Program Overview

Program Overview

The TANDEMdok international mentoring program is designed for motivated women doctoral students from all disciplines who want to systematically reflect on their next career steps and actively shape their professional biography.

Career Management for Women PhD Candidates

The program aims to provide individual advice and support from personal mentors of the participants' own choice over the course of a one-year mentoring relationship. In addition, participants reflect on and expand their interdisciplinary skills in training courses and workshops designed specifically for the target group.

Program Modules

The program consists of the following modules:

• Mentoring: individual advice and support from personal mentors
• Training: interdisciplinary skills development in training courses and workshops
• Networking: opportunities for intensive exchange with other mentees and formation of long-term sustainable contacts

Benefits

The benefits of participating in the program include:

• Strategic incentives for individual career development
• Structuring and concretization of professional targets after the doctorate
• Efficient preparation for the postdoc phase or non-university career start
• Expansion of key competencies
• Expansion of knowledge about structures, processes, and rules of the science game or economy
• Establishment and advancement of individual, interdisciplinary networks

Participation Requirements

Applications are open to women doctoral candidates from all disciplines, except medicine, who are enrolled or employed at RWTH Aachen University. Participation requires German language skills, but is also possible with a good passive knowledge of German. A commitment to the development of the mentoring relationship, seminar dates, social program, and program evaluation is expected.

Application and Selection

Applications can be submitted by email and must include:

• A letter of motivation with a meaningful explanation of the desire to participate
• A completed application form
• A curriculum vitae A selection committee decides on admission to the program, taking into account any possible need for barrier-free selection interviews.

Downloads

• Curriculum TANDEMdok international 2026 (pdf: 187kb)

Program Details

• Application deadline: November 17 - December 12, 2025
• Interview dates: approximately 20-minute interviews (online) in week 4
• Kick-off event: February 19, 2026
• Events: partly in presence, partly via Zoom, subject to change at short notice
• Number of places: 15

Program Structure

The program includes:

• Obligatory participation in welcome and closing ceremonies, theme evenings, and quality-assuring feedback and evaluation units
• Individual mentoring relationships with personal mentors
• Interdisciplinary skills development in training courses and workshops
• Networking opportunities for intensive exchange with other mentees and formation of long-term sustainable contacts

Benefits for Mentors

The benefits of participating as a mentor include:

• Enthusiasm for encouraging young talents
• Enjoyment of commitment to young women scientists by passing on one's own experiential knowledge
• Professional exchange and insights into the current situation in the science system
• Reflection on one's own professional career and new impulses for one's own work
• Development of counseling skills

Program Evaluation

The program includes quality-assuring feedback and evaluation units to ensure the effectiveness and quality of the mentoring relationships and program activities.