During the early stages of your post-doctoral qualification you will have to identify new research interests: you may still be in the process of publishing the findings of your doctoral thesis. At the same time, however, you will also need to settle on a new area of research for your post-doctoral qualification or “Habilitation”, which for an academic career in Germany should be clearly distinguishable from the topic of your doctoral thesis. Your independence as a researcher increases.
Perhaps you have accepted a research or teaching post at a new university or research facility. Or you might be planning a research stay abroad or cooperate with researchers based in other countries. You will gain experience securing your own external funding and broaden your teaching experience. Perhaps you have the chance to join the Zukunftskolleg as Postdoctoral Fellow.
The first years after your doctorate could be described as a period of orientation during which it will become clear whether your future career will take you into academia or into other professional fields in industry and society. At the same time, you will be making important decisions in your private and family life.
If you decide on a career in academia you will secure support from mentors and establish contacts with other members of the scientific community. It may be of help to plan your next career steps strategically.
Orientation/getting started
To find out how to easily transfer into the post-doc phase, please visit the doctoral research section . Especially for internationally mobile junior researchers we host the “Introduction to the German Education System, Research Careers and Sources of Funding” event.
Coaching and advice
We offer career advice and coaching, especially on planning your career and making a decision about your future career paths, on preparing application documents and networking with other members of the scientific community.
Qualification for post-docs
Take part in our workshops and upgrade your skills in fields such as teaching competency, project management and time management.
Certificates
We have two certificates on offer that will allow you to acquire and document your leadership, management and knowledge transfer and university didactics skills, useful for future applications.
University didactics
We guide and support university lecturers in all questions and issues surrounding the topic of teaching. Our teaching competency services include various custom workshops as well as individual and flexible advisory services.
Mentoring
Sign up to one of the University of Konstanz’s mentoring programmes or the state-wide MuT mentoring programme and benefit from our experienced mentors’ expertise on careers both inside and outside academia.
Alternative career paths
Our workshops and lecture series, the “Führung, Management, Wissenstransfer” (leadership, management, knowledge transfer) certificate, our advice and coaching services and the “Career Connect” mentoring scheme will help you pursue a career in industry and society.