Portal for Early Career Researchers

With the establishment of an academic personnel development plan oriented on the requirements of the field, the University of Hohenheim offers early career researchers a program specifically directed at them for their individual qualification and career development.

The University’s various offers and information are bundled in the Portal for Early Career Researchers.


Seminars for scientists in der postdoc phase

The series of courses conceptualized together with the Universities of Ulm and Constance is directed at junior professors and postdocs. The offers aim to develop and strengthen the academic competencies and also make it possible to network with colleagues at the participating universities.

What?When?

E-learning modules:

Registration for any of these modules is possible at any time
Developing your research brand (in English)14 Dec 2023
Publishing in English (in German)11 Dec 2023
How to Be More Employable in the Private Sector (in English)6 - 8 Feb 2024
A.I. playground for academic writers (in German)23 Feb / 8 March / 22 March 2024
When facts aren’t everything. Good communication in tricky situations (in German)13 / 14 March 2024
Successful Leadership in Academia (in English)16 / 23 / 30 April 2024
Self-management under constant pressure to perform (in German)18 April 2024
From rights management contract to payout: VG WORT (in German)10 April 2024
Successful interdisciplinary collaboration (in German)16 May 2024
Agile Project Management (in English)12 / 13 June 2024
Apply for postdoc positions (webcast, in German)3 - 28 June 2024
Self-marketing and positioning – practical strategies for academics (in German)9 / 10 July 2024
Strategic use of research funding (in German)12 Sep 2024
Future skills – skills for my professional future (in German)9 Oct 2024
Peer Review in Research Funding and Publishing – Deliberating the Value of Insight (in English)22 Oct 2024
Career strategies and development planning for researchers (in English)21 - 22 Nov 2024
Publishing in English: Opportunities and limitations of DeepL, proofreading, and other translation services (in German, questions can be asked and answered in English)13 Dec 2024

Offers for female postdocs

MuT: “Mentoring and Training” for support and promotion of highly qualified female early career researchers in Baden-Württemberg

Program (all presentations in German)

MentHo: Mentoring program of the University of Hohenheim for female students and scientists

Further information

Costs and registration

Participation is cost neutral, the costs will be paid centrally out of the personnel development budget.
 
Please contact Irena Rathgeb for questions and registration. Places are limited and will be allocated according to the time the registrations were received.

These events can be credited in parts for the Baden-Württemberg certificate. Please contact: Center for University Didactics, Tanja Ottenbacher.

At regular intervals, the “Human Resource and Organizational Development” unit invites postdocs to lunch. Besides networking, the aim is to encourage the early career researchers to discuss career-relevant topics. The content portion of the events is supported by a guest, sometimes one from outside the University.

7 December 2023 | Guest is Dr. Anne Löchte

The aim of the lecture is to give an overview of the skills profile of postdocs, to highlight the relevance of one’s own professional profile for the choice of a job and also to offer suggestions for your next steps towards the non-university job market.

Dr. Löchte is an expert in the non-university job market, and will be happy to answer all your questions.

Contents:

  • Overview of the professional situation of postdocs on the job market inside and outside academia
  • Range of professional opportunities after a doctorate
  • Building a professional profile
  • Focus competences: Presentation of the UniWiND network profile
  • From profile to job: 1-2 individual examples of how postdocs found the right career based on their profile, and what those with a doctorate can learn from this in terms of strategy

    Date7 Dec 2023 | 12:30 - 2 p.m. | online
    SpeakerDr. Anne Löchte
    Registration

    20 Feb 2024 | Guest is Katharina Helmig

    Taking on a professorship substitution is often an important intermediate step for young academics on the way to being appointed to a professorship. During a professorship substitution, professorial tasks are assumed for a temporary period, e.g. during an ongoing appointment procedure until the professorship is filled. The framework conditions for professorship substitutions are only rudimentarily defined in the higher education legislation of many Länder. Moreover, the participating higher education institution does not always provide clear information on the framework conditions prior to taking on the professorship replacement.

    Topics:

    • Substitute professorship - basics, tasks and status

      • Awarding a substitute professorship
      • Personal requirements
      • Status within the University

    • General conditions for the substitution of a professorship

      • Substitution assignment / substitution contract
      • Social Security
      • Termination

    • Effects on existing employment

      • Leave of absence for the substitution of a professorship
      • Extension of the employment contract

    Date20 Feb 2024 | 12:30 - 2 p.m. | online
    Speaker Katharina Helmig
    Registration

    13 May 2024 | Guest is Dr. Heide Lange

    Dr. Heide Lange will be a guest at the “Meet and eat – Postdoc lunch table.” Together with Aline Oleschkewitz, Dr. Lange heads the Human Resources Department at the University of Hohenheim.

    Dr. Lange will be happy to report on her own career path at the University, on the Scientific Fixed-Term Contract Limitations Act (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz) and the most important points arising from it for postdocs, and will be available for further questions regarding labor law.

    Date13 May 2024 | 12:30 - 2 p.m. | Café Denkbar
    SpeakerDr. Heide Lange
    Registration

    17 Sep 2024 | Guest is Dr. Heidi Marianne Hege

    Dr. Marianne Hege from the Research Support Department will be a guest at the “Meet and eat – Postdoc lunch table.”

    Dr. Hege will present the services provided by the Research Support Department for postdoctoral fellows and will include a focus on funding opportunities for obtaining a temporary position for principal investigators (DFG Eigene Stelle). She will also be happy to answer any questions on the topic of research support. 

    Contents:

    • Getting to know the services of the Research Support Department for postdocs
    • Focus: Funding opportunities to obtain a temporary position for principal investigators (DFG Eigene Stelle)
    • Answering specific questions
    • Networking

      Date17 Sep 2024 | 12:30 - 2 p.m. | Café Denkbar
      SpeakerDr. Heidi Marianne Hege
      Registration

      12 Nov 2024 | Guest is Caroline Ketting

      Does the thought of having networking conversations make you feel uncomfortable? It doesn’t need to be that way. The key point in networking is to know what you want to achieve. Receiving first-hand information, e.g. about funding or collaboration possibilities, or even career opportunities, often helps us get ahead faster. With a few tricks and good preparation, you can network a lot more effectively.

      Contents:

      • Planning successful networking conversations
      • Recognizing, exploiting and strategically expanding existing networks
      • Authentic self-presentation

        Date | 12:30 - 2 p.m. | Online
        SpeakerCaroline Ketting
        Registration

At this event, on the one hand the appointment procedure in Hohenheim is explained and on the other hand professors from our three faculties talk about their own experiences from past appointment procedures, whether at Hohenheim or other universities. They are also available to answer questions.

Objectives:

  • Introduction to the appointment process in Hohenheim
  • Exchange of experience with professors on appointment processes
  • Tips
  • Networking
Date:16 July 2024 | 2 - 4 p.m. | Hohenheim Palace, Blue Room

Speakers:

Dr. Rebekka Schneider
Registration

Writing is a natural part of everyday life as a scientist - and it is often the most pleasant, but sometimes also the most difficult task. In any case, it is important to give writing a set spot in our schedule.

Inspired by participation in online writing retreats and weekly writing groups at other
research institutions, a small postdoc group has formed that meets regularly on a weekly basis to write together. Making appointments to write is enormously helpful for prioritizing and sticking to your own regular writing time, avoiding distraction behaviors, and staying on task.

And although the focus is on writing, the common break gives the opportunity for mutual exchange.

How it works:

2.5 hours weekly:

  • 10 min. introduction in which each person briefly states their goals for the current writing session.
  • 50 min. Write.
  • 15‐20 min. Break with the possibility of discussion.
  • 50 min. Write.
  • 10 min. Conclusion, in which each person briefly states how it went.

If you would like to join the writing group, please feel free to contact:

Dr. Florian Späth
E-Mail

Currently, the meetings take place online.

In this event by the Research Promotion Department, the elite program of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation for Postdocs will be presented.

More information

Date:9 December 2022, 12:30 - 2:00 p.m. (via Zoom)

Julia Kettelhack and Irena Rathgeb from the "Personnel and Organizational Development" unit will be happy to advise you personally on topics such as

  • Career planning: on the way to a professorship
  • Planning alternative career paths
  • Checking application documents
  • Preparing for job interviews

If you are interested, please first contact:

Dates: by appointment
Working language:English or German
Contact:Julia Kettelhack
Email
+49 711 459-22862
Irena Rathgeb
Email
+49 711 459-23099

"Strategic network analysis": personal consultation via Skype/Facetime on issues related to strategic networking as part of an academic career

If you are interested, please first contact

Dates: by appointment
Working language:English or German
Contact:Julia Kettelhack
Email
+49 711 459-22862
Irena Rathgeb
Email
+49 711 459-23099

"Presentation Coaching" with the goal of practicing, professionalizing, and reflecting on research presentations

Individual coaching as needed with the goal of "practicing, professionalizing, and reflecting on research presentations”: The focus of the consultation will be your research and technical presentations that you give at (online) conferences, for example. By working on an upcoming lecture, on the one hand, the appearance, body language, posture, voice and speech tempo can be worked on and, on the other hand, the content part (by a non-expert) can be reflected on with regard to intention, clarity, structure, and visualization. Work is done online via Zoom.

If you are interested, please first contact:

Dates: by appointment
Working language:English or German
Contact:Julia Kettelhack
Email
+49 711 459-22862
Irena Rathgeb
Email
+49 711 459-23099

FEINSCHLIFF (Finishing Touches), the University of Hohenheim’s talent management program for postdocs offers assistance for high-potential candidates. The program systematically qualifies especially talented early career researchers - up to two years after completing their doctorate (date of colloquium) for their further career development. more

The coaching offer for newly appointed tenure-track professors is an important element for an optimal start in the new professional environment at the University of Hohenheim. Besides having many new opportunities for shaping research and teaching, the first months and the first year also mean newly appointed professors will take on management and leadership tasks. Experience shows that especially during this time the foundation is laid for professional success. That is why the Personnel Development Unit is happy to support newly appointed tenure-track professors from the beginning in their diverse roles and tasks as a professorial manager with individual coaching.

Possible questions that can be worked on during the coaching process include:

  • Newly appointed at the University of Hohenheim: How can I position myself successfully at the institute, in the department, in the committees?
  • How can I put together research groups?
  • How can I promote good cooperation in the team?
  • How do I establish good networks?
  • How do I understand myself as a manager?
  • How do I achieve a work-life balance?

In one-on-one meetings, participants work individually and directly with a coach on the issues that matter most to them. The coaching sessions are carried out by external coaches who have their own management experience and varied experience in university contexts.

NGECON.NET

NGECON.NET is a network of postdocs at the Universities of Hohenheim and Tübingen that offers early career researchers the chance for discussion and exchange. The goal of NGECON.NET is to organize early career researchers from several universities into this research network to enable cooperation and spread information to all network members.

At the annual Hohenheim career fair “Life Science,” companies of the fields of agricultural sciences and natural sciences / food will introduce themselves.

The next date will be announced as soon as possible.

Additional information