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The Basic Curriculum & Cluster Curriculum

for the degree PhD in Medical Sciences

As a PhD student, you should concentrate intensively on your practical research work.  Along the way and free of charge, you will receive active support from us in the form of a training programme.

Our courses in the basic curriculum teach you important core competences and key qualifications as well as the basics of didactics. You will also learn the finer points of good scientific practice.
This gives you important tools for the time during your doctorate. At the same time, it can prepare you for the next career stage.

The workshops in the cluster curriculum offer you the opportunity to acquire new skills, deepen your existing knowledge and get a taste of fields you didn't even know were interesting.

In total, the basic and cluster curriculum of the PhD programme has a scope of approx. 300 hours.

Components of the Basic Curriculum

This one-day workshop is a mandatory component. Please book this workshop as soon as possible in order to be aware of your rights and duties as well as of scientific misconduct from the beginning of your project and to prevent problems.

You need to complete a total of 10 workshop days from the following areas:

  • 2 days of Science: Basics & Beyond,
  • 2 days of Career Development & Self-Management,
  • 2 days of Didactics - Learning & Teaching,

as well as 4 days of your choice from the above mentioned areas.

The area which the workshops belong to is indicated on the individual workshop pages.

External workshops can be recognized for the curriculum in individual cases if they were taken after starting the PhD programme. Perfect fit into the PhD-Curriculum as well as course evaluation are required.

Another mandatory component of the curriculum is an independent and active participation at a congress or similar event. This means that you present a poster or give a talk in front of a professional audience or faculty members.

Doctoral researchers who do not have the possibility to visit an external congress can present their results at the annual medRSD Symposium. Internal events at clinics or institutes will not be recognized.

Components of the Cluster Curriculum

By attending at least 15 guest lectures of invited speakers, you will get to know the scientific discourse. The latest research results are presented and then intensively discussed. Think outside the box and expand your knowledge in a scientific setting.

Guest lectures are usually organised as research lectures at the Faculty of Medicine, as colloquia within the framework of the SFBs or Research Training Groups. They can also be lectures at the other faculties of HHU as well as at partner institutions.

By attending lectures, you can acquire basic knowledge. You also have the opportunity to refresh and deepen your theoretical knowledge and background knowledge.

Seminars offer the opportunity to interactively acquire, deepen and discuss knowledge in smaller groups.

Lecture series of the Research Training Groups can be credited as well as internal institute or clinic events after individual review. If you regularly participate in doctoral seminars or journal clubs and also have official meetings within your working group, you can collect the required hours.

Courses in which you are taught specific methods form the core of your training in the PhD programme.

Workshops offered at institute or clinic level can be credited after individual review, as can courses offered across the board, e.g. courses on animal experimentation.

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