Offspring Group

Acknowledging the strength in unity and communication, the Offspring group has designed a platform where ideas can be expressed and experiences shared. Not only does Offspring produce an annual newsletter but also fosters the frequent publication of articles on our website.

We aim to help Max Planck PhDs communicate across Germany. We encourage young scientists to share their outcomes, to teach and learn from each other, and to support one another in their daily endeavors. After all, we love what we do and we put all our energy into projects we believe in.

Apart from that, Offspring aims to capture the ongoing activities of the PhDnet and Max Planck Society (MPS). For more than a decade, the PhDnet has been working towards obtaining better working conditions for students within and outside the MPS by representing their interests. There have been several successful outcomes, the most noteworthy being the materialization of the Fair-Pay petition. This is not the end, however, as the journey continues towards the betterment of our scientific community. Further, this requires constant communication, dialogue, and motivation amongst PhDs, and most importantly, the participation of everyone belonging directly and indirectly to the Max Planck community.

We believe there are no such “big” problems or “small” achievements. For us, the growing and evolving doctors and daily trials of success and frustration are our daily bread. Certainly, it is fair to share this daily bread with other members of our PhD family.

We strongly encourage you to actively participate by submitting your own articles. This is a fantastic way of make your science visible so take the chance to share your research with the public, nourishing the PhDnet with ideas, information, relevant articles and pictures - everything that you regard as valuable information for PhD students of the Max Planck Society. We are looking forward to receiving your input!

If you want to get hands on experience on the Editorial Board, we are always happy to incorporate new members. Therefore, if you have any ideas concerning the Offspring or would like to join our work group, don't hesitate to contact us.

Podcast

We are also producing our own podcast! Our goal is to disseminate information to early career researchers. We want to make the process of getting a doctorate more transparent and raise awareness about possible career opportunities for doctoral researchers inside and outside of science. Also, we would like to focus on problems in academia by discussing topics of Open Science and research assessment.

This podcast series is hosted by two doctoral researchers of the Max Planck Society, Srinath Ramkumar and Nikolai Hoermann.
You can find it through your favourite way to listen to podcasts using the following links:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0X3p9taR53UNyh9kYO4aqA

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/offspring-magazine-the-podcast-max-planck-phdnet/id1522509488

Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/0cjf6tom

Anchor: https://anchor.fm/max-planck-phdnet

Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/offspring-magazine-the-podcast-max-planck-phdnet

Radio Public: https://radiopublic.com/offspring-magazine-the-podcast-m-WdRA4Q

Google Podcasts: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xMTk4YjU3OC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==