New Fast-Track Funding Round for Students“I Want to Explore How Persistent Delusions Are”

15 April 2025, by Christina Krätzig

Photo: private

Should I do a doctorate right after my bachelor’s degree? The Fast-Track Program enables outstanding students to cut corners. In addition to a monthly funding amount of €1,468 for 2 years, the program also provides qualification and networking opportunities for doctoral researchers. Lucia Frohn (see above photo) from the Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement Science is one of 3 funding recipients in the current cohort.

What is your doctoral project about?

I want to know how people with delusional disorders evolve their beliefs through new experiences. People are constantly doing this: By gaining experience that contradicts our current convictions, we partly adapt them. Laboratory studies show that people diagnosed with delusional disorders have difficulty in adapting. I want to verify, whether this also applies to everyday life.

How do you want to investigate this?

I will ask a group of test subjects to provide information about their beliefs at different times of the day within a given period of time. They will be equipped with cell phones and, at random moments, I will ask them to disclose how strongly they feel about a specific belief just then, for instance the idea that they are being followed. I will also ask them if anything happened in their life right before that. In this way, I hope to establish differences in the adaptivity of healthy people and people with delusional disorders and to identify relevant influencing factors.

Have you already defined the exact research question?

No. Dynamic rerouting in the planning phase is part and parcel of every doctoral project. This is what I am doing right now.

Why did you apply to the Fast-Track Program?

“When I read that there is a way to do a master’s and a doctorate at the same time, I thought that this program was tailor-made for me.” Before my bachelor’s degree in psychology I already earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and, after my graduation, I plan to pursue further training as a child and adolescent psychotherapist. This is a long period of study, so I am happy I can take a shorter route thanks to the funding program. My doctoral work is also an exciting possibility to continue doing research.

The Fast-Track Program comes with a high workload. How do you handle this?  

In recent years, I have worked outside my studies for a living. This taught me to get organized, which is helpful now. For instance, I just finished my exams. This means, I put my exam preparations first, before my doctoral work. This program definitely calls for prioritizing. But so far, things are going really well.

The Fast-Track Program is financed through the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments.