Advanced Talents Day

Shape your career!

As a postdoc, the next most obvious step is to apply for a professorship. Yet what other career options are there if the job of professor is not the right answer after all? Things seem to be just as difficult outside the university as climbing the ladder in science and research. The 3rd Advanced Talents Day on 11 January 2018 will be devoted to this and other questions related to career paths in and beyond science. Conference organizers are the Department of Academic and Staff Development together with the Junior Faculty Club of the University of Cologne and it is being staged in cooperation with RWTH Aachen University. Invited to attend are all junior researchers from both universities, who can expect a broad and varied program of presentations and workshops as well as networking opportunities.

By Sonja Hülsebus

“For the first time this year, the conference will be compressed into one day and feature many interactive elements. The workshops, for example, can be used to clarify delegates’ individual questions concerning their careers. We’re also looking forward to interesting presentations which will be visualized through what’s known as graphic recording. For the evening get-together, we’ve invited Quichotte, a stand-up artist from Cologne. Participants can expect a broad and varied program,” says Lisa Hübner, Coordinator of the Postdoc Career Program at the University of Cologne. The workshops deal partly with typical topics, such as appointment negotiations and application procedures, but partly also with identifying what career type the participants are. The aim is to find answers to questions such as ‘Where am I right now, what’s my goal and how do I achieve it?’.

Since two years now, targeted information and advisory services for postdocs and junior professors have been made available at the University of Cologne through the Postdoc Career Program and the program run by the Junior Faculty Club.  These services are a valuable source of support when planning a career. As a postdoc, you find yourself “in a qualification phase with a fixed-term contract, you feel unsure and need a lot of information and advice,” says junior professor Linda Hildebrand (RWTH Aachen University, photo). In view of often precarious job prospects, many postdocs ponder whether the next career step should be in science or not.

Events such as the Advanced Talents Days also offer a good platform to expand personal networks and exchange ideas and experience. “I’ve learnt that the path to a professorship is neither straight nor smooth and even very successful professors had to battle with difficulties and doubts. Examples of life-work balance, especially from the female perspective, were very useful. The human side and the openness of the participants manifested themselves time and again in discussions. I made lots of contacts, came away with new ideas and could ask my questions in a friendly atmosphere,” reports Dr. Diana Dimitrova, research fellow in the Department of German Language and Literature I at the University of Cologne.

Use the opportunity on 11 January 2018 to expand your professional network! Swop ideas from across the board with other young talents from Cologne and Aachen! Further information and the registration portal can be found here.