On September 16th 2019 we organized together with the Excellence Cluster ImmunoSensation2 our first joint Career Day for advanced PhD students and young postdocs.
The Career Day provided an overview of the different career pathways within the broader life sciences and showcased international guest speakers from within academia that reflected on their careers and discussed future perspectives and opportunities. Invited speakers included Dr. Jan Böttcher, group leader at TU Munich; Dr. Anna Schurich, group leader at King's College London and Prof. Katrin Kierdorf, group leader at University Freiburg. We also invited a guest speaker from the non-academic sector to share his experiences on transitioning from academia into industry and other employment sectors (Dr. Cesar Evaristo, Miltenyi Biotech GmbH). Examples from other areas of employment included public relation (Dr. Maren Berghoff, MPG) and research related areas like scientific management. Dr. Hans-Jörg Stähle, a retired employee of the Projektträger Jülich funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Dr. Wiebke Ginter, program officer at the DFG, represented the public sector. Lisa Plitt from the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation (AvH) informed about individual funding opportunities for those aspiring to follow a traditional academic trajectory. The program also included a group coaching session for 12 PhD students who are in the process of entering a career in academia. The Career Day provided an important opportunity to learn more about the various employment opportunities for graduate researchers within the life sciences.
