Alexander Max Bauer is doing a doctorate in philosophy. He is a research associate in the DFG research group "Needs Justice and Distribution Procedures", in which the University of Oldenburg is involved.

"I know the 3GO from every perspective - as a participant in the courses on offer, but also as a representative of the doctoral students on the Board of Directors. There, for example, I am involved in programme planning, collect re-registering student feedback and bring it to our Board of Directors meetings.

This re-registering student feedback shows that the 3GO is an important source of support for many doctoral students. For individual doctoral candidates, for example, courses that teach skills such as self-organisation or time management play a major role. If you are not taking part in a structured doctoral programme, you are also connected with other doctoral candidates via the Graduate School.

In an individual doctorate, as I am doing, you learn to be very independent. I have a lot of freedom, but I also have to organise most things myself, from working hours to financing and research questions. During the pandemic, it's even more difficult to deal with this freedom. The connections and structures that usually give you stability are fraying. I do communicate with my supervisor Prof Dr Mark Siebel every week and am lucky enough to be involved in a third-party funded project and to be in regular contact with other participants. But I've only been on campus a few times in total since March 2020, when the pandemic began. For me, being very independent wasn't a disadvantage, but I know that not everyone is coping well with the current situation.

For me personally, the writing support programme was very beneficial. This is a programme in which doctoral candidates are brought together with students to support them in writing their term papers or theses. We doctoral students were coached beforehand and learnt about interview techniques or problem-solving models, for example. Personally, it was incredibly beneficial for me to slip into this counselling role, solve problems together and see how you can provide real support. Even during the pandemic, from my own desk, via the internet."