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Events
- On 29 January, the PhD
and Postdoc Day of Jena University will
take place. Doctoral candidates and postdocs will get
information on topics that are relevant for the
doctorate and the postdoc phase. In the evening, there
will be a fishbowl discussion in which current
measures to improve the conditions for academic
careers in Jena will be presented.
- The new online
event series ‘Alumni talk meets...’
features PhD alumni from all over Germany talking
about their career paths after completing their
doctorates. The series takes place every two months in
cooperation with other graduate institutions. The next
event, on 21 January at 16.00h, will provide an
insight into the professional biographies of PhD
alumni from the humanities. This event will be in
German.
- On 13 January, a ‘Sustainable
Campus Café’ will take place at the Thulb
library. This event will provide a forum for
discussing sustainability-related issues and possible
solutions for the two higher education institutions in
Jena. January's café will focus on ‘Sustainable
Mobility & Internationalisation.’ Previous topics
in the series have included digitalisation,
health
and social
justice. The (German) café series is organised
by the Open Sustainable Campus Lab project. (Picture
above: Adobestock/malp)
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Get
involved
- Female postdocs, habilitation candidates, junior
research group leaders or junior professors can now
apply for the mentoring
programme for female postdocs at the
universities of Halle, Jena and Leipzig. You can
expect individual mentoring by experienced professors
from the three universities as well as top-class
training offers on career-relevant key qualifications.
The programme starts in June 2026 and the application
deadline is 28 February 2026.
- On 20 May 2026, a european-wide
Science Battle will take place in Turku
(Finland). Interdisciplinary teams compete to find the
cleverest and most entertaining answer to questions
from the audience. The Jena team had
won the Science Battle against three other
universities in 2022. Researchers are currently still
being sought for the Jena team. Applications are
possible until 31 January via this
form.
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Qualification
offers
There are still vacancies in the following online and
on-site workshops:
- Graduate Academy:
- Lehre Lernen:
- Competence Center Digital Research (zedif):
- China Competence Platform "ChinaKoop":
- Project "Gender in Focus"
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This
may be of interest to you
- An international research team, including the
University of Jena, has shown for the first time in a
study
that artificial intelligence can independently
conduct a complete experiment on an atomic force
microscope. A newly developed agent system calibrated
the microscope, performed the measurements, and stored
and analysed the resulting image data. However, the AI
also deviated from instructions and performed
unauthorised steps (known as “sleepwalking”). The
experiment shows that AI can relieve researchers of
routine tasks in the laboratory, but that clear safety
rules will also be necessary. (Picture above: Nicole
Nerger)
- Researchers at the University of Lübeck have
investigated how the use of a lottery system
would affect the distribution of third-party
funding. In their experiment, a lottery was
first held to determine who would be allowed to submit
a third-party funding application to a funding
institution. In a second step, the application was
then peer-reviewed. The result: due to the time saved
by researchers who do not have to submit
(unsuccessful) applications, the allocation of funding
by lottery would cost 68 per cent less money compared
to the conventional peer review approach. It also
turned out that 23 per cent more projects by women
would be funded using this method.
- Once a year, the organisation ‘Academia in Dialogue’
surveys the German population’s attitudes towards
academia. This year’s survey revealed
that almost three quarters of respondents perceive a
major rift in society. At the same time, respondents
were also asked for their opinions on potentially
polarising topics. It emerged that respondents'
opinions on these topics are significantly less
divided (than they themselves perceive). Given this
situation, three quarters of respondents would like
academia to help make discussions more objective.
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Short
query: Do you discuss your research with your family?
Christmas is just around the corner and for many people it
is a tradition to visit their families. That's why we want
to know whether you talk to your family about your
research.
To
the survey
Results of the last survey: Separation of review and
supervision
Almost half of the respondents were in favour of
separating review and supervision (47%). However, a
quarter were concerned that there might be no other person
who could review their dissertation. Around one in five
(19%) rejected the idea of separating review and
supervision, as only the supervisor could assess the
amount of work involved. One tenth of respondents did not
care who reviewed their thesis.
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News
from University of Jena
- The University of
Jena has submitted
its application to become a University of
Excellence. A total of 15 universities in
Germany are eligible for funding as universities of
excellence. The ten
existing universities of excellence are
competing for these places, along with eleven
new universities and university consortia. An
on-site assessment as part of the application process
is expected to take place in June 2026. The decision
on the award is expected to be made in early October
2026.
- Controversy has
once again erupted at the University of Jena over the
appropriate response to the Middle East conflict.
It was triggered by a non-public
letter from seven Jena university professors.
The letter called on the University of Jena to review
its academic cooperation with Israeli universities to
determine whether they were involved in military
operations in Gaza. The university senate has
now backed the president's position, who sees a
review of cooperation agreements not as a contribution
to the resolving of conflicts. Prior to this, there
had been a dispute
during the summer over an event on the
destruction of the health system in the Gaza Strip.
- At the University
of Jena, extensive work was
carried out to create a digital 3D version
of a colourful Baroque coffin. The images above
show the digital reconstruction of the original
colours (left) and the current appearance (right). The
17th-century coffin is located in the so-called
Princes' Crypt in the town church and has had an
turbulent history: after the Second World War, it was
first plundered by thieves. The hole they left behind
was later used to carry out an attack on the bones
with phosphorus. The coffin had to be opened to
extinguish the fire. This enabled scientists to remove
and examine the bones. However, as the digital
reconstruction now revealed, they did not put them
back, but left their findings in the coffin as a kind
of message in a bottle. The digital reconstruction now
provides a 3D view of the coffin from the
outside and inside.
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Latest
news from the city of Jena
- There is a new Christmas market in Jena: the
‘Garden
of Lights’ in the Botanical Garden (see
picture). Until 21 December, regional products and
specialities can be purchased at 14 booths and
visitors can warm up in one of the tropical
greenhouses. Admission costs 5 Euro (standard) or 3
Euro (with Thoska). There is also a small
entertainment programme every evening. Further events
in December are also offered by Kultürchen
and the musical
Advent calendar (Muweika).
- A conflict between the city of Jena and the
ultra fans of the Jena football club FC Carl
Zeiss Jena has
escalated further in recent months. Following
riots, the city of Jena imposed
stadium bans on 61 ultra fans. The background to the
dispute is that, as part of the stadium renovation,
there were plans to separate visiting fans and local
ultra fans more strictly for safety reasons. This
would have required the ultra fans to move from the
south to the north stand (which means facing the sun
during regular afternoon matches). The fans launched
the ‘Südkurve
bleibt’ (South Stand stays) campaign, guaranteed
that there would be no riots and got their way last
year. However, after several clashes between fans, the
city responded
with aforementioned stadium bans. The outcome of the
dispute is uncertain. If the club wants to be promoted
to the third league next summer, the city would have
to grant permission.
- The Rosenkeller
is Jena's oldest student club. It is located in a
historic barrel vault in the city centre. However, 10
years ago, the largest event room had to be closed due
to an unexplained water leak. Now, the problem is
solved and the ‘big barrel’ will be reopened. The
first concert is planned for 9 January.
- Since November, the tourist information office
regularly offers English-language guided tours
of Jena. These tours take place on the first Saturday
of every month at 2 p.m. Tickets can be booked at the
tourist information office or via this
website.
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