Workshop: Career development in academia

The one-day workshop is organized as part of our Career Step Network (CSN) at MPI-BGC. A local professional trainer will guide through the workshop that aims at supporting our junior scientists.

Science careers are demanding. But the biggest difficulty seems to be that it is somehow impossible to plan them to the end. On the other hand there are some rules one could use to plan at least the most important steps.

In this workshop we will talk about science careers in Germany in detail. The workshop will deal with the relevant steps from early Postdoc to the appointment to a chair. We will address the most important career steps and different career aims.

Questions to be adressed:
• What is the goal in science career – how far do I have to go in different science systems?
• What does it mean to become and to be professor in Germany?
• How does the so called “Berufungsverfahren” of new professors work?
• What should I do as Postdoc? How could I structure this career step?
• What are: Juniorprofessor, Tenure-Professor, Habilitation and W2- or W3-Professor?
• What are the achievements I need like publications, 3rd-party-funding, networks etc.?
• Which personal competencies (soft skills) do I need?
• What are the risks and difficulties? And how could I minimize my risks?
• What is meant by “scientific profile” and how could I develop my profile?
• How long could I stay and when might it become difficult to change to industry and other sectors?