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Events
- From 11 to 13 November, the Career
Days for doctoral researchers and
postdocs will take place at the University of Jena.
You will get an insight into career paths in science
and learn about strategies to find a job in business
and society. We cordially invite you to our networking
event on the evening of 13 November.
- The interdisciplinary
symposium "Aus dem Konzept gebracht"
(Thrown off balance) will discuss the different
understandings of 'sex' and 'gender' in various
academic cultures. It will take place on 24 October
in the lecture hall of the ThULB. The language will
be German.
- The Thuringia
Philosophy Day 2025 will take place in
Jena on 27 October. This year's topic of the
English-speaking conference is "Building Peace and
Justice Resilience in Europe". The day is being
organised by the Ethics Centre at the University of
Jena and the EC2U university alliance, among others.
- It's Mental Health Autumn: From 28 to 30 October,
the network "Healthy Universities in Thuringia" is
organising a hybrid
event series on the topic of mental
health for all members of Thuringian universities.
An English workshop is offered on 29 October on "Resilience
& Self-Care – Mental Strength for
International Researchers in Germany".
Furthermore, there will be Mental
Health Awareness Days for doctoral
candidates and postdocs from 2 to 4 December.
- On 26 November, the 4th symposium of the
'Life' profile line will take place at the
Centre for Applied Research. This year's motto is "Time
to Connect". There will be a keynote lecture,
researcher speed dating and various other
opportunities for networking with local researchers,
companies and institutions.
- The Thuringian Research Data Management Network
will launch a new season of its popular Coffee
Lectures in October. Following the motto "Research
Tools 4 All", the lectures will present, among
others, AI tools, the new electronic lab notebook
eLabFTW, and a platform for text analysis.
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Get
involved
- On 8 October, DR.FSU invites all new doctoral
candidates to a welcome evening.
DR.FSU is the representative body for all doctoral
candidates at the University of Jena. There will be
a short walk through the city, followed by snacks
and drinks at Haus zur Rosen. The event starts at 6
p.m. at „Jenaer Bücherstube“ (right next to
Johannistor).
- Meeting people from other countries can be a bit
scary, whether it's talking to them or just
socialising. The iKomPass
certificate programme helps university
employees in Jena build their intercultural skills,
improve their language abilities, and reflect on
their experiences with colleagues. It offers a bunch
of ways to learn, like workshops, language courses,
and an optional trip abroad.
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Qualification
offers
There are still vacancies in the following online and
on-site workshops:
- Graduate Academy:
- Lehre Lernen:
- Service Center Research and Transfer (SFT):
- Competence Center Digital Research (zedif):
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Announcements
- The Gerda Henkel Foundation supports research
projects in the humanities. Applications
can be made for doctoral scholarships, student
assistant positions, material resources or travel
grants. Funding is limited to a maximum of 24
months. The application deadline is 20 November.
- The Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard Foundation awards
scholarships
to early-career female scientists with children.
The financial support is intended to cover
additional childcare or help with household chores,
allowing for more time to pursue scientific
qualifications and raise one's profile. The grant
amounts up to 500 euros per month over a period of
one year. The application deadline is 30 November.
- Projects that promote diversity in academia can
apply now for funding by the ‘Diversity
Connects’ scheme of the German Federal
Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. The
funding amounts to up to €50,000 for a maximum
period of 18 months. Universities, student
organisations, associations and foundations can
apply until 31 October.
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This
may be of interest to you
- Two
groundbreaking recommendations for restructuring
of the German academic system were presented
in the summer: The University Association of
Advanced Graduate Training advocates
that supervision of the doctoral project and review
of the dissertation should not be done by the same
person, and pleads for an end to the current grading
system (it should only be "pass" or "fail") (See
also short query).
Germany's highest scientific advisory body, the
Science Council, further recommends
that universities develop their academic staffing
structure according to a new system: there should be
three job categories in research, teaching and
academic management, each with four career levels.
It also recommends that universities change their
professorship-oriented structure towards a
departmental structure.
- This year's IgNobel Prizes were awarded
in September. The IgNobel Prizes honour research
projects that use scientific methods to investigate
unusual questions. This year's prize in the biology
category, for example, went to a study
that investigated whether cows painted like zebras
(see picture above) are less likely to be bitten by
mosquitoes (yes, they are). The physics prize went
to an international research team that used physical
methods to investigate how Cacio e Pepe spaghetti
sauce changes during the cooking process. The article
also includes a recipe for how to perfectly make the
dish.
- An online game on the topic of diversity
has been developed
by Saarland University. In it, academics can
practise how to respond appropriately to challenging
communication situations – using fictional dialogues
from everyday university life. The game is available
in German and English and free to use.
- A new website shows the global migration
routes of whales. Data from thirty years of
satellite-based whale tracking has been compiled by
several universities for this purpose. On the
resulting interactive
platform, ‘bluecorridors.org’, you can follow
the routes of different whale species and find out
about potential dangers along these routes.
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Short
query: Separation of supervision and review?
A new policy
paper proposes that, in
future, doctoral supervision and dissertation review
should no longer be carried out by the same person. We
would like to know what’s your opinion on this proposed
separation.
To
the survey
Results of our last survey about going on a summer
vacation
In our last survey, we wanted to know whether you went
on holiday in the summer. We are pleased to report that
83 per cent of the researchers who responded really
switch off in summer. Only 10 per cent said, ‘Holiday,
what's that?’
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News
from University of Jena
- A research group at the
University of Jena has received
the national award for the best research
environment of 2024: The ‘LAMA Lab: Laboratory
for AI in Materials Science’ led by junior research
group leader Dr Kevin M. Jablonka was honoured
by the Young Academy and the Volkswagen Foundation
in the summer (see picture). The team has succeeded
in actively promoting a collaborative and supportive
team culture despite the fast-paced, often isolated
nature of computer science research. As a prize, the
research group will now receive 10,000 euros for
team-building activities.
- The University of
Jena has appointed
social psychologist Prof. Thomas Kessler as its anti-Semitism
officer. The officer is a contact person for
all members of the university and advises the
executive committee on strategic and urgent issues
relating to anti-Semitism. The appointment is the
university's response to the increasing
number of cases of anti-Semitism at German
universities.
- Since this
summer, individual academic publications (or
those of a working group) can be published directly
on the university's website. A new
block has been introduced for this purpose.
The block is based on the university
bibliography and automatically displays all
publications recorded there on your own page. If
publications are missing in the university
bibliography, they can be added by sending a message
to the central
service desk of the ThULB.
- What digital
services are available at the university and what
can I use them for? To answer this question, a university
‘marketplace’ has now been launched.
The website
provides a guide to all of the university’s digital
services: from educational workshops, software
licences and media technology available for loan to
self-study courses on digital topics such as AI, IT
security, and Moodle.
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Latest
News from Jena and Thuringia
- For
years, the piranhas had been a major attraction at
the Botanical Garden in Jena. Now, the entire piranha
population had
to be given away. This was due to the
population getting out of control. It is believed
that visitors had secretly released another species
of piranha into the pond, which reproduced much more
quickly. As a result, the Botanical Garden was
forced to transfer the piranhas to other aquariums.
To celebrate the good old times, here‘s a video
taken by a visitor (including a feeding
session at the end). (Picture above: Adobestock)
- Jena's largest church, the Stadtkirche, has
been closed since June. This is due to a
two-kilogram piece of ceiling falling into the
church. Investigations have now revealed that the
overall structural integrity of the church is sound
- only the ceiling decoration is causing the
problem. This had been renewed in the 1950s due to
war damage. The church will remain closed for
several more months.
- There is still a repair
bonus available in Thuringia until the
end of the year. The state provides this financial
support for the repair of devices that would
otherwise have been replaced with new ones. The
funding amounts to half of the repair costs with a
maximum of 100 euros per year. Now, due to the tight
budget situation, the state of Thuringia is
ending this model project, which is unique in
Germany. In future, however, repairs can still be
carried out at the monthly Repair
Café in Jena.
- The city of Jena has included a so-called citizens'
budget in its annual budget. Jena
residents can submit proposals on how the money
(more than € 50,000) should be spent. This year, one
proposal comes directly from the university:
In order to make science more visible in the city,
some traffic lights in the city will feature a
scientific symbol (e.g. a microscope or a
microorganism) instead of the classic traffic light
man. From 1 October to 12 November, you can
vote on the proposals for the citizens'
budget.
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