PhD Students

Doctoral Training Program "Learning Sciences" at LMU

Website: http://www.mcls.lmu.de/dtp/
Coordination: Jan Zottmann (Program Coordinator), Frank Fischer (Scientific Director)
E-Mail: jan.zottmann at psy.lmu.de, frank.fischer at psy.lmu.de

Description: The Doctoral Training Program "Learning Sciences" (DTP-LS) is the central training component of the Munich Center of the Learning Sciences (http://www.en.mcls.uni-muenchen.de/index.html). The MCLS has an interdisciplinary research approach, drawing together accomplished scientists from various disciplines and institutes (e.g. Medicine, Neuroscience, Psychology, Pedagogy, Sociology, or Economics) with the aim of achieving substantial and internationally evident research progress in the Learning Sciences field.

The DTP-LS aims to support the participating doctoral students in designing and conducting state-of-the-art dissertation research projects. The quality of the doctoral research is ensured by a systematic interdisciplinary supervision. Furthermore, a wide array of activities is offered to the doctoral students, including content-related courses, methodology courses, courses on key qualifications (e.g. scientific writing, teaching, ethics of research), and special guest lectures. The DTP-LS aims to integrate its doctoral students into the relevant scientific communities and financially supports doctoral students to attend international conferences. Being an international program, it is generally expected to foster international visibility and the international network of research in the Learning Sciences.

Doctoral studies at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol

Website: www.bris.ac.uk/education/students/doctoral/
Contact: marie.joubert at bristol.ac.uk

The Graduate School of Education is located in a research intensive university in the West of England. It has a lively community of doctoral students coming from a variety of backgrounds and with a very wide range of research interests. Students take stimulating and rigorous research methods course covering, amongst other things, basic skills (such as the use of Endnote), statistical techniques, qualitative and quantitative approaches to research, data collection and analysis, philosophy of social science. Throughout their studies, students are able to draw on the expertise of a department with excellent research credentials and a bank of knowledge and experience.

Full time PhDs take three years although many students study part time, over longer periods. Many students study research methods in a preliminary year. All students are welcomed into the department and have one or two supervisors, with whom they have regular meetings. Students also join research centres, such as the Centre for Knowing, Learning and Interactive Technologies (LKiT) where they are inducted into academic ways of being, working alongside new and established academics. LKiT offers a programme of reading groups, expert presentations and seminars. The research interests of LKiT members include handheld technologies, neuroscience, using computers in classrooms, early childhood and multimedia literacy and developing web sites to support teaching and learning about ethical issues in science.