Prospects for postdocs at HHU
To support postdocs at HHU, there is an intensive exchange within and with the target group. The following measures and processes have been initiated:
- Regular events and Discussion
- Set up of actions and measures to support the postdoc guidelines (February 2024 - ongoing)
- Developing postdoc guidelines (October 2023 - April 2024)
- Postdoc survey (Spring 2024)
More information on the individual activities is available below.
Planned events on the topic
Postdoc Support at HHU
18 September 2024, 1-2 pm online
Over the course of the Postdoc Appreciation Week (PAW) we will look at the many activities set up for postdocs at HHU. Get yourself informed about how to structure your postdoc phase better and to plan your career with the help of the newly developed Postdoc Guidelines. Find out about the supporting measures such as information material for postdocs at HHU, a target agreement template and a feedback guideline for you to use, a networking group to participate in and several others. Uta Brunner and Fabian Brinkmann will introduce these measures for postdocs at HHU and are looking forward to hearing your user feedback. The session will take place online on 18 September from 1-2 pm via Zoom. Please register here.
Developing supportive measures together
In addition to the guideline discussion, a series of measures were presented to support the implementation of the postdoc guidelines in the future.
All interested parties are invited to support the development of the measures with concrete proposals for their implementation.
The next meeting is planned to take place in the end of August 2024. We will have lunch and discuss together, meeting at the main mensa at 12 pm (meeting point in front of the screens at the main mensa). More information will follow soon.
Suggested Measures
- Information for Postdocs
-
Development of a target agreement template to plan and structure the postdoc phase
-
Guideline for regular feedback meetings
-
Mental Health Check-Up Reminder
-
Postdoc Advisory Committee
-
Junior meets Senior
Developing postdoc guidelines at HHU
In order to focus more strongly on the importance of career development for postdoctoral researchers and at the same time take a closer look at the role and self-image of postdocs, the idea was born to develop supporting guidelines for this group of researchers.
The guidelines are intended to point out offers and opportunities for postdoctoral researchers at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), but also to clarify the obligations that a successful postdoc phase entails. The associated discourse, which was and is conducted by the university management, the faculties as well as the postdocs and their supervisors in equal measure, is intended on the one hand to enable the field of tension between support and personal responsibility, independence and dependence as well as the debate on a healthy management culture.
On the other hand, the resulting guidelines for postdocs are intended to accompany a long-term cultural change (over the next five to ten years), which may also become visible beyond the university itself. The introduction of the guidelines also emphasises the institutional importance of the postdoc phase and the appreciation of the target group at HHU.
The guideline discussion took place in two sessions from Mid-October to Mid-December on the platform of the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy (DIID) . All comments and recommendations have been consolidated. A detailed report (in mainly German) on the whole process is available here.
The postdoc guidelines were presented to the Senate on 16 April 2024 and adopted by the Rectorate on 25 April 2024 and are available here for download.
Postdoc - Survey 2023
What motivates researchers at HHU during their postdoc phase and what career goals do they strive for? How is the postdoc phase structured and what are the challenges? JUNO, together with the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy (DIID), got answers to these questions in the postdoc survey that took place at HHU in March and April 2023. Here you find a summary of the results of the survey.