Candidates for the election of GGG PhD students’ representation introduce themselves: Julia Zilles

Since September 2014 I have been working at the Göttingen Institute for Democracy Research. There, I have conducted research on local conflicts that came up within the context of the “Energiewende” (‘energy transition’). In my thesis I focus on the local dynamics and effects on political culture that are caused by the local conflicts about the construction of wind power plants. Since October 2016, my doctorate has been funded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. There, I am member of the cluster „Transformation Research“.

Since summer 2017 I have been PhD students’ representative at GGG and at the same time, PhD students’ representative at the Faculty of Social Sciences. At the Institute for Democracy Research I have been equal opportunities officer since 2015.

I studied politics, German philology and philosophy at the University of Koblenz and Landau. In my master thesis I already focused on protest research by writing about the protest against the Stuttgart 21 project. During my studies, I was repeatedly member of the student parliament and also worked as expert for higher education policies at the student union (AStA). Furthermore, I was students‘ representative in the faculty council and senate. I continuously worked as student assistant and tutor at the Institute for Social Sciences and at the office of the vice-chancellor, which provided me with valuable experience in higher education policies.

Candidacy details

Again, I would like to run for the post of GGG PhD students’ representative, as I would like to continue my work at the GGG executive board. From my point of view it is wise to channel the efforts of PhD students in the different committees, where I have managed to make quite a few contacts during the last years.

I want to stand up for further improvement of both the visibility and status of PhD students. With regard to the university boards, I think, it is important that PhD students become fully acknowledged as a specific status group and therefore get voting rights in the faculty councils and senate, too. Furthermore, the PhD students‘ representation (‚Promovierendenvertretung‘, PromV) should be valued even higher and it’s election should be incorporated in the general university elections.

In my (higher educations) political work I would like to put further emphasis on equal opportunities, especially regarding parents. As GGG students’ representative I want to stand up for (further) improving the conditions of PhD students with children, both within GGG and the faculty. To achieve this, I can make use of my experience from working as equal opportunities officer at the Institute for Democracy Research.