TU9, the Alliance of leading Universities of Technology in Germany, will be represented with several events at the annual conference and Talent Fair of the German Academic International Network (GAIN) in San Francisco from August 23 to 25, 2024. In workshops, discussion panels and at the Talent Fair, TU9 Representatives will provide advice on funding opportunities and career paths at TU9 Universities.

On Sunday, August 25 from 11:15 a.m., TU9 will host a workshop in cooperation with the German Rectors' Conference about “Alternative Career Opportunities for Early Career Researchers in the German Academic Landscape”. TU9 Co-President Professor Angela Ittel (President of TU Braunschweig and also HRK Vice President for International Affairs, Gender Equality, and Diversity), HRK President Professor Walter Rosenthal and Dr. Simone Schwanitz, Secretary General of the Max Planck Society, will discuss career prospects, framework conditions and qualifications in the German science system in an open exchange with the workshop participants. TU9 Managing Director Dr. Nicole Saverschek and Stephan Keuck, Head of Division for North America at the HRK, will moderate the exchange.

On Friday, August 23, 2024, Professor Wolfram Ressel, Rector of the University of Stuttgart, and Professor Thomas Walther, Vice President for Innovation and International Affairs and Professor of Applied Physics at the TU Darmstadt, will take part in the workshop “Subject-related Forum: Natural and Engineering Sciences”. The panelists will share their experiences on the job market and provide assessments of the various career options.

On Saturday, August 24, 2024 from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m., Professor Thomas Walther and his colleague Dr. Bettina Wagner, Managing Director of Ingenium at TU Darmstadt, will give “Insights into Appointment Procedures – Dos and Don'ts”. At the same time, Dr. Jan an Haack, TU Berlin, together with Dr. Jörn Benzinger and Dr. Christiane Wüllner from Ruhr University Bochum, will offer a “CV Check”. In the afternoon, presidents and rectors of TU9 Universities will contribute their perspectives in two workshops: First, Professor Angela Ittel, TU9 Co-President and President of TU Braunschweig, Professor Ursula Marie Staudinger, Rector of TU Dresden, and Professor Wolfram Ressel, Rector of the University of Stuttgart, will address the career opportunities and obstacles for women in the natural sciences sector at “Female Career Advancement – from Equal Opportunities to Diversity in STEM” from 2:00 p.m. Among other things, they will discuss what changes are necessary to establish a more diverse scientific landscape. At the same time, the President of TU Berlin, Professor Geraldine Rauch, and Professor Gerhardt Schembecker, Vice-Rector for Finance at TU Dortmund University, will present the institutional structure at German universities in “How to Successfully Apply to a German University  Priorities, Decision Makers, Structures” in order to provide an overview of career opportunities and procedures during the application process.

On the last day of GAIN24, Sunday, August 25, 2024, further events on the topic of career entry and career opportunities, starting at 9:00 a.m., will take place in the morning before the TU9 and HRK event: Professor Geraldine Rauch, President of TU Berlin, will speak in a workshop on “Individual Career Paths in Science – Actively Shaping Career Phases and Transitions with Due Consideration of Funding Opportunities”. At the same time, the workshop “Career Paths in Science Management” will take place, in which Dr. Bettina Wagner, Managing Director of Ingenium at TU Darmstadt, will present the qualification requirements and tasks of science managers. And finally, Professor Ursula M. Staudinger, Rector of TU Dresden, will be a guest at the event “From Lab to Leadership – the Importance of Good Leadership in Science” to present the day-to-day work of science managers and explain the country-specific differences between Germany and the USA. 

At 11:15 a.m., the last block of events at GAIN24 will begin with the workshop “Interdisciplinary Careers in Research: Opportunities and Challenges”. Professor Geraldine Rauch, President of TU Berlin, will join the discussion alongside other guests. In parallel, a panel on “An Attractive Path to Scientific Independence: Leading a Junior Research Group” will be offered, in which Liebig scholarship holder Dr. Dominik Halter will report on his experiences as head of the junior research group “Electrosynthesis of Energy Carriers & Value-Added Products” at TU Munich.

This year, seven TU9 Universities will once again be exhibiting at the Talent Fair: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (stand no. 21), TU Berlin (no. 34), TU Darmstadt (no. 28), TU Braunschweig (no. 60), TU Dresden (no. 41), University of Stuttgart (no. 19), and TU Munich (no. 24).

TU9 PR GAIN24

GAIN24