Introducing the PhD Researchers: Jasper Bischofberger (Project C2)

Project Area C deals with approach and avoidance in social contexts.
Jasper Bischofberger is a doctoral researcher in project C2 ("Avoidance and approach in the presence of others") under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Grit Hein at the Center of Mental Health.

Before he joined the Translational Social Neuroscience Lab, he studied Cognitive Science at the University of Tübingen, where he investigated visual working memory and facial emotion recognition.
 

We are meeting right now after the weekly Jour Fixe. Can you tell us briefly how it works and what you presented today?

"In the Jour Fixe, we exchange ideas with all the doctoral researchers in the RTG. Here we can get another perspective on our research topics and insights into the methods of the others. We also get feedback for our ongoing projects from the PIs and our fellow doctoral researchers. Today, I presented my ideas on how I want to study approach and avoidance behavior in humans and why certain social factors are of main interest to me."

If you look back to the first semester: What is the most important learning?

"I had a really exciting first semester in my PhD. I think I have already learned a lot. Most importantly, I have learned how to structure myself and prioritize my parts of work. We all have a lot of different things to do, and it is really easy to get lost in deciding which things are most important. Apart from that, I have gained a lot of knowledge about previous studies that are relevant to my research."

Does the PhD meet your expectations? What did you not expect and what surprised you?

"Since working as a research assistant and collaborating with scientists before starting my PhD, I already had a quite vivid idea of what a PhD life looks like. Thus, I already had an idea in mind about what to expect. However, it is still a new thing to live through this experience and to get lost in a lot of tasks to do and papers to read. It is a big challenge to learn to prioritize the literature and decide which literature is most important."

What are your plans for this semester?

"At the moment, I am programming my experiment. My next step is to finish the programming and then invite participants in the summer to conduct my study."

Can you summarise your research topic in 2-3 sentences?

"I am interested in the learning mechanisms underlying human social approach and avoidance behavior. Specifically, I want to investigate how social approach and avoidance learning is affected by conflicting monetary outcomes."

Where do you see the advantages and disadvantages of being part of a Research Training Group?

"I really like being part of the RTG.  I appreciate possibilities like the Jour Fixe to get in contact with other doctoral researchers and principle investigators to get external feedback. For me, the biggest advantage is that I also train myself to present my work and thoughts outside the lab. I also like that we have a lot of structural elements like the seminars that keep me motivated to learn about unfamiliar concepts and methods."

To whom can you recommend doing a PhD? What do they have to consider when applying?  

"I would suggest that students should get in contact with doctoral researchers and ask them about their life, and how they structure and manage themselves. They could try networking or subscribe to mailing lists in specific research areas to get a feeling of which kind of PhD projects are out there they could potentially work on. Then, they should be generous in sending out applications, but more importantly, they should be true to themselves when discussing fits with a PhD position with a potential supervisor.

Generally, I would suggest a PhD to people who are passionate about a specific topic and constantly want to work on that topic. She/he should also enjoy the scientific working style: having a lot of freedom while at the same time having a big motivation to structure oneself."
 

More Information

You can also follow Jasper on Twitter to stay up to date about his research:

https://twitter.com/jasbisch