General information

From EESwiki

On this page you find the application to the VW Stiftung for the EESLMU graduate school. The application was send to the VW Stiftung in November 2005. In March 2006, the VW Stiftung decided to fund the graduate school. In fall 2006, the first courses of the Master program have started and also some elements of the PhD program. See the Time schedule.

For planned activities see EES agenda.

For some information you have to click a second time, because it is on another page. We left out the last part of the application (the faculty profile, the list of courses already offered etc), but this will be added later. For any questions, please contact Pleuni Pennings at pennings*at*zi.biologie.uni-muenchen.de

Contents 1 Basic information 2 Summary 3 Background and aim 3.1 Evolutionary research in Munich 3.2 Scope and aim of the proposal 3.3 Teaching philosophy 4 Elements of the initiative 4.1 Contributing institutions and people 4.2 The EES master 4.3 The EES PhD program 4.4 EESLMU “VW-awards” 4.5 EESLMU student seminar speaker 4.6 Annual EESLMU conference and workshop 4.7 The EESLMU summer-school and global-learning program 4.8 Structure and organization of the program 5 Scientific environment 5.1 Connection to the current curriculum 5.2 Relation to other initiatives 5.3 Other funding sources for the program 6 Time schedule and evaluation criteria 6.1 Preparation 6.2 Time schedule 6.3 Evaluation criteria and milestones 7 Requested funding

Basic information

Host Institution Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

Department of Biology

Großhaderner Str. 2 82152 Planegg-Martinsried

Coordination Team

Dr. Joachim Hermisson (Chair)

Prof. Dr. Susanne Foitzik

Prof. Dr. Susanne Renner

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stephan

Summary

The Munich Graduate Program for Evolution, Ecology, and Systematics (EESLMU) is proposed by the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) Munich in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology Seewiesen. Its main elements are a two-year research oriented international Master’s program and a three-year PhD program. The overall aim is to provide students with an optimal preparation for a career in academia or in industry. The novelty is threefold: First, the program combines the graduate education in evolutionary biology in Munich (with courses from several faculties) into a coherent framework. Second, several entirely new elements and course formats are introduced to foster early-on independent research, integrative education, and training in complementary skills such as scientific writing, presentation, and discussion. With the same aim, EESLMU organizes an annual conference and workshop for its Master’s and PhD students. Third, EESLMU links its graduate programs to the international network in evolutionary biology. This is done by its student-invited seminar-speaker program, the integration of international workshop and summer school courses into its curricula, and in particular by its own summer-school program on evolutionary biology. For the entire program, a professional structure is proposed with a scientific program coordinator to supervise its implementation. The EESLMU graduate program is closely coordinated with other current initiatives at the LMU, in particular with plans for a common graduate school for all natural sciences.

Background and aim

Evolutionary research in Munich

Since the days of the nobel laureates Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz, organismic biology has been a strength of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and the Max Planck Institute in Seewiesen. Over the past years, evolutionary biology has developed into a primary field of research at the LMU. This was made possible by systematic new faculty appointments and the re-dedication of several chairs. In particular, in 2000 a chair for Population Genetics (the only one in Germany) was established at the Department of Biology. There are today more than 30 active groups in evolutionary research at the LMU, the Bavarian State Collections, and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, which cover a broad range of topics ranging from population genetics to phylogenetics, and from genome evolution to functional morphology (see the faculty profile in the appendix). Taken together, they form an aggregation of competence in organismal evolution that is unique in Germany.

However, this strong and diverse field of research groups is not yet sufficiently visible as an integrative unit of teaching and research. As a consequence of the multi-disciplinary nature of evolutionary biology, the individual groups are dispersed over several institutions, departments, and sections. There is also no organized teaching program that would combine the various courses with an evolutionary content into a single framework with coordinated syllabi.

There are currently several initiatives that strive to integrate and further strengthen evolutionary biology in Munich. Two large collaborative applications for research funding have been initiated: An application by 15 groups for a Graduiertenkolleg on “Integrative Taxonomy” has been submitted to the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and is currently under review. An application by 17 research groups for a DFG Sonder-forschungsbereich on “Adaptation” will be submitted in December. The current VW proposal complements these efforts in the field of teaching. The common aim of these initiatives is to use Munich’s potential to establish an internationally distinguished centre for evolutionary research and training in Germany that stands among the leading institutions on a European scale.

Scope and aim of the proposal

The objective of the current initiative is to establish a well-coordinated curriculum for a comprehensive graduate program in evolutionary biology, combining Evolution, Ecology and Systematics: EESLMU. At the core of the initiative is a common international Master and PhD program that provides students with:

• Concepts – for an integrative picture of evolutionary biology that is composed of a multitude of facets, each provided by experts of the sub-disciplines;
• Innovative teaching methods – with one-on-one mentoring and a focus on academic key qualifications;
• Training and research opportunities – in the laboratory, field, at the computer, or in world-class museum collections, with cutting-edge methods ranging from microarrays to advanced mathematical tools.

With a whole series of novel and innovative teaching concepts, workshops and conferences, and a summer school program that is integrated into the curriculum, EESLMU will revolutionize graduate education in evolutionary biology in Munich.

Evolutionary biology as an interdisciplinary field demands integrative education. The planned graduate program takes this into account. The combination “Evolution, Ecology, and Systematics”, which is well established at many international universities, offers students the broad view of evolutionary biology with three main pillars:

1. Microevolution and population genetics (“Evolution”);

2. Study of the changing selection pressures (“Ecology”);

3. The origin of species and the diversity of life (“Systematics”).

Complemented by courses in palaeontology, animal breeding, biomathematics, and ethology, the planned EESLMU graduate program in Munich will represent evolutionary biology almost in its entirety. The aim is to create a training environment where, for example, a student who is interested in functional genomics and looks for genes that confer temperature tolerance also knows about quantitative genetic approaches to the question. Similarly, a systematist who uses the comparative method to analyze the evolution of a particular trait should also learn about its ecological relevance or be able to use basic population genetic tools to infer the evolution of a key gene in this context.

Besides its breadth, the EESLMU program will comprise several fields of evolutionary research that are particularly strong or unique in Germany:

• Population genetics and evolutionary genomics;
• Evolutionary theory (strong link to bioinformatics and the new research focus “quantitative and systems biology” at the LMU);
• Phylogenetics and taxonomy (combined approach genetics – morphology, access to the Bavarian Natural History Collections);
• Evolution and behaviour (connection to Max Planck Seewiesen and the strong neurobiology at the LMU);
• Archaeobiology (combination anthropology – palaeoanatomy – palaeobotany, access to collections).

Training opportunities in these fields, together with the breadth of the program and innovative curricula, will make the EESLMU graduate program attractive for national and international students.

Teaching philosophy

The aim of the EESLMU graduate program is to provide its students with all the prerequisites and skills needed for a career in academia or in industry. It is guided by the following principles:

Multidisciplinary: EESLMU offers the full breadth of evolutionary biology, including all relevant conceptual approaches and methods. The EESLMU curriculum includes courses from several faculties, and courses co-taught by several faculty experts. PhD students are integrated into the interdisciplinary field through “student peer groups” (see 2.3 below).

International: EESLMU offers an internationally oriented program with courses taught in English. EESLMU fosters international exchange through its own summer school series, the student seminar speaker program, and the possibility to integrate courses from universities world-wide into its programs.

Personal: All students get individual and personalized support through their mentor, the program coordinator, their research instructors and the thesis committee.

Independence: Students in the EESLMU graduate programs are expected to ask their own questions and develop their own research projects to discover nature. Specialized courses on “individual research training” (see 2.2) provide them with the necessary resources and individual professional support.

Learning by “feedback and revision”: The common format of all new courses of the program includes a “feedback and revision” element for efficient learning. This means no simple grading, but instead: students submit papers, get them reviewed and must revise them. Similarly, students give trial talks and get feedback before they do a real talk.

Complementary skills: The EESLMU program places a strong emphasis on general abilities that are as important as scientific excellence to excel in academia or industry. Skills that will be taught in specially designed courses include: presentation (oral, poster), discussion and moderation, manuscript- and grant-writing, and teaching.

Elements of the initiative

Contributing institutions and people

The EES master

The EES PhD program

EESLMU “VW-awards”

The EESLMU faculty will award research prizes for the best Master’s and PhD theses every year.

• The two best Master’s theses are awarded a prize of 1000 Euro.
• The two best PhDs are awarded a prize of 1500 Euro.

The prize money is dedicated to support the student’s academic career. It can be used for either:

• Visit of an international conference with a poster or oral presentation of the results of the thesis;
• A tour of lab visits in the context of a search for a PhD or postdoc position;
• Visit of scientific workshops, summer schools, etc.

EESLMU student seminar speaker

A seminar program with international speakers invited by the students is a successful concept in many graduate programs world-wide. There are three main aims: The seminars

• provide the chance for students to make contacts with international researchers early in their careers,
• stimulate independent activity by the students,
• contribute to the international network of the graduate program.

Within the EESLMU graduate program, one seminar per semester will be organized by the Master’s students and one by the PhD students. To this end, the program will allocate 4000 euros per year for each group (i.e. on average 2000 Euros per guest) to cover costs for travel, 2-3 nights in a hotel and catering. Students will prepare for the seminar by reading literature of their guest and organize it independently of the faculty. The EESLMU student club of the Graduate School of Sciences at the LMU, to which all Master’s and PhD students belong (see below), provides the organizational framework for the student seminar. Administrative support will come from the EESLMU program coordinator and the Graduate CentreLMU.

Annual EESLMU conference and workshop

The EESLMU Master’s conference

Every year in September or October, EESLMU will present its research and celebrate the graduates from its Master’s program during a two-day “Master’s Conference”. At this conference

• Master’s graduates present the results of their thesis in a 20min talk (two parallel sessions);
• Master’s students after their first year present the results of their independent projects at a poster session;
• Incoming Master students are welcomed and introduced to the faculty;
• Master’s graduates are awarded their degree;
• PhD graduates of the past year get their ceremony;
• VW award for the two best PhD and two best Master theses are conferred;
• PhD prize winners give plenary lectures;
• Award of a teaching prize by the students.

The conference provides an excellent opportunity for all students who are enrolled or interested in the EESLMU programs to talk to faculty and experienced students and to gather information about research opportunities in the various groups.

EESLMU workshop

Every year in spring, EESLMU will organize an internal two-day workshop for its faculty and PhD students. The workshop will take place in an informal “mountain cabin” setting and provides the stage for an exchange of both scientific ideas, and new impulses for the development of the EESLMU graduate program. A typical program can include the following elements:

• Short overview by all labs of their research topics and any exciting new developments in the past year.
• After-dinner talks of new faculty members as an introduction to their research.
• Scientific discussion of a “hot topic” on which there are opposing views in the faculty. The discussion is prepared by reading of review or perspective article on the topic and opened by two position statements by faculty members.
• Symposia on different topics concerning the development of the Master’s and PhD programs. The workshop is mandatory for all voting members of the EESLMU scientific board (see below), so that binding decisions can be made.

The number of places will be limited to about 40, but every PhD student will be expected to attend at least one workshop.

Especially in the first three years the continual revision and improvement of the curriculum will be among the main topics on the annual EESLMU workshop. Here the EESLMU will apply its teaching philosophy “feedback and revision” to its own program. Feedback from students and teachers will be collected by the program coordinator. Revisions of the program will be formulated by the curriculum committee (see below).

The EESLMU summer-school and global-learning program

Even broad study programs like the EESLMU Master’s and the PhD programs are necessarily restricted if they do not reach beyond a local scale. In order to keep up with international research with its changing themes and specialized techniques, students need to have access to the international network of training and research in evolutionary biology. With the EESLMU “Summer-School and Global-Learning Program”, EESLMU will build this access directly into its Master’s and PhD curricula. This program consists of two parts: (1) The integration of international workshops and summer-school courses into the curricula of the EESLMU Master’s and PhD programs; (2) The launch of its own EESLMU summer school series.

Integration of international summer school courses into the program

There are already a number of summer courses and workshops on evolutionary biology in both Europe and the US and more are planned. EESLMU will encourage students to attend these after their first year in the program. During a PhD the thesis committee may recommend students to attend a specific summer course if it is directly relevant to the thesis project. Participation in a summer course or a workshop on a topic relevant to the field can be included into the Master’s or PhD program and will be credited with 5 credit points. Students are required to write a conference report or a short review paper about the topics covered after the course has ended.

Global learning fund: EESLMU will set up a fund of € 4.000 per year to cover travel expenses and fees for summer schools and workshops. If a student gets admission to a summer school, but no full stipend, she/he can apply to this fund to cover all or part of the costs.

EESLMU summer-school series

In order to bring more international students to Munich, together with renowned scientists from different disciplines of evolutionary research, EESLMU will start its own summer-school series in summer 2007.

• Each summer school will last for one week (5 full days) and will be open to 32 graduate students and young researchers.
• Of the 32 spots, 16 are reserved for participants from outside Munich and 16 for students from the EESLMU Master’s and PhD programs.
• In 2007 the summer school will be at the “Evangelische Akademie” in Tutzing.
• From 2008 onwards it will move to the Max-Planck Institute for Ornithology at Seewiesen. After renovations are completed, Seewiesen will offer all facilities of a small convention centre, including catering and accommodation for about 30 people. We will be able to rent this attractive location for a very affordable price.
• All lecturers, international students, and PhD students from Munich will be housed directly on site; EESLMU Master’s students will commute from Munich. Both Tutzing and Seewiesen can be reached from Munich by public transport or by car in about 30 minutes.

Each summer school will be devoted to a specific theme (e.g. evolution and disease). Organization of the summer school rotates among the three main branches of EESLMU (evolution – ecology – systematics) and is assisted by the program coordinator and the secretary. Four international experts will be invited to teach the course, coordinated by an EESLMU faculty member. Usually, the first four days will focus on four sub-themes, and will be led by an expert in this area. However, all lecturers must take part in the full course, lead small seminar groups and contribute to plenary discussions. The final day is devoted to synthesis with an emphasis on important challenges for future research and a discussion of concrete next steps that should be taken (suggestion of research projects).

In summer 2006, a symposium on “Inference of evolutionary processes in natural populations” is planned (organized by Beate Nürnberger from the EESLMU core faculty). Funding for this symposium will be sought from the VolkswagenStiftung, but outside the curriculum initiative and the current proposal.

Structure and organization of the program

Scientific environment

With the formation of a common School of ScienceLMU in October 2006, the natural scien-ces of the LMU Munich will enter an exciting new phase. This new teaching and research organization will merge the departments of Biology, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Physics. It will offer a fascinating environment for multi-disciplinary training and research (see also “Graduate School of Science” below).

For EESLMU, this restructuring process offers a unique chance to position evolutionary biology among the natural sciences at the LMU. Every effort at this crucial stage is bound to have major impact on the definition of core research fields of the university and future appointments. The EESLMU graduate program and the current application are important elements in this venture.

Connection to the current curriculum

The department of biology has recently initiated the transition from the Diploma system to the Bachelor/Master system. The start of the BSc in biology is scheduled for the winter term 2006/07. At the Master level the EESLMU project proposed here is the first concrete development in the department. Bachelor and Master programs in Munich have already started in Chemistry and Biochemistry (LMU), Pharmaceutical Sciences, Bioinformatics and Earth Sciences (combined BSc and MSc programs LMU – Technical University). Several courses taught by members of the EESLMU core faculty are included in these programs.

The EESLMU Master addresses students with a Bachelor in one of these or related fields, i.e. a much broader base than the current Diploma students in biology. The new proposed curriculum fully replaces the old one after the sixth semester. While most courses will be derived from existing ones with revised and co-ordinated syllabi, some courses (IRT, S&D, EESLMU excursion) follow entirely new concepts as detailed above.

There is currently no PhD program with required courses in biology at the LMU. Thesis committees, however, were introduced for the “Promotion” a few years ago. The EESLMU PhD program uses and greatly extends this structure.

Relation to other initiatives

The current application for a graduate program in evolutionary biology at the LMU has been coordinated with three other applications for the funding of research and training:

• Graduate School of Science of the LMU, speaker: Prof. Dr. Paul Knochel (pending)
• Graduiertenkolleg “Integrative Taxonomy”, speaker: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Haszprunar (pending)
• SFB “Adaptation – Selection Pressures, Phenotypic Responses, Genetic Mechanisms, and Resulting Differentiation”, speaker: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Stephan (to be submitted in December 2005)

While there is no overlap between these applications and the EESLMU graduate program proposed here, considerable synergy among all initiatives is expected.

The Graduate School of Science (GSSLMU)

The GSSLMU is the planned common graduate school of the future School of Science. An application for such a graduate school has recently been submitted to the DFG within the “Exzellenzinitiative” of the German federal government and the states. The aim of the GSSLMU is twofold: First, to combine the various graduate programs on the LMU science campus – such as the EESLMU program proposed here – into a coherent framework and to provide additional organizational support. Second, to set up an excellence program, which recruits outstanding international students and provides scholarships to the top 10% of all Master’s students.

The EESLMU graduate program has been set up in a way to maximally profit from the planned GSSLMU structures, while not depending on them. In particular, the recruitment of new students – according to EESLMU standards – could be organized with the help of the GSSLMU administrative staff. GSSLMU scholarships will help to attract the best international students. EESLMU would also make use of the planned student and alumni clubs of the GSSLMU.

The EESLMU will also profit from the Graduate CentreLMU, which the LMU will establish. This centre will provide assistance especially in international student recruitment. In addition it will offer support to students in matters ranging from housing and child care to the organization of contacts with attractive future employers.

Graduiertenkolleg “Integrative Taxonomy” and SFB “Adaptation”

Most research groups of the EESLMU faculty are involved in (at least) one of two major initiatives for the funding of cooperative research. Both these initiatives focus on core topics of evolutionary research: While speciation and the species concept are at the heart of the Graduiertenkolleg “Integrative Taxonomy”, the planned SFB (cooperative research centre) “Adaptation” has adaptive evolution as its theme.

The EESLMU graduate program would profit from both research initiatives through funding for its PhD students. Further the EESLMU Master’s and PhD programs can participat in several courses that are planned for the Graduiertenkolleg (see list of courses below). Vice-versa, both research initiatives would greatly profit from a coordinated teaching program at the Master’s and PhD level.

Other funding sources for the program

The previous section 3.2 shows how the present application is imbedded into a number of separate, but supporting initiatives. Additional funding from the VolkswagenStiftung is sought by Beate Nürnberger for a symposium on evolutionary biology in summer 2006. This meeting of national and international scientists could be used to announce and advertise EESLMU.

Once the EESLMU program is running and has demonstrated its attractiveness, additional administrative and financial support can come, in particular, from the GSSLMU. There are also plans that summer schools could be organized with GSSLMU funding. Especially after funding by the VolkawagenStiftung has ended, competitive university resources of this type will be the most important funding source. Further support for the program can also come from the Max Planck Gesellschaft, which so far makes its summer school facilities available for a very affordable price. Fund raising efforts towards biotech companies at the LMU science campus will also be made (e.g. for the EESLMU conference, research prizes).

Time schedule and evaluation criteria

Preparation

The EESLMU graduate program initiative started in June 2005, in response to the curriculum competition launched by the VolkswagenStiftung. The following steps have been taken so far:

• Preliminary bodies of core and extended faculty have been formed;
• Organization of PhD students has started;
• The present proposal has been discussed and unanimously agreed on at 5 meetings of the coordination team, 3 meetings of the provisional core faculty and 2 meetings of the PhD students;
• Core elements have been reviewed by the university’s strategy unit;
• In preparation of the IRT trial run next year, a course in scientific writing is offered for the first time already in this winter term (05/06).

Time schedule

Evaluation criteria and milestones

The EESLMU core faculty will develop and implement a graduate program according to the guidelines given in this proposal. By summer/autumn 2009, EESLMU will have an international Master’s and PhD program fully established. Three summer schools, EESLMU workshops and EESLMU conferences will have been organized. Further milestones are detailed in the time schedule above.

Requested funding