Empirical Educational Research

The Centre for Empirical Educational Research works intensively with external researchers. The originators of the Finnish Graduate School of Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics Education and the nwu-essen Graduate School have collaborated to develop a joint research training programme for graduate students. The cooperation is funded by the DFG under the "Joint Researcher Initiative".
The two graduate schools meet twice a year at a summer or winter school held alternately in Germany and Finland. In order to integrate the doctoral students more fully into discussions during the meetings, they exchange abstracts prior to presentation at the school. The graduate students each read one or two abstracts by other doctoral students and formulate questions or statements in the form of a review. This enables them to discuss the prepared reviews intensively during the summer or winter school and additionally introduces them to the typical process of peer-reviewing in research. The doctoral students find the intensive supervision and interdisciplinary exchange during these meetings to be highly productive.
In addition to the Finnish graduate school, the Dutch Eindhoven School of Education and the Swedish National Graduate School for Research in Science and Technology Education were also incorporated in the activities of nwu-essen. The doctoral students and supervisors of these two graduate schools are also invited to take part in the summer and winter schools. This intensified cooperation has prompted several graduate students from the University of Duisburg-Essen to plan a stay abroad within the cooperating research groups, and a Finnish postdoctoral researcher is preparing a lengthier research visit to Essen.
Contact was also made during the December 2009 winter school to a mathematics colleague from Finland and another researcher working at the University of Linköping (Sweden). Both have expressed a keen interest in visiting Essen for a period of research.