Early Career Researchers

Promoting early career researchers is a core element in the science-related personnel development of the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE). The recruitment of outstanding and highly motivated researchers is crucial for personnel development, profile building and the success of the UDE in national and international competition. Therefore, the UDE actively strives to make scientific careers easier to plan and offers support to all early career researchers.

The "WISNA" Program

The “Tenure-Track-Programm zur Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses (WISNA)” [Tenure Track Program for Promoting Early Career Researchers] is intended to help make career paths in academia more predictable and transparent. The federal government is providing one billion euros to fund 1,000 additional tenure-track professorships. In the first round of approvals in 2017, 34 universities were funded, including the UDE with 21 professorships, which are advertised in three cohorts.

The “Bund-Länder-Programm” will establish the tenure-track professorship broadly at universities in Germany. The tenure-track professorship is aimed at researchers in the early career phase and provides for the immediate transition to a lifetime professorship following a successful probationary phase.

The "WISNA" Program at the UDE

The UDE uses the great success of the WISNA program for structural and fundamental improvements in the career prospects of early career researchers and the expansion of the support services offered. The UDE concept is based on three pillars which combine the specific promotion of early career researchers and personnel development with regard to the future viability of the UDE as an excellent research institution.

The Graduate Center Plus bundles the support for early career researchers at the UDE. For the target groups of late Master's students, doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, a portfolio of various support offers in the areas of information and consulting, skills training, good scientific practice as well as funding and financing is available. In addition, GC Plus is involved in the planning of the TT Academy.

With the implementation of a mature personnel development concept, the Human Resources and Organization Department contributes to the promotion of all early career researchers. Personnel Development offers support in the development of managers and junior managers, career advice, personnel selection, coaching, team development as well as further education and training in various areas of competence.

With fair and transparent procedures, the appointment management of the University of Duisburg-Essen is increasingly aimed at excellent early career researchers who decide early on to take up the career path of a professorship. From 2018, junior professorships at the UDE will be advertised exclusively with a tenure track and equipped competitively. The new TT Academy will provide a comprehensive range of training and support opportunities.
The UDE sees the goal of equality of opportunity and family as a quality feature and an important criterion for its further development. For this reason, this goal is a management task and, in line with the strategy of gender mainstreaming, is integrated as a cross-cutting issue into control instruments and organizational processes.