In 2018, Tabea Hildebrand became the first doctoral student to start a PhD at the recently founded Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg. She is enrolled on the "Environmental Sciences and Biodiversity" doctoral degree programme at the OLTECH Graduate School.

"I came to Oldenburg for the first time to do my doctorate, so the Graduate School courses were a good way for me to socialise and meet new people. The annual doctoral candidate days organised by the two Graduate Schools and the Graduate Academy were also important for me. There are lots of lectures and discussion rounds at these meetings, and they are a good opportunity to exchange ideas with other doctoral candidates. As I am doing my doctorate at the HIFMB, I am rarely physically present in my working groups at the university.

OLTECH has a good range of courses, for example I took an English course, trained as a research diver and took part in a writing workshop. I was able to travel to a conference in Shanghai thanks to a travel grant. It's great that we can also take advantage of programmes offered by other Graduate Schools here in the region. For example, OLTECH cooperates with the POLMAR Graduate School of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research and with GLOMAR, the Graduate School of Marine Sciences at the University of Bremen.

One of the best things is the events on career paths in science, medicine and technology. Former students talk about their careers there. It's great to get an insight into different areas and see what opportunities are available.

For me, the biggest challenge when doing a doctorate is not losing motivation. You need a lot of stamina. If something goes wrong, you can't let it get you down. It was often helpful for me to talk to OLTECH coordinator Dr Ferdinand Esser. The event "Doctorate - and then?" was important to help me think about what I want to do after I've completed my dissertation. If you have a goal, it's easier to keep going."