Peers & Potentiale supports doctoral candidates during key phases of their academic training. The program provides opportunities for self-reflection, peer support, and professional development - for anyone who wants to advance their dissertation in a focused, self-directed manner while engaging with others.

The day-to-day reality of research often presents doctoral candidates with unique challenges: maintaining motivation and structure, setting priorities, collaborating constructively with advisors and colleagues, and finding their own path through demanding phases.

Peers & Potentiale offers a safe, clearly structured framework for this. Over the course of ten months, the program supports participants in a fixed peer group that provides guidance through peer coaching, exchanges on equal footing, and mutual support. In addition, well-founded methodological insights and guidance from an experienced coach offer orientation and reassurance.
This creates a reliable space for learning and development where doctoral candidates can consciously shape their doctoral studies, activate personal strengths, and sustainably strengthen their motivation and resilience.

Procedure:

Workshop 1 (17.06.26): “Let’s Get Started: Growing Together, Seeing More Clearly, Moving Forward
                                            - Introduction to Peer Coaching: Unlocking Potential & Achieving More Through Exchange”

Afterwork 1 (17.08.26): “When You’re Pulled in Every Direction: Finding Focus with Calm, Achieving Goals
                                            - Structure & Priorities in Your Doctoral Studies”

Afterwork 2 (30.09.26): “Too Much? Achieving with Ease Instead of Overwhelm
                                            - Relieving Pressure, Sustaining Commitment and Work”

Workshop 2 (16.11.26): “Personality & Potential
                                            - Strengthening Strengths & Using Them Consciously”

Afterwork 3 (11.01.27): “When Collaboration Is Challenging: Communication That Works:
                                             - Successfully collaborating with doctoral advisors”

Afterwork 4 (22.02.27): “When contacts need to turn into real support: 
                                            - Making the right connections, finding partners, and expanding networks”

Workshop 3 (12.04.27): “What remains, what sustains, what moves you forward 
                                            - Assessment and resources: Conclusion using the Zurich Resource Model (ZRM®)”

Program Objectives

• Motivate, focus, and effectively advance your own doctoral research
• Strengthen self-management and personal resilience
• Constructively overcoming challenges
• Develop communication and conflict resolution skills
• Reflect on and improve interactions with advisors and colleagues
• Build sustainable networks and collegial support structures
• Gain motivation and clarity for the rest of your doctoral journey

Content:
Peers & Potentiale accompanies doctoral candidates over ten months as they navigate the doctoral phase. The program combines in-person workshops, moderated online after-work sessions, self-organized peer groups and learning tandems, as well as blended learning on a digital learning platform.

The journey begins with the kick-off workshop “Let’s Get Started – Growing Together, Seeing More Clearly, Moving Forward,” in which participants are introduced to peer coaching, reflect on their self-image, and formulate initial development goals. This is followed by the after-work sessions “When You’re Pulled in All Directions” and “Too Much? Achieving with Ease Instead of Overwhelm,” which address the central themes of the doctoral phase: structure, focus, and a healthy approach to performance pressure.

The middle workshop, “Who You Really Are When You Make an Impact,” focuses on personal impact and the conscious use of individual strengths in everyday research life. The subsequent after-work sessions center on communication and networking: “Communication That Works” strengthens constructive interactions with advisors, while “When Contacts Turn into Real Support” promotes active networking.

The program concludes with the workshop “What Stays, What Supports, What Moves You Forward,” in which doctoral candidates take stock, activate their own resources using the Zurich Resource Model (ZRM®), and develop a motivating perspective for the remainder of their doctoral journey.