Excellent writing skills e. g. for proposals or progress reports will most probably be required in the ongoing professional career of the Ph. D. candidates, both in academia and the private sector. To prepare the Ph. D. candidates for this demand, and to foster their writing skills early in their professional stage, they are asked to write a proposal that sketches their Ph. D. project as they enter the collaborative research center. During their doctoral studies, they are asked to write annual progress reports that describe the development of their research projects.

In the 1st funding period, the Ph.D. candidates received a general feedback on both texts by the MGK team. Upon request, the Ph.D. candidates could ask for an additional individual feedback. 
As an advancement, a peer review process on the progress reports was introduced in the 2nd funding period. As a result, the Ph.D. candidates not only further develop their skills in scientific writing as well as in reviewing; in addition, the peer review process enhances networking through more intensive engagement with other sub-projects within the SFB.

In total, the peer review process helps the Ph.D. candidates achieve academic autonomy.