Guidelines, Evaluation & Labels – How the University of Jena wants to improve conditions for academic careers

The academic career system in Germany is under scrutiny – and there have been many calls for changes, aiming at reducing fixed-term contracts, increasing transparency and offering longer-term prospects.

But where does the University of Jena stand in this process? What measures has it taken recently to improve conditions for doctoral candidates and postdocs? How are these measures being implemented? Are they known well enough among academics? And can they really make a difference?

We want to discuss these questions at the event ‘Guidelines, Evaluation & Labels – How the University of Jena wants to improve conditions for academic careers’. The following three measures will be presented first:

• The new guidelines for the postdoctoral phasepdf, 286 kb at the University of Jena (Dr Gunda Huskobla, Managing Director of the Graduate Academy at Friedrich Schiller University)

• The HR Excellence in Research label, which the University of Jena received last year (Prof. Dr Bärbel Kracke, Vice-President for University Community and Engagement)

• The results of a recent evaluation of supervision agreements, status and career talks (Dr Michael Wutzler, Postdoc Coordinator at Friedrich Schiller University Jena)

Afterwards, representatives of doctoral candidates and postdocs will have the opportunity to actively contribute their questions and comments on the topic in a fishbowl discussion. Also there will be a poster for each measure in German and English explaining the significance and background of it.

The event will take place at the end of the University‘s annual PhD and Postdoc Day. The event will be held in German. However, whispered translation will be available and questions may also be asked in English.

If you would like to attend the event and have limited mobility or visual or hearing impairments, please contact us before the event (by 22 January 2026) at postdoc@uni-jena.de.