GYR Recommendations

GYR is an advising committee and provides recommendations to improve research and working conditions for early career researchers, scholars and artists at JGU. Furthermore, GYR members provide contributions to proposals, guidelines and internal documents created by university management.

The purpose of a supervision agreement is to come to a mutual agreement on the structure of the doctoral phase. This creates a transparent and reliable basis for supervision for both the doctoral candidate as well as the supervisor. Creating a dialog on expectations and ideas helps to prevent disappointments and misunderstandings for both parties by identifying and clearing up discrepancies early on.

In order to support doctoral candidates and supervisors with drafting a supervision agreement, GYR has developed guidelines that can be used as motivation and a framework for orientation.

The JGU Senate in 2017 recommended that all departments, faculties, the Mainz School of Music and the Mainz Academy of Fine Arts complete written supervision agreements snd orient themselves on the guidelines developed by GYR.

In the meantime, ยง 34 (5) HochSchG requires the conclusion of a written supervision agreement between the doctoral candidate and the supervisor within a reasonable period of time (max. 6 months) after acceptance for the doctorate.

In its quality assurance concept for the approval of doctoral and postdoctoral regulations of August 4, 2022, JGU has also made a number of details in the supervision agreement mandatory (see Appendix 2 there).

Against the background of these developments, the guidelines and the GNK template for the supervision agreement were updated in summer 2023.

Guidelines for a supervision agreement at JGU (PDF, in English)

Supervision agreement template (editable Word document, in English)

GYR has developed guidelines that set out the university's mission statement for dealing with its early career researchers. The guidelines offer orientation for day-to-day work and research. The guidelines were adopted by the Senate on June 29, 2018.

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz guidelines for the advancement of its early career researchers

To support and promote independence in the academic realm, GYR recommends that the faculties give externally evaluated junior research group leaders the opportunity to independently supervise and review dissertations and master theses of their employees.

The senate endorsed this recommendation during the meeting on July 15th, 2016.

Recommendations on supervising doctoral work for junior research group leaders (PDF, in German)

In its recommendation from 2015, GYR shows relevant aspects that need to be accounted for in a tenure track procedure.

Recommendations for a tenure track procedure (PDF, in German)