We are happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Service workshop “What’s next? Career Development In- or Outside Academia” by Dr. Alexander Britz.
Are you currently working as Postdoc or finalizing your PhD? Do you plan to transition to your next position in or outside of academia, but feel unprepared for the job hunt? In this highly interactive workshop, you will get a comprehensive set of career development strategies which will help you master this process. You will learn to decide what your next career step should be and how to be effective in the application process including compiling a convincing application.
Dates: Monday and Tuesday, 1-2 December 2025 Duration: 1,5 days, Monday: 9-17h, Tuesday: 9-13h Location: in-person on North campus Trainer: Dr. Alexander Britz
Registration: Please register here (in case you are not registered yet) and send an email to career@gauss.uni-goettingen.de including a short statement on your motivation to attend the workshop.
Workshop description
Post-doctoral positions are usually not that hard to get but finding the right one that can firmly establish a professional career is really challenging. At the same time, scientists towards the end of their PhD don’t have a lot of time to spend on the search for the right post-doctoral position. Therefore, this workshop provides a compact overview of relevant aspects and the opportunity to explore one’s own preferences. Specifically, participants learn to define their own criteria for a successful post-doctoral position, develop their targeted search and application strategy, assess the relative benefit of post-doctoral grants and prepare to harness the full potential of their post-doc interview.
We’re happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Impulse Session, this time with alumna Dr Saskia Gressel, German and European Patent Attorney at HOFFMANN EITLE (Biotec), Munich, and Representative before the Unified Patent Court (UPC).
What does a patent attorney do, and what makes this career path so unique? With appr. 14,400 European Patent Attorneys and 4,200 German Patent Attorneys, our work plays a critical role in bridging the gap between cutting-edge innovation and legal protection. In this talk, I will share insights into the daily life of a patent attorney in private practice, particularly in the field of biotechnology.
I will take you through my own career journey – from studying Chemistry and Biochemistry at LMU Munich to research projects with Prof. Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley, completing my PhD at the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen with Prof. Patrick Cramer, and transitioning into intellectual property (IP) law. I will discuss what it’s like to work in an IP boutique firm, the challenges and rewards of handling biotech IP cases, and how my scientific background informs my legal practice.
If you’re curious about careers at the intersection of science, law, and innovation, this talk is for you!
About the sessions:
Our Career Impulse Sessions offer a platform for interactive and informal exchange about career-related topics for PhD students and postdocs in the Life and Natural Sciences. By inviting PhD holders with different career paths, we would like to illustrate the broad range of potential careers for PhD students and postdocs and give inspiration for career choices.
We are happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Service workshop “How to get into the non-academic job market” by Dr Philippa Cook.
For postdoctoral researchers with an international background, it can be a real challenge to get into Germany’s non-academic job market following an academic position. The entry routes into jobs are not always transparent, candidates are often not well-informed about what to expect in the application process and not everyone can offer German language skills. Where and how you can look for a job outside classic academia depends on your qualifications and skills set, on your individual life situation as well as on knowing about possible entry paths and strategies, the (unwritten) rules of the game and other parameters. This workshop offers assistance with this – tailored specifically for the needs of international scholars – and will encourage participants not just to prepare for this transition in a focused way but to create an action plan which they can start to implement.
Dates: Tuesday and Wednesday, 27-28 January 2026, 9-16h Duration: 2 full days, 9-16h Location: in person on North campus Trainer: Dr Philippa Cook
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 workshop is designed to equip participants with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in the appointment process for professorships in Germany. Participants will gain a thorough understanding of the entire process, from application to negotiation. Key topics include optimizing application documents,preparing effectively for interviews and academic presentations and understanding unwritten rules and micropolitical dynamics often at play in the process. Participants will focus intensively on preparing you for the appointment committee interview and will develop communication and argumentation strategies to handle challenging questions with confidence. These strategies will be practiced in small groups with the opportunity to receive constructive feedback from peers.
We’re happy to announce our next GAUSS Career Impulse Session, this time with Dr. Christina Kerntke, Quality Compliance Manager at BioNTech SE. Join us for an insightful session with Christina, where she will share her career journey from academia to a leadership role in industry.
From 2017 to 2021, I pursued my PhD within the PhD Study program “Molecular Medicine” at the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Immunology in the group of Prof. Wienands, focusing on B-cell interactions and their receptor landscape. During this periode I experienced the typical highs and lows of doctoral life, along with the more unusual challenges of a global pandemic. After completing my PhD, I decided to take the leap into the pharmaceutical industry. With only little prior GxP knowledge, I started as a scientist in Quality Control (QC) at BioNTech IMFS GmbH in Idar-Oberstein, a BioNTech subsidiary and manufacturing site, where I encountered many formative “firsts” in my professional career.
After more than 3.5 years, my path led me to BioNTech’s headquarters in Mainz, where I now work as a Compliance Manager. In my talk, I will share insights into my journey through the GxP-regulated universe, what my daily work and responsibilities look like, and the many challenges, compromises, and successes I have experienced so far. I will also reflect on my transition from academia to industry and the lessons I learned along the way.
About the sessions:
Our Career Impulse Sessions offer a platform for interactive and informal exchange about career-related topics for PhD students and postdocs in the Life and Natural Sciences. By inviting PhD holders with different career paths, we would like to illustrate the broad range of potential careers for PhD students and postdocs and give inspiration for career choices.
The ability to deal with conflicts is a key component of professional conduct and an important factor for personal and professional success. The workshop enables the participants to experience conflict as agent of innovation, professional and personal development. Conflicts are often perceived as painful, disruptive and stressful. Only rarely the potential for innovation and change is realized and appreciated. This seminar examines conflicts in regard to their chances and challenges to introduce a constructive concept of conflict as social normality. The participant’s conflict solution competences are strengthened and activated to deal with difficult situations. Professional communication as tool for conflict solution is explained and practiced.
Testimonials by former participants:
“Reflecting common mechanisms of conflicts greatly improves understanding of underlying psychology. Neela did a great job in this vivid workshop highlighting these mechanisms both theoretically and interactively!”
“The workshop teaches conflict management skills from a theoretical and practical perspective. The group exercises contribute to making the workshop interactive and entertaining. The trainer is competent, approachable and responsive to the participant’s question. I recommend this workshop to anyone who is interested in conflict management.”
