Our goals and methods
Wherever people work together, conflicts between group members and leaders can arise - also in research, as has recently become a frequent topic of public discourse. Universities and research organizations are increasingly developing procedures and contact points to support the handling of such conflicts in a constructive way.
In this context, the perspectives of group members such as doctoral students or postdocs often feature more prominently than those of research leader such as professors or principal investigators. Little is known about how senior colleagues experience conflicts or whether they receive adequate institutional support.
We intend to fill this gap via an anonymous survey of research leaders in Physics. We want to make transparent:
- which kinds of conflicts occur,
- how and with what consequences they are managed,
- whether the procedures and contact points of the research institutions meet theresearch leaders’ needs.
We work together with the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft e. V. .
The value of this survey:
- Professional implementation and data analysis by the State Institute for Higher Eduation Research and Planning (IHF)
- High relevance and impact due to field specific focus and cooperation with:
- Prof. Dr. Christiane Koch, professor for theoretical physics at Freie Universität Berlin and spokesperson for the Quantum Optics and Photonics division of the German Physical Society (DPG) from 2022 to 2024 and
- Ms. OStR‘ Agnes Sandner, Speaker of the Working Group on Equal Opportunities (AKC) of the DPG
- Results will be used for contributions to the public discourse and transferred to policy makers
What we do for confidentiality and data protection:
Especially important regarding a topic such as this: All information is treated in strict confidence and in accordance with the provisions of European and German data protection laws (DGSVO, BDSG). A comprehensive concept for data protection guarantees:
- that the data is professionally pseudonymized and stored in a secure manner,
- that analyses are always conducted to ensures that no individual participants can be re-identified
- that the data are used exclusively by us and our cooperation partners for research and improvement
Research questions
- What ideas and concepts do research leaders have of good/bad leadership?
- What conflict constellations and dynamics occur between the leading researchers and their employees; what causes do the former see for this?
- Which "circles" do such conflicts draw; which other persons or positions were involved? (How) Could conflicts be resolved satisfactorily for all sides, or what would have been desirable/helpful in retrospect?
- What are the antecedents, accompanying circumstances and consequences of conflicts; what starting points are there for optimizing the handling of (unavoidable) conflicts on both an individual and institutional level?
- Do the experiences of women and men in academic leadership positions differ?
Project phases
Further information on the project can be found here.
Who we are:
| Prof. Dr. Christiane Koch: “I have been a professor of Theoretical Physics since 2010, at Freie Universität Berlin since 2019, and was spokesperson for the DPG’s Quantum Optics and Photonics division from 2022 to 2024. In my research group we examine the quantum control of atoms, molecules and quantum-optically describable solid-state systems, together with 17 employees at the moment.” |
| Dr. Maike Reimer: “I have been working at the IHF as a senior researcher since 2005, investigating investigating career conditions in science and institutional framework conditions for conflicts in research for the National Report on early career researchers (BuWiN). Before that, I studied psychology and obtained my doctorate in research methodology.” |
Our experiences and references:
Conferences
- Governance in research organizations – constructive handling of conflicts and allegations (16-17/03/2023, University of Wuppertal)
- Sender unknown. Methods used in Science for dealing with anonymous accusations'(20-21/02/2020, University of Passau)
Veröffentlichungen
- Anonymous accusations in science – Special issue 2021 of the “Contributions to Higher Education Research.
- Diciplinary cultures and scientific careers – National report on Early Career Researchers (BuWin) 2021
Unsere Kontaktdaten:
Prof. Dr. Christiane Koch | +49 30 838 67459 | christiane.koch@fu-berlin.de
Dr. Maike Reimer | +49 89 21234 315 | reimer@ihf.bayern.de
Bianca Burkert, M.A. | +49 89 21234 411 | burkert@ihf.bayern.de