The candidates: Benson Matawana

Since May 2016, I am doing my PhD at the University of Göttingen in the Faculty of Social Sciences, at the Institute of Sociology under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Alexander-Kenneth Nagel. My PhD project focuses on “the civil society potentials of Ghanaian immigrants‘ Christian congregations [GICCs] and at which capacities do they contribute to social integration in the light of transnational debate?”. So, I am dealing with immigrants’ churches’ mechanisms to the integration of their members in Germany.

I am a father of two beautiful children. It is just fortunate that I am a German resident. If not, I could not finance my PhD project and take care of my family, because I don’t have a scholarship.

Candidacy details

From my personal experience, financial insecurity is a challenge for PhD students in the course of their project. In relation to financial issues, I will also devote my efforts on PhD students who are parents. More should be done so that parents’ financial burden does not put their children in disadvantaged circumstances. Despite some improvements by GGG with regard to funding opportunities for PhD students, still more has to be done.

Since the beginning of my PhD studies, I have been working voluntarily at “Atw-Göttingen, Studentenwohnheim-Fahrrad-Tutorium” as tutor. It has been an opportunity for me to connect with local and international PhD students from various parts of the world. PhD students at GGG are not only from different countries but also come from diverse departments and faculties. As a PhD students’ representative, I will be the link between these diverse groups of PhD students.

I am glad that GGG provides us with resources and offers support to PhD students. But my personal observation is, that many PhD students, especially international students, are unaware of them. I feel it is very important for them to know about GGG in the initial stages of their PhD studies. These will be my job as a PhD students’ representative.