GAUSS Career Blog

Career Information and Announcements

2013/12/05
by Katrin Wodzicki
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Workshop “Grant Writing”, 6-7 February 2014

We are happy to invite to the workshop on “Effective Grant Writing for Scientists“.

Date: Thursday, 6 February, and Friday, 7 February, 9:00-17:00, respectively
Place: GZMB building, seminar room 0.232
Duration: 2 day

Goals:
–    Obtaining a thorough understanding of how successful grant applications are written
–    Learning to write readable texts in English
–    Understanding the reviewing process for grant applications
–    Gaining practical experience in writing and evaluating grant applications
–    Obtaining an overview over funding agencies and funding opportunities

The aim of this course is to familiarize participants with the strategies for writing successful grant / fellowship applications to various funding bodies. It consists of lecture-style sequences with active participation by the audience dealing with the theory of good scientific writing, the basics of grant applications and the principles of different funding bodies, as well as hands-on exercises on aim definition, structuring a workplan and writing a grant summary. Additional information and exercises on writing good scientific texts in English will deepen the writing experience

Participants will be asked to prepare a short “mini-grant application” (4 pages + Scientific CV) in preparation to the course until 31 January 2014 – please take this into consideration when planning participation in this course. These applications will be evaluated by other participants individually before the course and in an evaluation session within the course and each participant will also evaluate 3-4 proposals by others in the 4-5 days before course start. This will provide extensive feedback for all participants on their applications, but most importantly, will provide a clear impression of the situation and the view of potential evaluators.

Information about the trainer, Dr. Christina Schütte, are available here.

If you would like to take part in the workshop, register here and write an e-mail to me (ggnb-career@gwdg.de). After a sufficient number of registrations by 6 January 2014 at the latest, you will get more detailed information about the “mini-grant application”.

2013/11/28
by Katrin Wodzicki
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EMBO Laboratory Management Courses For Postdocs 2014

Only two dates in April and November are not fully booked by now! Registration fee is € 1,850.00 (“Includes: VAT, accommodation (two nights single accommodation and meals) training and course materials”)

Here is the basic information about the course from the respective webpage:

Leadership and management skills are critical for a successful career in science. EMBO, in partnership with consulting teams, has designed this course specifically to meet the needs of postdocs.

Benefits

  • Introduce you to key leadership concepts;
  • Develop your own individual leadership style;
  • Equip you with key communication skills;
  • Prepare you for your future role as leader;
  • Expand your support network for leadership issues in the lab.

The two-day EMBO Laboratory Management Course for Postdocs covers topics including:

  • leadership skills;
  • communication skills;
  • negotiation skills;
  • conflict solving strategies;
  • effective problem solving;
  • team development

Practical exercises, in the form of role-play and discussion groups, provide hands-on experience.
“As much theory as necessary and as much practice as possible” is the principle of this course.

Please note that you must be a postdoc for a minimum of six months at the time of attending the course.

More information are available here.

2013/11/19
by Katrin Wodzicki
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You consider founding your own business? The PEP program offers insights and support!

If you think about founding your own business, by now or in the future, the “Professors as Entrepreneurship Promoters – Founding Promotion in the Research Alliance Context” (PEP) program offers different forms of support. Moreover, you do not need to travel a long way as a couple of events take place in Göttingen. The only condition is that you are researcher at a Max-Planck or Helmholtz institute. Continue Reading →

2013/11/14
by Katrin Wodzicki
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DFG Proposal for Safeguarding Good Scientific Practice

The DFG has published a revised version of its proposal for safeguarding good scientific practice.

“Universities and other research institutes wishing to apply for DFG funding must establish rules to safeguard good scientific practice at their institutions in accordance with recommendations 1 to 8 of the guidelines.”

Not because following these guidelines is important to get funding from the DFG, but because it is worthwhile to reflect one’s own research practices from a critical point of view from time to time, I recommend reading the recommendations of the guidelines!

More information about measures of the DFG to safeguard good scientific practice is available here.

2013/11/12
by Katrin Wodzicki
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Postdoc Fellowships at the ETH Zurich

The ETH Zurch is offering a unique fellowship for postdocs with an unusual research idea:

Society in Science – The Branco Weiss Fellowship is a unique postdoc program. It awards young researchers around the world with a generous personal research grant, giving them the freedom to work on whatever topic they choose anywhere in the world, for up to five years.

This research fellowship is designed to support postdoctoral researchers after their PhD and before their first faculty appointment. Those in current postdoctoral positions are also eligible. Ideally, fellows pursue unconventional projects in new areas of science, engineering and social sciences.

The Society in Science fellowship program was initiated and financed by the Swiss entrepreneur Dr. Branco Weiss, who passed away in October 2010. The program belongs to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH).

Deadline of application for 2014 fellowships: 15 Januar 2014

More information: www.society-in-science.org

2013/11/11
by Katrin Wodzicki
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Workshop “Job hunting and application skills”, 9-10 December 2013

PLEASE NOTE that this workshop is already very sought after. The next workshop of this kind is already planned for May 2014. If needed, I will check the possibility to provide an additional workshop earlier.

We are happy to announce the next workshop on “Job hunting and application skills: How to apply with a PhD degree”.

Date: Monday, 9 December 2013, 13:00-17:00 & Tuesday, 10 December 2013, 9:00-17:00

Place: GZMB building, seminar room 0.232

Duration: 1,5 days

Goal:

The workshop deals with how to write a professional application. Participants will learn about the requirements according to form and content of CVs and the respective differences between academia and companies. They will reflect about how to convey their strengths and motivation in response to a job advertisement, but also how to make use of speculative applications. Moreover, participants will train their self-presentation in the job hunting process, including self-presentation on career fairs, conferences, and interviews. The workshop will include a couple of training sessions, partly accompanied with video recording for a follow-up analysis.

Registration:

If you would like to take part in the workshop, register for the GGNB Career Services (http://ggnb-career.uni-goettingen.de/) and write an e-mail to the coordinator Katrin Wodzicki (ggnb-career@gwdg.de). The e-mail should include a motivational statement (Why do you want to take part in the workshop and why right now?). Subsequent to the workshop, it is possible to get a CV check from the trainer.

More information about the trainer Barbara Hoffbauer is available here. A retrospective view on the first workshop of this kind is available here.

2013/11/08
by Katrin Wodzicki
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Preparation For The Career Impulse Session: Speed Networking Among Postdocs

According to the doodle survey among postdocs interested in our speed networking session, the following date fit to the most:

Wednesday, 4 December, 16:00 – 17:30 (plus 30 minutes for further open networking)

Place: GZMB, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 11, seminar room 0.232 (basement)

If you are (still) interested in taking part in the session, send me one PowerPoint slide on which you introduce yourself: Please include, at least, information about (1) the expertise and skills you have to offer, (2) what you are looking for during the networking session, (3) a rough idea of your career plan, and (4) contact details. Everything else is up to you! You can include further information about yourself as well as design your slide, for example, by including graphics or pictures.

Deadline:  27 November 2013

All slides will be merged to the participants’ information distributed during the session.

During the session, you will have 45 seconds to tell about yourself while your slide is shown. So be prepared therefore!

As networking is long-term process and establishing connections requires meeting more than once, we invite you to suggest topics and ideas for further networking events. Then, an initiative for the next meeting could already be started during our next session.

Kind regards,

Bernhard, Ingrid, Jaffer, Manu and Katrin