Scholar Minds – Mental health conference 2021

Timetable

Welcome (Isabel Dziobek) & Keynote (Gordon Feld)

Achieving tenure remains a highly competitive process and a lack of alternative career paths in German academia have led to widespread outcry in social media under #ichbinhannah. In his talk, Dr. Feld will give a short recap of his career choices that led to his current untenured position. He will then give an overview how German academia fails structurally to promote the best early career researchers. Finally, he will discuss what needs to change to improve the situation.

Presentation of Mental Health initiatives

1) UniWinD (Hendrik Huthoff)

The working group of the German University Association UniWiND was founded by Hendrik Huthoff and Nicole Sachmerda-Schulz in 2020 with the aim of documenting ongoing mental health initiatives at Graduate Schools in Germany, identify needs for support structures for academic staff as well as students and to publish a white paper with recommendations and best practice examples for German Universities. The working group consists of academic coordinators from a wide range of Universities and will conclude its activities in 2022.

2) N2 Network

N2 is a Network of Doctoral Researcher Networks, comprised by Spokespersons of Max Planck PhDnet, Helmholtz Juniors, Leibniz PhD Network and IPP Mainz. N2 unites more than 16.000 doctoral researchers of Germany’s non-university research organizations to discuss the future of science – its working conditions, career perspectives and impact on society. Our main goals involve 100% payment, 4-year contracts, and abolishment of stipends and prevention of power abuse. In 2019, N² initiated a harmonized survey questionnaire which was sent to doctoral researchers in all four member organisations. The aim was to be able to compare the results between the organisations and increase their significance. N2 purpose is to improve important aspects of the PhD life like mental health, career development and working conditions.

3) Scholar Minds (Magdalena Matyjek)

In recent years, a mental health crisis has increasingly manifested itself in academia.  Particularly early career researchers such as PhD students have been found to be at risk for depression and anxiety. With an online survey, we as Scholar Minds investigated the status of PhD students’ mental health and  Covid-related wellbeing changes targeting a group of diverse early career reasearchers (N = 335) pursuing their PhDs at one of Berlin or Potsdam public universities in 2021. We will present our findings and subsequently propose a call-to-action. 

Lunch Break

Parallel workshops

a) “Academia benefits from your impostor synndrome but you derserve better”
(Olga Vvedenskaya, The Mental Health Collective)

Imposter syndrome, or the feeling that you don’t truly belong, is very common among academics. The presence of imposter syndrome is not at all linked to one’s academic achievement record or the amount of effort put into science. A positive assessment of one’s achievements is only a temporary fix to relieve the anxiety imposter syndrome can cause. The danger of impostor syndrome, as in any other neurosis, is that it reduces one’s quality of life. Imposter syndrome robs us of the joy life has to offer, in both everyday life and in the pursuit of knowledge.
In this seminar, we cover the definition of impostor syndrome and its prevalence in the academic population. We provide an overview of symptoms highlighting those seen in academic settings, and we facilitate community discussion on how to overcome impostor syndrome in our individual lives.

b) “Stress-management & optimal performance: The role of self-contemplation”
(Luis Castillo, Innerminder)

What is stress? How does it manifest in our bodies and minds? How can I relate more favorably to the experience of stress? What skills do I need? How can I develop these skills? This workshop addresses these and many other questions.
You will learn the fundamentals of how your body and brain work and how they communicate with each other. We explore the mechanisms underlying sensations, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors related to stress; you learn why you feel the way you feel and why you act in the way you act. We review evidence-based strategies to change non-favorable behaviors, reduce stress, and reach a state of well- being in which your personal and professional performance is enhanced.

c) “How to manage your projects?”
(Katharina Bögl & Sandra Naumann, Scholar Minds)

Do you work on different projects at the same time? Do you sometimes have problems starting a project? Do you procrastinate when things become too overwhelming? Don’t worry – we have all been there! On your PhD journey, you have the opportunity to work on various research projects. To succeed, you eventually need to keep track of project details, structure them, assign priorities and fulfill the tasks. This project management can be quite overwhelming, especially in the beginning of your PhD.
In this workshop we equip you with small but effective tools to structure your projects and tasks and transform them into manageable daily to-dos. We also address the role of  procrastination: how does it start – and most importantly -how can we overcome it?

Coffee Break

Parallel Hackathons

a) Bridging Mental Health and Academia (N2 Network)

In 2019, N² initiated a harmonized survey questionnaire which was sent to all doctoral researchers of the Network. The aim was to be able to compare the results between the organisations, increase their significance and to discuss the future of science – its working conditions, career perspectives and impact on society. With the data collected, we have realized that many of the doctoral researchers inside the N² network are facing challenges regarding Mental Health issues. Therefore, we propose a hackathon where we want to discuss Mental Health Awareness and debate good practices in Academia in order to improve the mental well-being of Doctoral Researchers.

b) Dream Your Graduate School (Dragonfly Mental Health)

How can graduate schools support the mental health of PhDs? What do PhDs expect from graduate schools? What structures would PhDs need to feel supported? Dragonfly has identified five domains of excellence required for cultivating excellent mental health in an academic setting and we would like to discuss them with you. Domains include forming a Departmental Committee, creating Peer Networks, improving Mental Health Literacy, Fighting Stigma, and having regular access to Skills Training. We´d love to hear your thoughts and brainstorm how to cultivate excellent mental health in academia!

c) Feel at home everywhere – How to make it easier for international students
(Nadja Wisniewski, MATH+)

When you decide to move to another country to join the lab of your dreams, there can be additional challenges you need to tackle: Besides fulfilling your PhD project tasks, you also need to get used to the customs of the new country, potentially learn a new language, and build a new social network. What are or have been your biggest challenges while doing a PhD in another country? How can institutions help to make it as easy as possible for international early career researchers to dive into this new experience? How could they create a sense of home from the start? Who else should be involved in this process? Join this hackathon to share your insights and thoughts of how we can make everyone feel at home!

Panel Discussion: “Towards sunnier days: How to overcome the mental health crisis in academia?”

Jule Specht, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Jule Specht is professor for Psychology at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, research fellow at the German Institute for Economic Research, and founding member of the Network Science Politics in the German social-democratic party (SPD). Her research focus is on personality development across the lifespan, specifically during adulthood.

Martin Grund, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science Leipzig

Martin Grund is an experimental psychologist who does research on how the physiological state of our body shapes conscious tactile perception. Next to his basic research at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science, he tries to make academia a place that integrates and enables the diversity of our society. 2016, he was the spokesperson of the Max Planck PhDnet and co-founded N², the network of more than 16.000 doctoral researchers at Germany’s non-university research organizations. Since 2019, he heads the Science Forum Middle Germany. He is an advisor, speaker, and author on science communication and science policy, e.g., as a member of the BMBF think-tank #FactoryWisskomm.

Ralf Kurvers, Max Planck Institute for Human Development Berlin & Science of Intelligence

Ralf Kurvers is a senior scientist at the Center for Adaptive Rationality at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and an external PI at the Science of Intelligence Excellence Cluster at the Technical University in Berlin. His research focuses on social and collective decision making in human and non-human animals. Next to fundamental research, he also studies ways to increase decision accuracy in high stake decision making contexts (e.g., medical decision-making, lie detection) using collective intelligence.

Atie Kashef, Lise-Meitner-Gesellschaft

Atie Kashef is an Executive Board Member of the Lise-Meitner-Gesellschaft. She is also a scientific associate at the University Hospital of Bonn and a PhD candidate in experimental medicine with a focus on Molecular Genetics. The Lise-Meitner-Gesellschaft aims towards equal opportunities in the natural sciences and mathematics inside and outside of academia. They strive to make academia a place without stereotypes, and work to achieve equal opportunities for scholars. 

Summary of the day & Vision for 2022