -> Motivations Probleme
• Lack of face-to-face discourse with colleges, lack of the social and cultural every day live of university, meeting others; depressing situation, losing intellectual touch, lack of informal social and moral support (cannot be replaced with online-things; pleasw no more online offers!!!) I´m online with colleges and students all day long and it becomes worse, since there’s no capacity for phd to stay even more hours in front of the laptop, not even for writing; this is not healthy at all and in my opinion a greater endangerment compared to the risk of infection with covid-19. I think, there are two options left: quitting university job to find a side job, taking place offline or quitting phd and spending more time offline with other things. Feeling demoralized by the strange mails of the president; I think that the mickey is taken out of us. Thanks for investigating.
• I was/ am unable to flight to perform the overseas research
• Das lange Aussetzen der Fernleihe war für den Schreibprozess schwierig. Kontakte zu kleineren Archiven waren durch die Coronabeschränkungen entweder nicht möglich oder haben viel länger gedauert als unter normalen Umständen, was ebenfalls zu Verzögerungen führte
• Deutlich erhöhter Betreuungsaufwand, da die Praktika doppelt (aufgrund der Aufteilung der Studenten in 2 Gruppen) stattfindet. Zwar betreuen wir weniger Studenten auf einmal, aber dadurch ist der Aufwand nicht geringer, da wir unabhängig von der Anzahl der Studierenden den ganzen Tag in deren Praktikumslabor verbringen müssen.
• Zusätzlich, aufgrund einer Schwangerschaft, ist mir durch Covid-19 das betreten der Uni untersagt (bis auf 1 h die Woche) , somit ist mir nur die Arbeit am Computer von zuhause aus gestattet. Somit ist für mich das Arbeiten nach der teilweisen Öffnung der Uni trotzdem noch erschwert.
• Mein Vertrag endete in der Elternzeit ANfang des Jahres vor Ausbruch der Corona-Pandemie. Ein neuer Vertrag stand in Aussicht ab Herbst diesen Jahres, allerdings werden die Geldmittel zunächst an die Doktoranden verteilt, die während der Corona-Pandemie am Institut angestellt waren, sodass ich erst 6 Monate später meinen Vertrag aufnehmen kann.
• - started position completely digitally (home office) which makes it more difficult to have scientific exchange (with colleagues and other PhDs)
• Schlechtere Kommunikation mit Betreuer*innen der Dissertation
• Zusätzlich zur Unterbrechung der Laborarbeit ging kurz nach Beginn des Sonderbetriebs mein Messgerät kaputt. Möglicherweise durch die lange Pause.
• Due to an abrupt cancellation of a field study and laboratories being shut, we were forced to work from home with no data collected yet to work on and a building construction area next-door with a lot of noise
• >Signifikante (!) Steigerung des Arbeitsaufwandes durch online-Lehre, die nur so auf hohem Niveau gehalten werden konnte >fehlendes Feedback / Austausch (keine Workshops, keine Arbeitsgruppentreffen, keine spontanen Gespräche, keine Institutskolloquien) >durch geschlossene Bibliothek erhöhter Zeitaufwand beim Beschaffen von Quellen
• - Verschiebung von Call for Papers und Reviews von Konferenzen, daher erst verzögerte Rückmeldungen
• Verfügbarkeit/Erreichbarkeit des Betreuers
• Neue Geräte, die vor Corona angeschafft wurden, konnten nicht in Betrieb genommen werden, da die Service-Ingenieure nicht anreisen durften. Das betrifft bei unserem Arbeitskreis das XPS und die DSC. Außerdem sollte für mich eine Einweisung an dem XPS und an anderen Geräten stattfinden, mit denen ich noch nicht gearbeitet hatte. Die Einweisung hat sich auch auf unbestimmte Zeit verschoben. Desweiteren wurden Tagungen abgesagt. Dadurch konnte ich mich nicht mit anderen Wissenschaftlern austauschen. Beispielsweise sollte ich eigentlich zur Bunsentagung nach Gießen anreisen. Auch das Arbeiten im Home-Office war für mich über längere Zeit (6 Wochen) nicht möglich, da ich durch den Umzug nach Oldenburg kein Internet zuhause hatte.
• Zuhause lässt es sich nicht so effizient arbeiten wie an der Uni, dort ist einfach mehr Platz, eine Tafel usw.
• Nutzung von Software zur Bearbeitung von Daten von zu Hause nicht möglich
• Literaturbeschaffung, Rechercheaufenthalte etc. nicht möglich/schwieriger
• Meine Promotion wird durch Lehraufträge und Nebenjobs finanziert. Bei den Lehraufträgen ist die Situation nun mehr Arbeit bei weniger Geld, da auch noch Stromkosten, Webcamanschaffung usw. für das Homeoffice anfallen. Ebenso konnte ich meine Nebenjobs durch Corona nicht wahrnehmen. So bleibt weniger Zeit für die Dissertation und der finanzielle Druck bedeutet künftig auch mehr in anderen Jobs arbeiten zu müssen.
• During the lockdown, University was closed and this has affected most of my PhD project activities. Work was scheduled after the re-opening of the university and thus we were divided into Groups which means that a group work in the laboratory for a week and the next week they have to work from home so that the other group can work. This measure was taken in order to reduce overcrowding. This has, however, have an effect on my project compared to when the University activity was normal.
• psychological reasons
• This situation and financial instability caused by the loss of my part-time job caused me additional stress, making me looking for new funding opportunities/ jobs and thus, giving lower priority to the PhD.
• I have to spend more time on my side job to earn the money . Therefore, I am not able to full time work on my PhD although being very close to finishing, it's taking longer.
• Lack of support and supervision
• the scholarship ended and part-time job(s) were lost
• Kooperationen mit Wissenschaftler*innen aus verschiedenen Ländern, die 2019 anliefen, persönliche Besuche/Reisen einschlossen und zentraler Teil des Forschungsprojektes sind, sind weitgehend und auf unbestimmte Zeit pausiert. Ob geplante Workshops und ein Symposium im restlichen Zeitraum (und wenn ja, in welcher Form), realisiert werden können, ist unklar.
• schlechte Internetverbindung und fehlende technische Ausstattung
• No budget for interns
• Living and working in under 8m2, living in an improvised and functional flat-share, being stuck in another country during a research stay abroad due to closed borders and my flat in Germany being rented out, and increased mental stress due to this situation (not being able to follow the media and political debates in the country of the research day, being away from close friends and family).
• Poor internet Connection at Home and health issues
• wenige Tagungen, schlechtere Vernetzung
• less communication with colleagues, less "informal knowledge transfer" at mensa lunches, colleagues/supervisor occupied with family care workload
• During lockdown I was allowed to work, whih brought detours of easy ways of comuting (it was basically like workin on the weekend or in the night. Getting to one specific room took several minutes longer on a daily basis). Now: Working in shifts, in secluded areas with very reduced possibilities for intellectual exchange.

11. If you were or are restricted in continuing your PhD, how much time did you lose overall?

Less than 1 month	(5% | 14/259)
1 to 3 months	(35% | 91/259)
3 to 6 months	(35% | 90/259)
6 to 12 months	(8% | 21/259)
Over a year	(3% | 8/259)

12. Is an extension of your contract/scholarship/... necessary?

Yes	(57% | 147/259)
No	(18% | 46/259)
This does not apply to me	(23% | 59/259)

13. Will there be an extension of your contract/scholarship/...?

It is already approved (compensates fully)	(4% | 11/259)
It is already approved (compensates only partially)	(3% | 7/259)
My supervisor or I applied for it	(6% | 16/259)
My supervisor and I discussed it but did not apply for it yet	(19% | 50/259)
I have no information from my supervisor	(15% | 38/259)
It is excluded/not possible due to a lack of funding possibilities	(8% | 22/259)
It is excluded/not possible due to a lack of commitment/interest from the supervisor	(1% | 2/259)
I did not inform myself	(15% | 39/259)
This does not apply to me	(26% | 68/259)

14. How do you feel about the care relationship to your doctoral supervisor in the times of COVID-19 compared to the care relationship to your doctoral supervisor before the times of COVID-19?

The care relationship to my doctoral supervisor is better than before	(10% | 25/259)
The care relationship to my doctoral supervisor is worse than before	(19% | 49/259)
The care relationship to my doctoral supervisor has remained the same	(70% | 181/259)

15. How do you feel about the stress associated with the process of the doctorate in the times of COVID-19 compared to the stress associated with the process of the doctorate before COVID-19?

The stress is greater than before	(72% | 186/259)
The stress is less than before	(6% | 16/259)
The stress remained the same	(20% | 53/259)

16. If you had your disputation during the last months or if you are planning your disputation for the next months: Did or do you have your disputation online or on-site at the university?

Online	(5% | 14/259)
On-site	(2% | 4/259)
A combination of both	(5% | 12/259)
This does not apply to me	(81% | 211/259)

17. For international PhD-students: Did or do you experience problems regarding your residence status?

Yes	(7% | 17/259)
No	(14% | 35/259)
This does not apply to me	(69% | 178/259)

18. If you had your disputation during the last months or if you are planning your disputation for the next months: Did or do you encounter any problems regarding your disputation? Would you like to specify? (Diese Frage kann auch auf Deutsch beantwortet werden.)

• Stability of Internet connection, upload bandwith, professional equipment (cam, mix) are needed.
• Ich würde lieber eine Präsenz Disputation durchführen, aktuell ist aber noch nicht geklärt, ab wann dies wieder möglich sein wird.
• I plan my disputation in mid of August. Currently I see no great problems regarding it. However, I am a little bit worried about the internet connection breaking down (of supervisors or of me).
• Trifft auf mich nicht zu
• As the international student it has been so painfull for us not to be accepted in the student hostel! we come here as foreigner but the university is not considering us as students and yet we all pay semester fee. On my behalf i have a great challenge of accommodation where by I was told am not supposed to be in university hostels since am a phd candidate. whom should we run to!!!!!!! if the university is not to help. Thanks.
• No
• -
• I had a discussion online with my supervisor last week. The online conference room is not so bad, but it is not as comfortable as usual because we need to write a lot of handwriting Greek symbols and figures during the discussion. If everyone could have a writing tablet at home, this is not a big problem. However, when I spend more time on preparation and practice, I think I can improve the situation.
• -
• At the moment it is unclear if the disputation will be on- or offline, perhaps online...
• No problems so far.
• My disputation was on 20th March, the last day the university was open. The two weeks before that were quite stressful, as there were daily new contradicting informations from Präsidium, Rechtsabteilung, Promotionsausschuss, Disputationsvorsitz,... about whether and how my Disputation may take place. Only one day before the disputation, it was clear that it can take place. However, I do not blame anyone, and do not want to complain, as the situation was new for everybody and my disputation went very well. But I hope and wish that in case of another epidemic (hopefully in a distant future!), there exist clear procedures about what is still allowed (how) at what point, etc (Disputations, exams, teaching, meetings, on-site working,...). So my point: I guess the Präsidium is already working on this, but provided they are not: Can you encourage them to develope a clear 'Vorgehensplan' for the start of an epidemic? This would help both undergraduate and doctoral students, all employees, the Präsidium, ...
• I might be having my disputation online, that would cause much more stress to me than seeing the commitee in person.
• Mir fehlen die technischen Vorrausetzungen, das Equipment, die stabile Internetverbindung u.s.w.

19. For international PhD-students: Are there any additional hardships from being abroad? If so, what? (Diese Frage kann auch auf Deutsch beantwortet werden.)

• Specially for international students, who are alone here in Germany, this Corona situation created even a depressive mood. We do not have contact that much to people. Work efficiency is dramatically low. We are also worried about our family in another country and do not have access to them (ex. there is no flight,..)
• Travelling to Oldenburg is difficult
• As the international student it has been so painfull for us not to be accepted in the student hostel! we come here as foreigner but the university is not considering us as students and yet we all pay semester fee. On my behalf i have a great challenge of accommodation where by I was told am not supposed to be in university hostels since am a phd candidate. whom should we run to!!!!!!! if the university is not ready to help. Thanks. Am Kajumba keti from uganda I have suffered a lot!! this makes me shade tears.
• -
• Trifft auf mich nicht zu
• Although not international: Fear for the family and helpless in the case somethin would happen.
• -
• I think everything is predictable. I have prepared my mind for it before going abroad. :D. Maybe the preparation is not for COVID-19, but for a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
• My family is away and I couldn't see them for a long period. Not much information regarding Coronavirus in Germany was available in English, which increased the stress levels a lot.
• I am a German PhD student, but spent the lockdown in Denmark, so I will answer this question. I had been in Denmark for 7 months prior to the lockdown and felt very much at home, also at the university / in my working context there. Although I do have a network of Danish and non-Danish friends, I very much underestimated spending the lockdown in a city and country where you don't know the language well (so you can't follow media and political debates, and especially cannot grasp nuances of how the situation develops, how to behave accordingly in light of the situation, etc.), where you are still a newcomer (you do not have similar comforting routines as in a city and country you have lived in for a while) and where you do not have a similar (social) network (and related resources) as in your home country. I also underestimated the feeling to be stuck in another country without the ability to visit close friends and family. Next to living in a small and functional flat share, with a proper desk not fitting into my bedroom and with people I had just met days and weeks prior to the lockdown, this highly impacted my ability to work on the PhD. I noted this in a higher anxiety level, a way shorter attention span than usual and generally just lesser mental capacities and energy to work on the PhD.
• being extra isolated..
• Yes, sometime I was not treated similar as other German or white peoples. I experienced some difficulties due to my brown skin color.
• There are some hardships in a sense that in Corona times it is harder to ask someone to help you with German language. In case you need to go to doctor or to city hall, but maybe not so many people are allowed in a room. Especially it is hard if you have to move during the lockdown, find an apartment and you do not speak German well enough. At the university it is a problem if you just arrived and had no possibility to meet anyone, or simply to get to know someone, so you are in isolation, but also a social isolation.
• some discrimination in the daily life
• I do not think it is hard to imagine that living abroad in the time of crisis is specially harder. Even following the news and regulations is not easy because most of them are in the language that you are not proficient enough to understand. You do not see your friends and colleagues to prevent of the spread of virus and you would feel much lonelier than before, especially if you are living alone. And the threat of the disease is felt much higher when you do not have any family member by your side and you should take care of yourself all on your own. Then there the constant worry of your interrupted PhD project and the few more months that is left from your income. When you come from a third-world country, there is not option of getting any financial help from your family and you have to earn your living on your own. This means that if your PhD does not finish but your contract ends you have to quit your PhD and look for another job. It is really not what a PhD candidate wants when he/she has worked so hard to earn the degree but sometimes there is no other option left for him/her.
• Probably, mostly due to the lack of social network (friends and family) when the work place and sports closed
• Stay alone and without any communication
• Uncertainty in whether I will be able to visit family anytime soon, due to current travel and quarantine restrictions. (But I think this problem affects all international students)
• Yes, for international students like me, that have no or limited German knowledge I have found it so difficult to associate or communicate to the Germans because of the fear of Corona. Also, I could not apply for the language class due to the the corona because I missed vital information.
• Integration and finding friends or someone to talk to is anyway rather hard, but it became worse during this time. It is also hard to keep a stable mental state. I feel stuck because I can't work freely or can't go home, that is my home country. I am worried constantly about my PhD, extension possibilities, my family back home, my performance, etc.
• Being isolated limits possibilities to learn german
• An extremely poor support from the university. Absolutely disappointing.
• Uncertainty surrounding family visits - not possible to leave country or quarantine upon return to Germany
• I have to constantly keep some kind of contract so that my residence permit is extended. Otherwise without a contract it is difficult to maintain a residence permit.
• Find a place to live
• -

20. For international PhD-students: Do you have the impression of being isolated?

Yes	(17% | 45/259)
No	(8% | 22/259)
This does not apply to me	(53% | 136/259)

21. For international PhD-students: Did or do you experience additional problems organizing your everyday routine? (Diese Frage kann auch auf Deutsch beantwortet werden.)

• On my side everything has been affected due to lack of a good a accommodation.
• Yes, working from home takes alot of discipline becasue it lacks a formal structure.
• Trifft auf mich nicht zu
• yes.. especially with working from home office and family responsibilities
• Organising workspace at home and sticking to routine was challenging
• Yes, during the home office, it took me some time to organise my routine at home so that I can be equally productive.
• Although not international: Organizing the little of private time there is including buying groceries, and other necessities, around the working time. Now, working in shifts, as well as during lockdown
• Loneliness is the main problem. It created so much pressure on our mental health.
• There were problems in the first one month
• Yes I did. It was also rather hard to be motivated throughout with lack of people to talk to
• When I had to work from home it was hard to me to organize my day, since I lived in a shared household, without enough space in my room to work, it was really complicated.
• Yes, this was mainly due to my living situation in the country of the research stay. I lived in a small flat share with no proper space to work. I didn't have a desk at first, and could not fit one in my bedroom. So I organized one, assembling one myself with the help of friends lending me table legs and a chip board, since the Baumärkte were still closed and I didn't want to buy a new one not knowing whether the lockdown would be 2 weeks, 4 weeks or more (when Denmark got into lockdown, Germany and many other countries didn't do so for two weeks to come, so the situation was quite unclear). I agreed with my flatmates that I can work in the open living-room kitchen of the flat share, which was at the same time the entry of the flat. Therefore it was not a quiet place to work, since there was always someone coming and going, or cooking. It took me a lot more energy to concentrate and work productively on my PhD in this space, than in a quiet office. Besides, since we just moved into the flat share in this constellation days before the lockdown, we didn't have a routine as a flat share / community, no trust established and especially no communication routine. This resulted in quite some conflicts (i.e. in regard to social distancing, etc.) during the lockdown, which also didn't exactly create a comfortable home office atmosphere. In Germany I live in a spacious and very friendly flat share with a good friend and an extra room as office space, but since I had rented out my part of the flat until autumn this year, and did not want to throw out the person subletting the room, I could not go there. If I had been in Germany during the lockdown, and had had a similarly complicated living situation as I had during the lockdown in Denmark, I could have just gone to my parents and worked from there. Due to the closed borders and especially the unclear situation this was not possible. If I had gone to Germany, it wouldn't be clear when or if I could go back, and I would have needed to move out of my place in Denmark before that, since this was also a sublet only until the summer. Things got a little better work-wise after Denmark started to slowly opening up again, since a number of friends and colleagues left me the keys to their apartments when they left the city for a couple of days, so I occasionally had a quiet space to work from time to time. This didn't exactly produce a routine, due to many changes involved regarding the working space, but was a great improvement compared to working in the living room kitchen of my flat share.
• yes
• I think nothing is changed in my daily schedule.
• not
• -
• -
• It took me a while to organize a home office spot, ordering chair, monitor, printer, noise cancelling headsets, and even I am facing internet connection problems all the time. I did not take any course during the sommersemester because I was afraid to have to to in person to the University and I preferred to isolate myself because of the corona situation.
• Yes, I feel my supervisor is more attentive towards masters students. I am in a situation where my manuscript and feedback from her matters the most,as I want to finish as soon as possible, but I have to wait a lot for my supervisor's feedback which is constantly delaying PhD and hence creating more problems for my residence in Germnay.
• Yes. More difficult to split work and free time.
• Yes
• For me it was really hard to stay all day/night/week/month long at home. I did not talk in person to anybody in almost 3 months and I should tell you it is not easy at all. In the lockdown period it was more like being in a prison cell. And I say it is specially harder for international students because we do not have any family member to visit and friends are usually not close enough to be around you during the Corona time.
• -
• Yes, after the second month of isolation have a routine started to be difficult.
• Yes, I feel more isolated and anxious than usual and have lost hope and motivation for continuing with the thesis

22. Is there anything else you want to tell us regarding the current situation or this questionnaire? (Diese Frage kann auch auf Deutsch beantwortet werden.)

Thank you for your participation!

• I need help! but don't know who to ask or where to go...
• No
• When the university was closed down first, I think it was the president who promised that PhD students and other research associates with limited contracts would get the opportunity for an extension of these contracts. Now there is no extension for me because my contract started this year and I do not have children. This is really disappointing.
• Ich finde der Fragebogen könnte auch noch etwas zur mentalen Situation enthalten.
• Falls die Situation noch länger so bleibt, müsste die 12. Frage vielleicht doch mit "Ja" beantwortet werden. Ich hätte als Antwortmöglichkeit "noch nicht" gewählt.
• I am mainly working on simulations --> therefore it's easy to continue just like before. This is made especially easy, since I can use SSH to access my univeristy computers from home. Perhaps it would help the work of others to tell them about remote control options and how to get them working with the university (Team Viewer, SSH, ...)
• I am not an international PhD-Student but i am feeling isolated from my workmates because of COVID-19.
• Es wäre schön mal etwas über die allgemeinen Möglichkeiten der Verlängerung des Doktorandenvertrags zu erfahren.
• Es wäre generell schön gewesen, wenn mehr über Vertragsverlägerungen für Doktoranden oder Möglichkeiten dazu kommuniziert worden wäre. Man musste selbst nachfragen und selbst alles klären, allgemeine Anlaufstellen oder Infos wären gut gewesen. Es war zu keiner Zeit erischtlich, ob es Pandemie bedingte Vertragsverlängerungen überhaupt gibt und für wen oder in welchen Fällen sowas beantragt werden kann.
• Question 14 would be more effective if you would know how the relationship to the supervisor was before COVID.
• Das was meine Verzögerung hervorgerufen hat war a) die Zeit die ich für Umstellung komplett von Zuhause zu arbeiten genötigt habe, b) die psychische Belastung die die Pandemie für mich ist/war (besonders in den ersten 3 Monaten) und c) die Notwendigkeit Sport und Bewegung privat zu organisieren und nicht bereits in den Alltag eingebettet zu haben durch den Weg zur Arbeit etc.
• As, indicated above: A laboratory ecperiment was cancelled due to the facility restriction (not allowed to enter the building) and a field experiment (in Sweden) was delayed to next year due to restrictions in traveling. Overall, the communication with my supervisor(s) became worse due to a lack in personal meetings. My home is not an appropriate working space, due to lack of equipment, space, noise and care for my family. I'm expecting to loose overall 6month of my 36month (paid by third-party funds) PhD period. It is unclear if I can submit my thesis before the need of an extra job/money outside of academia. Therefore, I'm very worried if I can fulfill my PhD at all.
• Lehrbeauftragte müssen dringend für den Mehraufwand kompensiert werden. Es fehlt auch eine langfristige Perspektive, da man immer nur pro Semester um jeden Lehraufträge BITTEN muss! Als Promotionsstudent ohne Stelle ist die Einbindung in die Institutsarbeit und mit anderen Mitarbeitern vorher schon schwierig gewesen, nun aber praktisch nicht existent.
• I am unemployed for some months now but have to finish my experiments in lab. Due to the closure of the university I could not finish the experiments in time and I have to pay the Semesterbeitrag again which is really hard for me. Also I feel restricted in my applications or in applying successfully for a job after my PhD since I will get my degree much later.
• I wish you should take action in accepting international phd students in university hostels.
• Please tell the president that also normal PhD students need support. Why should only students with children get support? 1 month would be something.
• Thank you for making the effort of this questionnaire! Stay healthy!
• Für meine Doktorarbeit verbringe ich im Jahr mehere Monate auf einer Forschungsstation auf einer Insel. Um die dortige wissenschafliche Station und die jahrzehntelangen Datenreihen vor einem lokalen Lockdown zu bewahren gelten strenge Regeln und der Zugang wurde zeitweilig komplett gesperrt (zum Glück außerhalb meiner Forschungszeiten). Jedoch bringen vorherige Quarantäne-Regelungen und die Abschottung der Station privaten Stress auf. So ist privater Besuch auf der Station und logischerweise während vorheriger Quarantäne weitestgehend untersagt. Ob meine Beziehung mit meiner Partnerin dies überstehen wird ist noch unklar. Somit bringt die aktuelle Situation für mich zwar wenig einschränkungen in der Arbeit für die Promotion, stellt aber jegliches Privatleben völlig in den Hintergrund. Von Seiten der promotion aus kann ich mich aber glücklich schätzen, dass es keine großen Einschnitte gibt. Zudem besitze ich persönlich im Home-office nicht die die Disziplin und Konzentration, wie es im Büro der Fall wäre. Bei insgesamt rund 6 Wochen Quarantäne-Zeiten zuhause (vor jedem Inselbesuch etwa 2 Wochen) war der Fortschritt bei der Promotions-Arbeit am Schreibtisch dementsprechend geringer. Ich schätze durch diese persönlich verschuldete Unproduktivität etwa 1 Monat verloren zu haben, worüber ich mich aber nicht allzu sehr beklagen kann, denn andere hat es deutlich härter getroffen.
• It would be great if you could inform us about our the possibility to apply for a an additional deadline extension for submitting the dissertation. I have already had an extention because of maternity leave and increased workload arising from the illness of a project member. Within that extension Covid started and I had no daycare for my child for three months and now the university's Kita cancelled the "Ferienbetreuung" so I am losing a further month. I am terrified I would not be able to submit in time and not sure whether I would be granted a further 2-3 month extension.
• All deadlines should be disestablished for all PhDs.
• ggf. miterheben: Familienstand, Wohnsituation und -größe, Vertragslänge
• I wish that during the wintersemmester we could have much more tel-co or video classes.
• 11. Ich gehe davon aus, dass die Situation sich bis einschließlich März 2021 nicht erheblich verbessern wird (WS online, kaum Arbeitszeit auf dem Campus, eingeschränkte Bib, etc.). Daher "mehr als 1 Jahr". 14. "Die Betreuung durch meine Doktormutter hat sich nicht verändert" bedeutet hier, dass sie immer schon sehr gut war.
• It would be great if we could speak to someone on a regular basis, from the program or anyone at all
• The working efficiency and cooperativeness the university's administrative employees have worsen significantly. For example, (essential for e.g. due to field work) Dienstreiseanträge are taking much longer to get approved, or the "Einkaufsabteilung" is inconsistent with what they are willing to purchase for us or not. (There are instances where they approved the purchases of products from a company, and the next time, they disproved it, even though it is a repeated order from the same company.) This has hampered the progress of our research in the lab as we were unable to obtain our material on time for experiments. Which means, in addition to the general delay of 3-6 months Covid-19 have brought us, we faced additional internal (uni-related) delays in our work progress. Our PhD contracts runs only for 3 years, so it is very stressful for us PhD students to finish our projects on time.
• Die "spontane" Schließung der Bibliothek sowie die eingeschränkten Ausleih- und Zugangsmöglichkeiten sind eine Zumutung.
• Es ist einfach nur deprimierend. Es ist schon "normal" schwierig funding für die Doktorarbeit zu bekommen, so ist es noch schwieriger. Es nervt einfach als Doktorand Nebenjobs zu machen, die man nicht machen möchte, die einen von der Doktorarbeit abhalten. Forschungsanträge werden von Betreuern nach hinten verschoben, so rückt die Finanzierung in noch weitere Ferne. Es ist einfach nur stressig und deprimierend. Ich hoffe, dass irgendwann auffällt, dass Doktoranden bislang überhaupt nicht bedacht wurden. Hilfe wäre schön. Es kann auch sein, dass so die Doktorarbeit (trotzdessen man schon viel Arbeit investiert hat) nicht geschrieben werden kann.
• Medizinische Doktoranden scheinen oft ein wenig außen vor zu sein, da wir Studienbeleitend bzw. in Urlaubssemestern schreiben. Für die Verantwortlichen des Medizinstudiums scheinen wir nicht richtig dazu zu gehören und für die reinen PhD Studenten auch nicht. So scheint sich keiner richtig verantwortlich für uns zu fühlen. Konsequenzen durch die Pandemie und die damit verursachten Stagnationen in der Forschung (Labor, Klinik) führen aber schnell zur Verlängerung des Studiums um mindestens ein weiteres Semester zusätzlich zur "freiwilligen" Verlängerung durch die Promotion. Dies führt einen in die Gefahr von Langzeitstudiengebühren etc.
• In general and particularly in the present situation I think that more opportunities for a decent job/ scholarship providing reliable and long-term funding need to be created at the faculty/ uni level. These will enable (international) PhD students doing their individual research to be able to support their studies, promote the quality of their work and decrease the stress level.
• Everything is very more stressful.
• Bitte unbedingt dafür einsetzen, dass möglichst umfassend Mittel freigemacht werden, um Vertragsverlängerungen zu ermöglichen! Großartig wäre zudem eine Info-Veranstaltung (ggf. in Absprache mit 3GO?) dazu, unter welchen Umständen und mit welchen Argumenten coronabedingte Vertragsverlängerungen auf Qualifikationsstellen möglich sind - und wie man ggf. selbst aktiv werden kann! Vielen Dank :)
• 1. Unsere Uni hat im Vergleich mit anderen sehr spät ihre Labore geöffnet. Dafür sehe ich keine Rechtfertigung, da hier die Infektionszahlen durchgehend kontrolliert und vergleichweise gering waren. Angeblich hat es bis zur Erstellung eines Sicherheitskonzepts gedauert. Damit hat mir die Uni Zeit genommen, Experimente durchzuführen, während ich angestellt bin. Nun bin ich nicht angestellt und muss experimentieren - unter dem Druck der Agentur für Arbeit. 2. Ich habe gehört, dass im Präsidium Verlängerungen diskutiert werden, welche vermutlich nur Hausstellen betreffen werden. Ich finde, dass jeder Doktorand einen Ausgleich für diese Zeit verdient hat - unabhängig vom Geldgeber des Projekts. Der Geldgeber des Projekts hat keinen Einfluss auf die Bereitstellung einer Arbeitsumgebung, die Uni schon. Die Tatsache, dass das Präsidium noch darüber diskutieren soll und noch nichts zuende gebracht hat, ist erschreckend. Versuchen sie diese Situation auszusitzen, bis die Doktoranden, die diese Hilfen benötigen, eh weg sind? Ich benötige JETZT eine Verlängerung (brauchte sie schon ein paar Wochen früher!). 3. Die Sicherheitskonzepte der AGs sind sehr unterschiedlich und werden sehr unterschiedlich ausgelebt. Ich finde es nicht gut, dass meine Arbeit schwieriger wird, weil ich eine/n sicherheitskritischere/n AG-Leiter/in habe. In unserer AG wurden zwei Teams erstellt, die an unterschiedlichen Tagen Zugang zu den Laboren haben. Teilweise habe ich nun das Problem, dass ich keinen Partner finde, der experimentell arbeiten möchte. Alleine darf ich natürlich nicht sein. 4. Teile der BI (mechanische Werkstatt, Glaswerkstatt) arbeiten zu reduzierten Zeiten. Ich bin auf diese angewiesen. Je weniger sie arbeiten, desto länger dauert meine Forschung - und ich werde zur Zeit nicht bezahlt! Ich kann mir gut vorstellen, dass ich nicht der einzige in eine derartigen Situation bin. Das Präsidium hat in den vergangenen Monaten mit ihrer tollen IT-Abteilung und der Online-Lehre geprahlt ohne Ende. Wann prahlen sie damit, wie gut es ihren Doktoranden geht? Sind wir ihnen was wert? Mir scheint, als sähe das Präsidium uns als vollkommen abhängige Forschungs-, Publikations- und Lehrsklaven. Kann ich mich wehren? Nein. Labore schnell öffnen oder Doktoranden warten lassen? Sicherheitskonzepte dem Infektionsstand anpassen? Pech gehabt? Ich bitte euch, schnell etwas zu unternehmen. Außerdem danke ich euch für euer Engagement - nun seit ihr wichtiger denn je. Beste Grüße
• Es wäre sehr wünschenswert, wenn die Universität zu den Forschungspool bzw. Uni geförderten Stellen, endlich Mal ein Lösungskonzept bezüglich der Verlängerungen der Stellen aufgrund der jetzigen Lage vorstellen könnte. Es ist nun seit vier Monaten Stillstand und in einigen Fällen kann es sogar noch länger dauern bis bspw wieder gemessen werden darf. Da muss langsam ein Konzept her!
• Even though I am not an international student, I experienced feeling of isolantion and problems organizing my everyday routine. I luckily am able to work from uni from time to time which works a lot better for me than working from home. My contract will not be extended since it ends shortly after 30.06.21, an the line of reasoning for this is not clear to me at all. I was fortunatly able to restructure my projects significantly, hopefully reducing the delay caused by the pandemic
• Für mich hat sich eigentlich nichts großartig geändert. Lediglich das Diskutieren von Fragen/Ergebnissen etc. zur Promotion mit den Betreuern ist mit E-Mail-Verkehr etwas langsamer als vor Ort in der Uni. Dass Kolloquien etc. nun online gehalten werden, empfinde ich als sehr positiv, da ich sonst häufiger für einen Tag reisen musste, und duch die Anreise der ganze Tag dafür geopfert werden musste, was jetzt nur wenige Stunden sind.
• Thank you for collect student opinion about this.
• I briefly want to comment on the lack of workspace which is not to underestimate and of course particularly concerned junior researchers. As I wrote before, I could not fit a desk in my bedroom, and therefore worked in the open living room kitchen and entrance of my flat share. Apart from this not being a quiet working space, I could not do any zoom etc. conferences there, since my flatmates would walk in and out / cook / watch TV there etc. So I needed to do them in my bedroom and was mostly trying hard to somehow place the laptop and have the camera in a direction, where my colleagues couldn't see my bed, since I felt this was not a setting I wanted to share with them. During all these online conferences I noticed that PhD students were often talking (and teaching!) from their bedrooms, postdocs mostly did have an office space, but often tried to follow the research day / colloquium with crying babies on their laps. I hardly saw any of these situations (bedroom, babies) with professors. The effects in terms of working environment of this lack of quiet work space and blurring of boundaries between private and professional space, which is generally quite high in academia, are often not quite obvious, but impacted in my experience (and from what I heard from friends and colleagues) the work of PhD students quite a lot. Thank you for conducting this survey, and also incorporating questions about international PhD students. This is extremely important, I hope it will be helpful when defending the PhD students interests in front of the Präsidium.
• Ich müsste nicht so viel Zeit mit Jobben vertun, wenn ich zur Studienfinanzierung irgendeinen Job an der Uni bekommen könnte. Bei mir war das nie Thema. "Verstehen Sie mich nicht falsch - zur Förderung haben Sie das falsche Geschlecht." (männlich)
• I wish I didn't have to pay for the semester ticket as I do not live in Oldenburg and cannot use it. It is an extra financial burden, a lot of PhD candidates do not live in Oldenburg.
• Aufgrund der Hygienevorschriften hat sich der Arbeitsaufwand deutlich erhöht. Von ca 10h/Woche auf dauerhaft (!) weit über 25 Stunden/Woche. Grund ist das Strecken der Praktika auf mehrere Kurse um Abstandsregeln einzuhalten. Ausgleich, Vergütung oder Dank in irgendeiner Form findet nicht statt.
• Während der Corona-Krise fiel es mir teilweise sehr schwer von zuhause aus zu arbeiten. Das lag teilweise an den Umständen (kein Internet durch den Umzug und Umbauarbeiten) aber auch daran, dass es mir schwer fiel mich zu motivieren. In den ersten zwei Wochen fehlte eine feste und geregelte Tagesstruktur. Ich war über Wochen schlecht gelaunt und gereizt. Die soziale Isolation hat mich stark getroffen, obwohl ich mit meiner Freundin zusammen wohne. Mir fehlte der Austausch mit Freunden und Arbeitskollegen. Mein erstes Jahr als Doktorand habe ich mir vollständig anders vorgestellt. Ich konnte seit einem halben Jahr keine Daten sammeln und habe auch bis jetzt noch nichts erreicht. Trotzdem hatte die Krise auch etwas gutes. Man konnte in dieser Zeit sehr gut an Papern arbeiten und eine gründliche und tiefe Literaturrecherche betreiben.