Detail

What I offer

PhD students face a broad set of challenges that extend beyond just research and writing. As a full-time basic research scientist working more than 20 years at the Medical University of Vienna I am happy to offer my mentorship guiding you through different topics ranging from research & academic development, academic skills and productivity, teaching, wellbeing and personal growth, so to summarize guiding students in navigating academia as a whole person.

As scientist, my research topic focuses on the pathophysiology of rheumatic musculoskeletal diseases. I am supervising both diploma and PhD theses in the basic research laboratory of the Division of Rheumatology. In our lab we are running various basic and advanced techniques (molecular biology, FACS, histology, microscopy, microCT,...). One of my major scientific research topic is to address genetic depletions and therautic interventions in arthritis animal models. Despite assisting as a mentor,we are happy for any visits in the lab or to share our techniqual expertise. Just to let you know, as a non-clinician, I am not directly working with patients but with tissue from patients with rheumatic diseases (blood, synovial tissue).

What I expect from the students

As mentor, I believe that the PhD journey is most successful when it is built on mutual respect, openness and shared responsibility. A PhD is a learning journey, which requires curiosity, communication, openness to feedback and the ability to adjust when new ideas or methods emerge. As mentor I can provide guidance and support, but students are expected to be active, repsonsible drivers for their own PhD journey.

The success and content of the mentoring program is strongly based on the individual needs of the PhD students.

Therefore, I expect and highly recommend every student to think and to be open about topics they would like to talk about, to have discussed, or to get advice for future strategies. I would like to emphasize every students to recognize and face personal or structural barriers/limitations and to share it with us.

To build a successful mentoring programm, students will be contacted via email before the first meeting, allowing to collect and to share their required topics during their PhD journey.

Time constraints for meetings

A minimum of 6 in-person meetings per academic year is required for the students to get a certificate and the mentor to obtain credits.

Based on the needs of the PhD students, I am willing to arrange more than 6 meetings, f.ex. up to 1 meeting per month (up to 10 meetings per year). A perfect time-slot will be discussed with the PhD students, based on my schedule I would suggest f.ex. Wednesday later afternoon (4 to 5:30 pm)- but this can be changed on students availability. We will probably meet in the seminar rooms at the AKH, later in April to June we can also decide to meet outside (based on the weather!).

In order to get to know each other and to better understand the individual neesd, I would like to meet at least once per month from Oct to Dec (at least 3 times before Christmas). After Christmas, we can decide whether we are going to continue once every month or every other month.

What else I would like to say

Becoming an academic scientist is a very challenging, multi-tasking but inspiring job!

As a long-term basic scientist at the MedUni Wien, it is a pleasure to share my experiences with the next generation of young scientists. During the PhD thesis, students will face complex situations, barriers, limitations, and various challenges, which I am pleased to discuss finding solutions, options and recommendations based on my experiences and best knowledge.