Individual Career Paths in Academia – Actively Shaping Career Stages and Transitions, Taking Funding Opportunities into Account (GAIN26 Digital)

In this interactive workshop, participants work in four groups to identify and develop the key steps and framework conditions for optimizing their own academic career paths. The session examines transitions between post-PhD career stages, highlighting the significant opportunities they offer for shaping one’s career. In addition to a dynamic overview of various career paths—including hybrid options (combining academia and industry) and roles at Universities of Applied Sciences—the workshop outlines relevant national and international third-party funding schemes as well as internal university funding opportunities. The event concludes with a testimonial from a mid-career researcher who spent her postdoctoral period in the USA, returned to Germany as a junior research group leader, and secured a tenure-track professorship in Neurobiology at the University of Cologne in 2023.

Panelists:

• Prof. Dr. Michael Hoch, Rector, University of Bonn
• Prof. Dr. Birgit Ulrike Münch, Prorector for International Affairs, University of Bonn
• Prof. Dr. Sylvia Heuchemer, President, TH Köln University of Applied Sciences
• Prof. Dr. Gerd Sadowski, Vice President, TH Köln University of Applied Sciences
• Prof. Dr. Anton Zensus, Director, MPI for Radio Astronomy
• Anna Keller, Personal Aide to the Vice-Rector, in particular regarding the topic area „scientists in qualification stages“, University of Cologne
• Prof. Dr. Graziana Gatto, University of Cologne – Testimonial

Moderator:

• Dr. Eva Bosbach, Director UoC New York Office, University of Cologne

Language: English