GAUSS Career Blog

Career Information and Announcements

2022/07/25
by Stefanie Klug
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Workshop: “Leadership Skills for Scientists”, 22-23 Sept 2022

We are happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Service workshop “Leadership Skills for Scientists” by Dr. Alexander Britz.

Advancing as a scientist, both out- as well as inside academia, comes with increased leadership responsibilities. In this interactive workshop the participants learn the essential leadership skills which are necessary to be successful as a PhD student or Postdoc and to later facilitate a successful transition to a senior position at a research institution or the dream job outside academia.

Dates: 22-23 September 2022
Duration: 9:00-16:30h on both days
Location: GZMB building, large seminar room 0.232, ground floor, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11 (map)
Trainer: Dr. Alexander Britz

Registration: Please register here and send an email to career@gauss.uni-goettingen.de including a short statement on your motivation to attend the workshop.

Workshop description:

Effective leadership requires authenticity and starts with the leader itself. Therefore, we initiate the workshop with a series of self-management and self-leadership activities. In team scenarios, emotional intelligence is a key leadership capability. By bringing awareness to this, and through breakout sessions in which we practice changing the perspective, we increase our level of empathy. The participants further learn about the distinct leadership styles with their advantages and drawbacks, and we
discuss how situational leadership can be applied. Clear and precise communication is another vital leadership skill, which we train in supervisor-supervisee role plays. Next to practicing “traditional” top-down leadership, the participants get acquainted with bottom-up leadership through these activities. Finally, we practice additional leadership and communication skills such as self-presentation, networking, pitching and storytelling techniques. To conclude the workshop, the group reflects on the essential traits of “a good leader”.

2022/07/22
by Stefanie Klug
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GAUSS Career Impulse Session (14 Oct 2022, 14:00-15:30) with Dr. Marco Becker (AstraZeneca): “From Basic to Clinical Research”

We’re happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Impulse Sessions, this time with Clinical Project Manager Dr. Marco Becker from AstraZeneca.

  • Date: Friday, 14 October 2022
  • Time: 14:00-15:30 (appr.)
  • Location: online
  • Registration: Please write a short e-mail to career@gauss.uni-goettingen.de if you plan to attend. The log-in data will be sent to registered participants.

About the speaker:

Marco studied Biology (B. Sc.) and Developmental, Neural and Behavioural Biology (M. Sc.) in Göttingen. He graduated as a member of the GGNB program “Molecular Biology of Cells” in 2015 in Tumor Genetics at the University Medical Center Göttingen. 

After additional training in clinical research in 2016 Marco worked with several Contract Research Organizations and pharmaceutical companies starting as Clinical Research Associate (CRA) in 2016 and since 2020 at AstraZeneca. He became a Clinical Project Manager in 2021 which involves the planning, conducting and overseeing all aspects of human oncological trials in the DACH region. The focus of his presentation will be the requirements, advantages, disadvantages of and the steps into clinical research and its alternative paths.

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2022/07/21
by Stefanie Klug
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Online Workshop: “Fast Forward – The Ultimate Productivity System for Researchers” (7-week course, starting 17 October 2022)

We are happy to announce our next project management workshop “Fast Forward – The Ultimate Productivity System for Researchers” with Dr. Nadine Sinclair.

Achieve amazing productivity and reduce your stress level in 7 weeks by implementing the productivity secrets that allow management consultants and high-performing industry teams to generate results quickly.

  • Information event via Zoom: 22 September 2022: 11:00-11:30h
  • Live Kick-off: Monday, 17 October 2022, 10-11:30h
  • Duration: 7 consecutive weeks with weekly Q&A session on Wednesdays or Thursdays, 17:00-18:00h
  • Target group: Postdocs and late-stage PhD students who would like to add effective project management to their skill set and apply the principles to their own research supported by an implementation phase offered during this course.
  • Webpage: http://mindmatters.pro/fastforward
  • Credits / Certificate: After successfully completing the workshop (this includes completing the different modules AND attending the Q&A sessions), you will receive a certificate and/or 2.0 credits (for PhD students).
  • To register, please send an e-mail to career@gauss.uni-goettingen.de, including a short motivation statement and your commitment to complete the course (PhD students: please register via StudIP between 1-20 August 2022)

Pre-requisites
This training is for you if you can attend all live Q&A sessions, have a project that you can work on during the course, are ready to roll up your sleeves to work with the tools and techniques and willing to engage with the trainers and your peers on these topics.
This training is not for you if you are just looking for information on personal productivity and project management, cannot take the time to attend the live Q&A sessions and implement the techniques, or are unwilling to engage in discussions with others.
Ideally the project should last at least 3 months from the beginning of the course and at minimum 8 weeks. Your project of choice should have a professional context – it can be a research project, writing a paper/thesis, literature search to define a project, job search or similar. 

This workshop has a different format than our other workshops as it is an online workshop running for 7 weeks including

  • Weekly pre-recorded lectures to watch at your own pace
  • Weekly 1-hour live Q&A session via Zoom video conference hosted by the trainer Nadine Sinclair to answer your questions ( Please note: If you miss more than one of the Q&A sessions you will neither receive a certificate nor any credits.)
  • Self-study workbooks and templates to help you implement the techniques in your projects with actionable feedback on weekly course assignments on a dedicated private community platform
  • Private community that allows you to interact with peers and exchange additional resources
  • Personal Productivity Score assessment at the beginning and end of the course
  • average workload per week: approximately 3-4h

Workshop Description:

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2022/07/20
by Stefanie Klug
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Online Workshop “How to plan and write a competitive research proposal”, 3-4 Nov 2022

We are happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Service online workshop “How to plan and write a competitive research proposal” by Dr. Thomas Koch.

This workshop is intended for postdoctoral researchers and late-stage PhD students who are new to the process of applying for a scientific research grant. Ideally, participants should plan to start applying for a grant within the next 6 months. Therefore, it is crucial that you already have an idea about the research topic and possible funding bodies.

  • Date: Thursday and Friday, 3-4 November 2022, 9:00-15:00 h;
    plus 3h pre-teaching prior to the workshop
  • Location: online
  • Target Group: Postdocs and late-stage PhDs planning to apply for a research grant within the next 6 months
  • Trainer: Dr. Thomas Koch
  • Workshop Category: Improving Your Personal and Professional Skills
  • Registration: Please register here (in case you are not yet registered) and send an email to career@gauss.uni-goettingen.de including a short statement on your motivation to attend the workshop.

Workshop description

This hands-on workshop provides an overview of the German research funding landscape and explains how to exploit funding opportunities effectively. Selected EU programs within the framework of Horizon Europe, such as MSCA Individual Fellowships and ERC Starting Grants, are also covered. Practice scenarios for different research settings help to understand how to select and approach individual funding programs to build resources and capabilities for further career advancement.

By participating in workshop, you will be better equipped to

  • identify funding opportunities for different research settings,
  • understand what makes a fundable research project,
  • tailor your case for support to meet the evaluation criteria,
  • structure and schedule the writing process,
  • move from smaller to larger grants.

This compact, yet highly interactive workshop employs theoretical input, plenary discussions, individual and small group work, experience sharing and expert advice. Participants are expected to prepare a one page research proposal as part of the pre-teaching activities, which will be provided two weeks before the workshop.

2022/07/19
by Stefanie Klug
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Workshop “On your Path to Professorship”, 11 November 2022

We are happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Service online workshop “On your Path to Professorship” by Prof. Dr. Annette Kolb.

  • Date: Friday, 11 November 2022, 9:00-17:00 h
  • Location: Large seminar room 0.232 of the GZMB building, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, 37077 Göttingen (map)
  • Target Group: Postdocs aiming to pusue an academic career
  • Trainer: Prof. Dr. Annette Kolb
  • Registration: Please register here (in case you are not yet registered) and send an email to career@gauss.uni-goettingen.de including a short statement on your motivation to attend the workshop.

Workshop description

Today, a scientific career is characterized by increasing complexity, long times of temporary contracts, rapid change and intense competition. Young scientists are increasingly confronted with raising demands for quality improvement and excellence in everyday scientific life.

Strategic career planning and individual solutions can help meet these expectations and successfully pave the academic path. To stay in the academic system as a scientist permanently in most cases a
professorship is the only option.


This workshop is directed toward young scientists aiming at pursuing an academic career. We will focus on the requirements towards professorship and look at different ways to gain the necessary qualifications. The participants will look at what they already have and what it still needed to be successful and develop an individual “road map” to reach
their goal(s).

Moreover, the participants will have the opportunity for their individual SWOT analysis: What is my view of a „good“
professor? Do I have the necessary skills for this profession? What are my strengths and what are my weaknesses in
endeavoring for an academic professorship? What are the opportunities and what walls am I running up against?

Methods

This workshop will encompass a mixture of tools, from short presentations to group work and individual exercises to plenum discussions.

2022/01/24
by Stefanie Klug
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9-week online workshop: “Resilience Training for Researchers” (starting date: 19 September 2022)

We are happy to announce the online workshop “Resilience Training for Researchers” with Dr. Nadine Sinclair and Paul Sinclair.

Many researchers find the stress of academia challenging. After all, researchers tend to taste failure more often than success in their day-to-day experiments. Constantly thinking about your research (especially outside of working hours), the pressure to publish and the uncertainty about the next position are likely some of the factors that make researchers more prone to mental health conditions than other professional groups.
Therefore, it is crucial to equip researchers with the skills to build personal resilience to deal with stress and setbacks constructively. Different from what many people believe, resilience is a skill that anyone can learn. This workshop provides the tools and techniques that will teach you sustainable, resilience-building habits.

In this 9-week online program you are invited to learn strategies to cope with stress and pressure and how to make conscious lifestyle choices that support your physical and mental health. You will be able to create emotional self-awareness, develop your ability to regulate your emotions under pressure and learn techniques to help you push through personal and professional challenges without exhausting yourself.

  • Starting Date: Monday, 19 September 2022 (the workshop ends on 18 November 2022)
  • Duration: weekly 2-hour live sessions on 9 consecutive Mondays, 16:00-18:00h (Exception to course schedule: session on Monday, 3 Oct will take place on Tuesday, 4 Oct 16-18h due to the German National Holiday!)
  • Time required:  approx. 3-4 hours each week (incl. attendance of the weekly workshops) – Please set aside 1 hour in the week before the course (12-16 Sept 2022) to complete the onboarding process
  • Target group: Postdoctoral scientist and PhD students who would like to learn techniques to better cope with stress (at work)
  • Further information: https://mindmatters.pro/researchers/resilience-training/
  • Registration: To register please send an e-mail to courses@gauss.uni-goettingen.de, including a short motivation statement and your commitment to complete the course. The registration deadline is 9 September 2022!

Detailed description:

This program consists of several components – weekly virtual workshops of 90 min each, a member’s area where you can access recordings of the workshops, workbooks and templates to help you implement the techniques and an online community to interact with the trainers and participants outside of the weekly live sessions.

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2022/01/23
by Stefanie Klug
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GAUSS Career Impulse Session (16 Sept 2022, 14:00-15:30) with Dr. Sinem K. Saka (Group Leader, EMBL, Heidelberg): “Merging roads: Carving your own path through science”

We’re happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Impulse Sessions, this time with group leader Sinem K. Saka from the EMBL, Heidelberg.

  • Date: Friday, 16 September 2022
  • Time: 14:00-15:30 (appr.)
  • Location: online
  • Registration: Please write a short e-mail to career@gauss.uni-goettingen.de if you plan to attend. The log-in data will be sent to registered participants.

About the speaker: Sinem is an alumnus of the IMPRS Molecular Biology MSc/PhD program. She completed her PhD at the end of 2015 in the Lab of Silvio Rizzoli at European Neuroscience Institute, Göttingen, on investigating the fundamental aspects of protein organization and nanoclustering in the cell membrane heavily utilizing super-resolution STED microscopy. Her interest in method development led her to Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University for a postdoc, where she worked on repurposing DNA for addressing the limitations of fluorescence microscopy. She developed new methods for DNA nanotechnology and for high dimensional investigation of cells in their native environment which resulted in multiple patent applications. In this period, she also trained herself about the commercialisation side of science and explored different career paths including consulting, entrepreneurship and venture capital. After this exploration period, she decided to continue on the research path and moved on to a Group Leader position in EMBL Heidelberg at the end of 2020, where she currently runs a research group focusing on developing spatial omics methods and applications. She continues to be engaged with translation of science in addition to research, through industry collaborations, consulting and entrepreneurial activities.

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