About 50 Ph.D. students are currently doing research at the ZZF. They are involved in the work of the departments and discuss their progress in their own colloquium. In addition, regular workshops on theory and methodology, visits to archives and events on the career prospects of historians take place. In Master Classes, internationally renowned experts focus on overarching aspects of individual dissertation projects, such as "Oral History" or "History and Media". Once a year, the ZZF doctoral students organise their own Young Scholars Conference, the Potsdam PhD Forum on Contemporary History, which focuses on the discussion of current dissertation projects and academic networking.
