Im Rahmen des Projekts "Get organized! - Self‐management training for PhD candidates" organisieren DoktorandInnen selbst eine Summer School in Tále in der Mittelslowakei. In Workshops lernen die TeilnehmerInnen Tools und Techniken, die helfen den Alltag als PhD strukturierter und angenehmer zu gestalten. Das Projekt wird von DoktorandInnen der Universität Wien, Universität Komenius - Bratislava und der Matej Bel Universität Banská Bystrica durchgeführt. Finanziert wird das Projekt durch die "Aktion Slowakei-Österreich/Akcia Rakúsko Slovensko".

Warum sie das Projekt eingereicht haben und welche Erfahrungen sie während der Antragstellung gemacht haben, erzählen Ana Zora Maspoli und Alexandru Munteanu in einem Interview mit dem DoktorandInnenzentrum.

• Why did you apply for a project at the "Aktion Slowakei-Österreich"?

Ana: I applied to be able to realize a promising project.

Alexandru: I have always enjoyed the process of evolving and of developing my skills. My ultimate goal is to become the best version of me and towards this goal, I see one milestone as the acquisition of knowledge on how to organise time and energy and on how to formulate and prioritise projects. This was one of my reasons for applying, while the other was so that I could meet people interested in the notion of self-improvement and to share information on this and connected topics

• Were there challenges/difficulties to overcome whilst writing the funding proposal?

Ana: The main challenge for me was the process of co-writing and defining responsibilities at the same time. I had difficulties with knowing who is committed in which amount.

Alexandru: Yes. I am generally forward thinking, open-minded and optimistic and I've found it difficult in the beginning to understand conservative, slow-paced opinions. However, we did find a way to incorporate all views in the end.

• What do you hope to achieve with your project? 

Ana: I hope to gain experiences in project management, organisation and co-working.

Alexandru: Firstly, I hope first of all to get a fresh view or alternatively, to consolidate my own view on how to efficiently organise my time and other resources in order to reach my goals. Secondly, I hope some synergies will form between us, the project members, to further improve our self-organisation and help one another, past the workshop. Finally, I hope that we sparked enough interest so that we could envision follow-up projects on the same or connected topics.

• What have you learned from your application?

Ana: I learned that working in a group with people from various backgrounds is harder than I thought but definitely worth the effort.

Alexandru: I would perhaps pay more attention to see if my needs and aims for a project are the same as for the other members and clarify them much earlier in the project proposal writing.