As a non-university research institution, the Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics does not have its own right to award doctorates. The doctoral regulations of the respective partner universities apply. However, it is possible to be employed at ZAS and to do a PhD at a university at the same time.
Open doctoral positions can be found on the Current job offers page.
While working on their dissertation project, doctoral candidates are integrated into their thematically appropriate research area (FB). In the regular working meetings of the FB and in internal meetings of the whole institute, they get opportunities to present the progress of their work and to discuss it with the other researchers.
The heads of the research areas support the young academics in using the offers and network of the Leibniz Association. The Centre regularly delegates its young researchers to the corresponding funding programs, proposes them for advertised awards or draw their attention to calls for proposals. Their participation in international conferences and workshops is financed within the framework of their employment at the ZAS. In addition, the doctoral researchers are actively involved in the organization of scientific events in their research area.
In the ZAS Mentoring Program, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers are brought together with experienced researchers at the Centre who act as their mentors. The program provides an informal meeting place for early career researchers to discuss topics such as career development, time management, work-life balance, and others. All doctoral and postdoctoral researchers at ZAS are offered a mentor; participation in the program is voluntary. The program is coordinated by the Mentoring Program Group, whose current members are Zorica Puškar-Gallien and Stephanie Solt. Mentors and mentees interested in participating can contact the coordinators at ZAS.Mentoring@leibniz-zas.de.
The doctoral researchers of the Institute are self-organized in a doctoral group that meets monthly. In this group they plan and organize various activities according to their current needs. In addition, the group invites experienced linguists for specific trainings to acquire or deepen important skills for scientific work. These include, for example, learning methods, statistical analysis of experiments, and writing scientific publications and their own research proposals. Every year, two representatives are elected from this group to represent ZAS in the interdisciplinary Leibniz PhD Network. The spokespersons of the doctoral researchers also serve as contact persons in case of problems and promote the exchange in the group. The current spokespersons at ZAS are Onur Özsoy and Marvin Schmitt.
The postdoctoral researchers at ZAS are also organized in a network represented by a spokesperson; currently, this is Zorica Puškar-Gallien. In accordance with the career guidelines of the Leibniz Association, postdocs are encouraged to take advantage of ZAS's own mentoring program. In addition, like doctoral researchers, they are invited to participate in the weekly Pomodoro Writing Group, a ZAS-wide collaborative writing group using the Pomodoro technique.
The postdoc spokeswoman also provides information about the Leibniz Association's Mentoring Programme. This program is aimed at postdoctoral female scientists who aspire to a leadership position in science or in professional fields with a scientific qualification, with the goal of increasing equal opportunities for women and their retention in science. The program is announced annually. ZAS recommends its excellent female postdocs to apply for the Leibniz Mentoring Programme.
Student assistants are substantially involved in the scientific work at ZAS and can gain first experiences in research. They are encouraged to attend the scientific events of the Centre. Positions for student assistants at ZAS are published in the Current job offers and in the job boards of the universities in Berlin and Potsdam.
ZAS also offers the possibility to complete study-related internships and school internships. The dates are arranged individually and depend on the capacities of the ZAS staff. For more information, please visit the page Internships.