Latest Information
The training programme for winter term 2024/2025 will be available online soon. Starting on Thursday, September 19, 2024, 10 a.m., all workshops will be open for registration.
Centre
Technische Universität Chemnitz is particularly committed to the needs of early-career academics intending to take a doctoral degree. The aim is to provide favourable conditions for the research of early-career academics, doctoral candidates and postdocs. Against this background, the Centre for Junior Scientists was established in 2014.
The Centre for Junior Scientists is a cross-faculty coordination and service institution. Services range from offering help during the doctoral and postdoctoral phase to in-service trainings, consultations and networking opportunities for early-career academics. Moreover, the institution committed itself to the sustainable promotion and enhancement of a higher education infrastructure accompanied by measures serving identity development. These include both sensitization and guidance of university members as well as a new impetus towards comprehensive standards, e.g. principles of good scientific practice.
The services at the Centre for Junior Scientists complement the education and consultation offers of the faculties.
Range of services:
- Optimal framework conditions
- Interdisciplinary trainings
- Provision of comprehensive information related to doctorate
- Consultation on cross-faculty matters during the doctoral and postdoc phase
Review of the academic year 2022/2023 (October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023)
In the academic year 2023, 29 trainings in German and ten in English were offered on topics such as "Academic Writing", "Presenting Scientific Content", "Literature & Publication", "Research Projects & Acquiring Funding", "Personal Skills", "Postdoctoral Career" and "Appearance, Expression & Impact". Of these, 23 were held in digital format, one in hybrid format and 15 in person. 409 early career researchers took part in the training events. The overall satisfaction rate was 95 % and the course utilization rate was 74 %.
On 24 November, the Centre for Junior Scientists organized the ninth Day for Junior Scientists of the TU Chemnitz with a main focus on “Good Scientific Practice”. The event was held on-site again for the first time after two years of the pandemic. About 50 young scientists and participants who were interested in doing a doctorate took the chance to get to know each other better, listened to experiences and discussed in open debates. During the one-hour networking break, representatives from various faculties and other institutions of the TU Chemnitz were available to address questions from young researchers.
The new event series introduced in 2022 to support junior scientists on their way to a professorship was offered again in 2023. The President of Chemnitz University of Technology, Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, offered a workshop on "Successfully conducting appointment negotiations" on June 30, 2023. In addition, Prof. Dr. Alexandra Bendixen (Faculty of Natural Sciences), Prof. Dr. Sebastian Gechert (Faculty of Economics and Business Administration), Prof. Dr. Birgit Glorius (Faculty of Humanities), Prof. Dr. Jochen Mayerl (Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences), Prof. Dr. Günter Daniel Rey (Faculty of Humanities), Prof. Dr. Andreas Undisz (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering) and Prof. Dr. Bernhard Wunderle (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology) shared their own experiences as part of two events on "Applying successfully for a professorship" as well as personal consultations afterwards in order to prepare young academics for the individual steps of the application process for a professorship. The thematic events took place on April 27 and June 28, 2023 for the engineering and natural sciences on the one hand and for the humanities and social sciences on the other.
On May 25, 2023 the fifth "Brown Bag Break" took place. This format allowed participating early career researchers to use their lunch break to learn about research priorities, current progress and new developments at other institutes and faculties. Dr. David Müller from the Faculty of Mathematics, Chair of Business Mathematics, presented his doctoral thesis in a talk entitled "Doctorate on decision-making - How I found myself in my research topic".
To provide a relaxed environment for young researchers to engage in conversation, network, and explore the surroundings of Chemnitz, the second "ZfwN Hiking Day" took place on June 16, 2023. The hiking day offered participants a mix of personal and specialist discussions, as well as the opportunity to get to know one of the local attractions in the Chemnitz area - the Felsendome Rabenstein and the Pelzmühlenteich.
In addition, the ZfwN took part in two other events to support early career researchers: on March 9, 2023, the "Long Night of Postponed Course Papers" was held, organized by the University Library. This event is aimed at assisting and supporting students and doctoral candidates in the writing process in the form of workshops and advice. The ZfwN also participated in the "Leadership and Career Network", a cross-university initiative of universities from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia in the context of the federal-state program for the promotion of young academics (WISNA program). The initiative has a focus on the qualification of tenure-track (junior) professors. The ZfwN offered an event on the topic "The path to a lifetime professorship: your own competence and research profile".
Review 2022
As last-year’s participants wished, the first on-site events of the Centre for Young Scientists could take place in 2022. A total of 40 continuing education events in both German and English were offered on topics like "Academic Writing", "Presenting Scientific Content", "Literature & Publication", "Research Projects & Acquiring Funding", "Personal Skills", "Postdoctoral Career" and "Appearance, Expression & Impact”. 31 of these events took place digitally whereas nine took place on-site. 437 young scientists participated in the continuing education events. The overall satisfaction rate was 96 %, and the course utilization rate was 74 %.
On 13 April, for the first time in cooperation with the start-up network SAXEED, the fourth „Brown Bag Break” took place. This event enabled young scientists to use their lunch break to learn about research priorities, current progress or new developments at other institutes or faculties. Dr. Caroline Grießbach, who did her doctorate at the Institute of Physics at the Faculty for Natural Science, presented her way to self-employment under the title “Founding a company after the doctorate – Why I decided against a career in the industry”, which she was able to realize thanks to the support of the start-up network SAXEED.
In the summer semester, for the first time, the Centre for Young Scientists offered a digital series of events focusing on the support of young scientist on their way to become a professor. The President of the TU Chemnitz, Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, shared his many years of experience in a workshop on “Successfully conducting appointment negotiations” on 20 May and was pleased to answer all the participants’ questions in an open dialogue. Moreover, two female professors and six male professors from different faculties of our university shared their personal experiences during two events focusing on “Successful application for a professorship” to prepare the young scientists for the different steps of the application process for a professorship. The different events – on the one hand for Humanities and Social Sciences and on the other hand for Engineering and Natural Sciences, took place on 10 and 24 June.
On the 25 June, the first hiking day of the Centre for Young Scientists was organized to allow young scientists to get to know each other better, to connect and to become familiar with the region of Chemnitz. The participants were able to indulge into a broad amount of both personal and academic talks while getting to know the Wasserschloss Klaffenbach, which is a famous sight in Chemnitz.
Dr. Laura Ackermann (Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences) was appointed Commissioner of the University Management for Junior Researchers. She is the successor of Dr. Michael Schmischke and will act as a link between the young scientists and the university management.
On 24 November, the Centre for Young Scientists organized the ninth Day for Young Scientists of the TU Chemnitz under the main topic “Good Scientific Practice”. The event was held on-site for the first time after two years of the pandemic. About 50 young scientists and participants who are interested in doing a doctorate got to know each other better, listened to experiences and discussed in open debates. Representatives of the different faculties and other institutions of the TU Chemnitz were available during the break to allow further networking.
Review 2021
In 2021, a total of 31 German- and English-language continuing education events were held at the Centre for Young Scientists. Due to the ongoing Corona pandemic, the courses on “Academic writing”, Presenting scientific content”, “Literature & Publication”, “Research projects & fund acquisition”, “Personal skills”, “Career after the doctorate” and “Presentation, expression & impact” were held exclusively in online format. This did not affect the interest in the workshops and the attendance with a total of 422 participants recorded. In general, the satisfaction of the participants was 93%. Fortunately, the course utilization rate of 88% was further increased compared to previous years.
On May 7, 2021, the President of Chemnitz University of Technology, Prof. Dr. Gerd Strohmeier, once again shared his many years of experience with young scientists in a workshop on “Erfolgreiches Führen von Berufungsverhandlungen” and answered the numerous questions of the participants in an open dialog, who actively took advantage of the offer.
Another highlight was the third Brown Bag Break offered by the Centre for Young Scientists on June 10, 2021. Philip Adebahr from the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences gave a talk entitled "Meine Schwiegermutter macht mich krank – Negative Beziehungsaspekte und subjektive Gesundheit" on stresses from social relationships and its health-related effects. Participants used the digital platform to learn about another interesting research topic at TUC and at the same time to connect with other colleagues across faculties.
On November 11, 2021, the eighth Day for Young Scientists at Chemnitz University of Technology took place. Around 80 people interested in doctoral studies, PhD students and postdocs participated in virtual discussion rounds and lectures attended the online event. This year’s main topic was "Research in a team". Whether it was possibilities for financing a doctorate, suggestions for working in an (international) team, or experiences on the way to a professorship - the Day for Young Scientists had a wide range of topics in its program. Through the open discussion and question rounds offered in each session, participants also had the opportunity to address personal concerns and gain new perspectives and views. The Centre for Young Scientists can look back on a successful year in 2021 and is looking forward to continuing active participation in the training and networking events offered. To further promote the exchange and networking among young scientists, it is intended - if the pandemic situation allows it - to hold several events in attendance format in 2022.
Review 2020
2020 was an extraordinary year we went through, which initially began more than promisingly... Dr. Nadia Lois, who has been working in the Universitys Management since 1 January 2020, also took over the management of the Centre for Young Scientists as part of her lecturing duties with a focus on Junior Researchers and Tenure-Track-Procedures.
The first weeks of the year went as originally planned - so seven continuing education events could be held as face-to-face events - until the first event had to be preventive cancelled on 12 March 2020. It was not to remain the last... In the following weeks, numerous workshops were converted to a virtual format in intensive coordination with the lecturers, so that the first of a total of 31 digital continuing education events could be held from the end of April 2020. In this respect, the pandemic also brought positive innovations, because online events will certainly remain a fixed component of our continuing education programme in the future.
The satisfaction rate of the 436 participants was 94%. The course utilisation was increased compared to the previous year and amounted to 80%.
In 2020, special funds from the SMWK were again available to finance continuing education events as part of the programme "Gute Lehre/Starke Mitte", from which five online events could be financed. In addition to career perspectives outside of academia, the content included the following topics: teamwork and the development of leadership skills.
On 30 October 2020, the President of Chemnitz University of Technology, Prof. Dr Gerd Strohmeier, gave a digital lecture on Successfully conducting appointment negotiations and then answered numerous questions from the participants. The almost 30 young academics who participated were extremely grateful for the numerous tips and advice they received at first hand.
On 5 November 2020, the Day for Young Scientists at Chemnitz University of Technology took place for the seventh time - and for the first time as a digital event format. Around 70 interested young scientists took part in lectures and a virtual round of talks. The event focused on the topics of "doctorate", "publishing" and "career prospects after the doctorate".
In November 2020, Michael Schmischke (Faculty of Mathematics) was appointed as the new Commissionier of the University Managemnt for Junior Researchers. In future, he will act as a link between young researchers and the University Management.
To conclude this unusual year, the Centre for Young Scientists hosted another event in digital format on 3 December 2020 - the Brown Bag Break. Anja Herrmann-Fankhänel from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration reflected on her doctoral topic under the title "What did we need the Sharing Economy for?". 20 participants took advantage of the opportunity for cross-faculty exchange. Among them were many doctoral students and other students, which were potentially interested in doctoral studies as well.
Review 2019
This year comes to an end and this is a reason to make a restropective overview. In 2019, the Centre for Young Scientists offered a total of 36 German- and English-language continuing education events for doctoral students, postdocs, habilitants and junior professors on the proven main topics. The satisfaction of the 361 participants was 95%.
In consultation with the Staff Council and the Commissioner of the University Management for Junior Researchers, the University Management decided to provide the Centre for Young Scientists with special annual funding to finance additional continuing education courses as part of the "Gute Lehre/Starke Mitte" programme ( see Rektorrundschreiben 09/2020). Thus, in 2019, six additional workshop events could be financed related to the following topics: career perspectives outside of academia application process, special conflict resolution and team development.
Seven of all continuing education events held in 2019 were implemented as part of the project International Promovieren an der TU Chemnitz (InProTUC). In the last project half-year from 1 January to 30 June 2019, another 37 mobilities were funded: including 16 conference participations, 17 research stays abroad by doctoral researchers of the TU Chemnitz and four research stays of international doctoral researchers in Chemnitz. The visibility of the TU Chemnitz was also strengthened by four contact meetings between Chemnitz professors and potential cooperation partners. After a successful closing event on 7 May 2019 - the InProTUC Get Together - with a thoroughly positive summary - both on the part of the funded individuals and the supervisors - the project, which has been funded by the DAAD since November 2014 with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, was successfully concluded at the end of June 2019.
With the aim of offering young junior researchers a platform to find out about research priorities at other institutes and to network across faculties, the Centre for Young Scientists invited young researchers to the Brown Bag Break for the first time on 10 April 2019. At the beginning, Aline Lohse from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering gave a keynote speech on the topic of „Vereinbarkeit nutzerzentriert gestalten – Technologiebasierte Innovationen in der Arbeitswissenschaft“ and presented selected projects she is working on. Following the lecture, the almost 20 people present had an opportunity to exchange ideas and make contacts in the plenary or in small groups. As the Brown Bag Break took place during the lunch break, all participants received a suitably plump packed lunch. Thanks to the kind support of the Gesellschaft der Freunde der TU Chemnitz e.V., this new format could be implemented for the first time and is to be established as a fixed component at least once per semester in the future.
Review 2018
In 2018, the Centre for Young Scientists (ZfwN) implemented well-known and proven formats and successfully supported young academics.
Together with the DAAD-funded project InProTUC, the ZfwN offered a varied and demand-oriented workshop programme per semester. A total of 368 people took part in the 33 German and English workshops. Those workshops were thematically wide-ranging and can be summarised in the following categories:
- Academic writing
- Presenting scientific content
- Scientific publishing
- Research projects & acquisition of external funds
- Performance, expression, effect
- Personal Skills
- Intercultural Competences
- Career after the doctorate
These workshops were aimed at doctoral candidates, postgraduates, habilitants and junior professors of all faculties and rated outstandingly by the participants: 98 percent were very satisfied or satisfied with the courses. Three quarters of the participants stated that they had participated in other ZfwN courses previously. This underlines the high quality of the workshops and the level of satisfaction of the participants.
Under the DAAD-funded project InProTUC - International Promovieren an der TU Chemnitz - a total of 69 research-related trips abroad were financially supported in 2018: including 31 conference participations and 23 research stays for doctoral candidates of Chemnitz University of Technology, as well as twelve research stays for incoming doctoral candidates and three insight visits to Chemnitz University of Technology. The funded persons rated the added value of the stays as very high. Above all, they were very helpful for expertise of the doctoral candidates and their scientific network. Furthermore they are considered important for their further professional career.
The InProTUC project was included in the MINTernational compass as a best practice by the Club MINTernational. Club MINTernational is an information service for universities in order to develop own measures and new projects to meet the challenges posed by the internationalisation of MINT subjects.
During a visit to the Centre for Young Scientists at the Rectorate on 24 October 2018, the ZfwN introduced the focal points of its work, presented the main topics and key results of the past years and pointed out perspectives for the future.
In November 2018, the Centre for Young Scientists once again hosted the annual Day of Young Scientists. More than 80 doctoral candidates accepted this invitation: they attended informative lectures, listened to testimonials or sought direct contact with representatives of the faculties who answered questions about doctoral studies. All speakers of the day agreed on one thing: To successfully complete your doctorate, you have to work on your doctorate with dedication, you have to enjoy scientific work and academic exchange, and be passionate about your topic.
Finally, the Centre for Young Scientists can once again look back at a positive year and has already planned numerous new continuing education events and networking opportunities for young scientists at Chemnitz University of Technology for the coming year 2019.
Review 2017
As in previous years, the Centre for Young Scientists would like to take a look back at what has been done in the past year.
In 2017, the Centre for Young Scientist offered numerous workshops for doctoral candidates, postdocs and junior professors. The workshops were focused on development and strengthening of personal competences, academic writing, presentation of scientific content, research projects & acquisition of funds, literature & publication, career after graduation, intercultural competence as well as communication, appearance & impact. A total of 29 workshops took place. The participants showed a high level of satisfaction with the courses. In regard to the language of the courses, the workshops were almost in balance - 15 workshops were held in English and 14 in German. Since summer 2017, young academics have the opportunity to propose workshops under the heading Workshop on Demand. First topic suggestions were already successfully implemented in the past year.
In the spring of 2017, the follow-on financing of the DAAD-funded project InProTUC was approved until the end of June 2019. On 20 July a Get-Together took place in order to celebrate the successful first funding period of the project. During this event, three young researchers were given the opportunity to share their experiences with the attending doctoral candidates and professors and to pass on their consistently positive impressions.
The project InProTUC supports doctoral candidates in realising of international research visits, insight visits and conference attendances by funding travel and subsistence
expenses. Grants are available for doctoral candidates of the TU Chemnitz as well as for international doctoral candidates. A total of 20 research visits and 25 international
conference attendances by academics of TU Chemnitz were funded under InProTUC last year. In addition, TU Chemnitz hosted 13 international doctoral candidates for research
visits and one prospective doctoral candidate for an insight visit.
Eight of the workshops held at the Centre for Young Scientists were offered as part of the project InProTUC. Furthermore, two informational events under the title
"Boost Your Career with International Experience" took place.
Another highlight of the past year was the annual Day for Young Scientists.
On 2 November approximately 90 doctoral candidates, prospective doctoral candidates and postdocs
accepted the invitation to the 5th Day of Young Scientists, which was dedicated to questions about the doctorate and the promotion of young scientists.
At the beginning, five young academics from the TU Chemnitz shared their experiences on a panel and gave insights into their own doctoral studies. Keynote speaker of this
year's Day for Young Scientists was the occupational scientist and former president of the Fraunhofer Society, Prof. Dr. Hans-Jörg Bullinger, who held a speech
on "Career Step Applied Research", presenting entry-level opportunities and target group-specific support programmes for the young scientists at Fraunhofer
Society. For the first time, three target-group-specific lectures took place simultaneously. One lecture was focused on milestones of the doctorate, a second one on
funding of research projects and in the third lecture, an individual career path of a young scientist was presented. The Science Slam, in which four young scientists
competed with one another in seven minutes long presentations about their research, ended again this informative afternoon.
All in all, the Centre for Young Scientists can thus look back on a successful year 2017 and is looking forward to a lively participation of doctoral candidates and young academics in the continuously offered workshops and scholarships under InProTUC.
Review 2016
Looking back at 2016, the Centre for Young Scientist (ZfwN) can draw an overall positive balance. A total of 27 workshops took place. All of them addressing PhD students, PostDocs and junior professors with the goal of supporting, advising and encouraging them in the pursuit of their doctoral thesis, scientific work or career planning. In additional to the German workshop programme, 13 of these workshops were held in English. Main topics for this year's workshop were:
- Academic writing
- Presenting scientific content
- Scientific publishing
- Research projects & acquisition of external funds
- Performance, expression and effect
- Personal skills
- Intercultural competences
- Career after the doctorate
Eight of the workshops were organized within the project InProTUC. InProTUC (International Promovieren an der TU Chemnitz) is located at the ZfwN and funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The project supports doctoral candidates of Chemnitz University of Technology as well as international PhDs in terms of realising international research visits, insight visits as well as conferences attendances aboard (so called mobilities) by paying travel and subsistence allowances. In addition to the mentioned workshop programme, two information events were hosted in 2016 during which InProTUC and its funding opportunities were presented under the title „Boost your Career with International Experience“.
Over the entire year, a total of 20 research visits abroad, six research visits by international students at Chemnitz University of Technology as well as 25 participations of doctoral candidates at international conferences were funded under InProTUC. Additionally, one insight visit at Chemnitz University of Technology was realised. Furthermore, preparatory meetings with lecturers of potential partner institutions took place. Six lectures from Italy, Thailand, India, Chile, Norway and the US came together with their German colleagues in Chemnitz in order to plan and organise joint research, further cooperation and international exchange.
In addition to the mobilities and the workshop programme, the ZfwN hosts a yearly conference on the topic of the doctorate. On the 3rd November 2016, the Day for Young Scientists was held for the fourth time. Among the 120 guest were doctoral students, PostDocs, professors and junior professors as well as students interested in pursuing a doctorate. They attended a number of informative and professional presentations from lecturers, experts in fields of economy and research and doctoral students themselves. One of the speakers was Prof. Dr. Robert Schlögl from Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max-Planck-Society. Besides the presentations, the event left room for networking and sharing experiences and ended with a Science Slam during which four contestants competed again each other with 7 minute long presentations trying to excite the audience for their own research topics.
In 2016, the Yearbook of the Graduates was published. It names all the PhD graduates from 2014 and 2015 and presents a few selected dissertations from the eight faculties of Chemnitz University of Technology.
Furthermore, the ZwfN organised the kick-off session of the Graduate School Human Factors: Information, Assistance, Automation on 26th Mai 2016. The focus of the Graduate School lays on different cooperation designs about the use of advances technical systems. More than 30 guests attended the presentations by professors from Chemnitz University of Technology, doctoral students from the Graduate School and Prof. Dr. Karel A. Brookhuis from University of Groningen (Netherlands).
In order to ensure the quality of the services provided by the ZfwN, the evaluation of workshops and mobilities by the participants are standard. Additionally, a survey for doctoral students, PostDocs and students of the Chemnitz University of Technology was done in October. Subject of the inquiry were participants experiences with the ZfwN, their questions about PhD programme, career planning and their feedback for the ZfwN. Thanks to a large turnout, the results will be used by the ZfwN to improve and adjust their offerings.
At the end of 2016, a personal change took place at the ZfwN. Prof. Dr. Heinrich Lang was superseded as the director of the Centre for Young Scientists by Prof. Dr. Jörn Ihlemann.
Review 2015
Reviewing the year 2015, the Centre for Young Scientists (ZfwN) has an overall positive outcome. The ZfwN successfully conducted 17 workshops with the goal to support doctoral candidates, postdocs and junior professors in the process of their doctorate and/or in their scientific carriers. The main focus of the workshops is summarized as follows:
- Academic writing
- Presenting scientific content
- Scientific publishing
- Performance, expression and effect
- Research projects & resource acquisition
- Personal skills
- Intercultural competences
- Career after the doctorate
Furthermore, workshops on Good Scientific Practice, Networking and Teaching were offered. The workshops on the development of personal skills were highly demanded: Improved Reading, Time-Management as well as Planning the Doctorate only to name few.
The courses were mostly held in German (14 out of 17 workshops), three were carried out in English. In total 180 people participated in the workshops and over 95% of them were satisfied or very satisfied and would recommend the course.
In 2015, the Day for Young Scientists took place for the third time. On the 19th November lectures on good scientific practice by Prof. Dr. Brigitte Jockusch (Ombudswoman for science of Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft) and on structured doctorate by Prof. Dr. Bernadette Malinowski (dean of the Faculty of Humanities at TU Chemnitz) were held. Between presentations, the young academics had the chance to network with each other as well as with the speakers.
InProTUC (International Promovieren an der TU Chemnitz) is a project located at the ZfwN and funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). The project supports doctoral candidates of the TU Chemnitz as well as international PhDs in terms of realizing international research visits, insight visits as well as conferences attendances aboard (so called mobilities) by paying travel and subsistence allowances. In 2015, InProTUC supported 72 of those mobilites, among them 25 research visits (21 aboard and four at the TU Chemnitz). Furthermore, 47 doctoral students attended conferences abroad with the support of the project. In terms of training, InProTUC was able to expand the range of courses available also for international doctoral candidates. Five of the courses were held in English and two in German. There was a high demand for courses in the field of international research cooperation. Topics ranged from scientific publishing and Designing Academic posters to the development of professional networks.
Furthermore, the graduate school "Human Factors: Information, Assistance, Automation" was established on 1st July, 2015 under the umbrella of the ZfwN followed by an internal kick-off event on 3rd July allowing an exchange between professors and doctoral candidates. Doctoral candidates can become members of the graduate school if their research is interdisciplinary and touches the fields media, demography, mobility/ autonomic driving and production with production assistance systems. Several conferences were attended by the members of the graduate school where doctoral candidates got to present their own projects and to discuss those with other researchers. Also, external speakers were invited to TU Chemnitz to encourage and supplement the discourse on site.