Department of  Veterinary Medicine
	
To whom it may concern

			Dr. Juliane Kofer Institute of Immunology Robert-von-Ostertag-Str. 7-13 14163 Berlin	
			Germany	
				
			Phone: +49 (0) 30 838-72590	
			Email:  grk2046@fu-berlin.de	
				
	Berlin, December 2018			
Request for a reference for an applicant to the PhD Program “Parasite Infections”
Dear Referee,
You have been asked to provide a reference for an applicant to the DFG Research Training Group 2046 “Parasite Infections”. Parasite Infections provides a cutting-edge curriculum to educate “next generation” parasitologists. In an interdisciplinary approach, graduates are trained in molecular approaches, cellular interactions and organismic studies on key parasites of model organisms, free-ranging animals and humans. We are a member program of the ZIBI Graduate School in Berlin that provides excellent training in infection biology and immunology in some of Germany's leading research institutions. The scientists are affiliated to institutes of the Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, the Freie Universitaet Berlin and the Charité –Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, and well-known non-university research institutions, i.e. the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research, and the Robert Koch Institute. For further information, we kindly ask you to visit our website: http://www.vetmed.fu-berlin.de/grk2046.
We would be very grateful if you could provide us with an evaluation of the applicant's academic and personal suitability for postgraduate studies. Our school is highly competitive, and we kindly ask you to give your frank opinion in order for us to ensure a fair selection process. All recommendations are kept strictly confidential.
In order to allow a fair and equal assessment of all applicants, we ask you to use only the “standard reference form” provided with this letter. You may fill in the form using Microsoft Word, and send us the completed and signed version as either a PDF or a JPEG. Your reference will be kept confidential and we highly appreciate your openness. Please send the completed and signed “standard reference form” directly to grk2046@fu-berlin.de from your institutional e-mail address (please do not use a personal e-mail address, such as gmail or yahoo). Please do not send a copy of your reference to the applicant or ask the applicant to send the reference to us. In this case, the application will have to be rejected. 
The application cannot be considered until we have received your evaluation. Since all applications will be reviewed shortly after the application deadline (Sunday, 30 September, 2018), please make sure that you respond in time. 
In case of technical problems, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you very much in advance for assisting in the evaluation of the applicant. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. 	
Yours sincerely,	 Dr. Juliane Kofer	

Standard Reference Form
Please return by Sunday, 11 February, 2018 the latest.

Applicant's full name		
Your data		
Last name (please without title(s))		
First name		
Title / position		
Institution		
Postal address		
Email address		
		
Period of time I have worked with her / him		
from (MM.YYYY)		
until (MM.YYYY)		
as her / his		

Please rate the applicant relative to a representative group of students on the same level of education.	poor	average	good	very good	outstanding	don’t know	
Overall scientific ability and promise							
Theoretical knowledge							
Technical proficiency							
Ability to work independently							
Ability to work in a team							
Analytical ability							
Motivation / commitment							
Flexibility / creativity							
Responsibility							
Emotional stability and maturity							
Proficiency in English							

The letters of recommendation play an important role in our selection process of the candidates.  A careful distinction of strong and weak points is more helpful to the candidate than standard phrases. Please give your personal impression about the strengths and limitations of the candidate for graduate study.

Please consider the following points in your recommendation:
How well do you know the applicant, and for which duration of time did you have contact with her/him? What is your impression of the applicant's intellectual capacity and ability in research? Where does the applicant rank among the students you have encountered? Did you supervise her/him in a research project? How important were her/his contributions? Did she/he contribute own ideas?

		
Location and date	Signature	

Thank you very much!