Further Academic Training

The Career Talk at Noon series offers the perfect opportunity to easily obtain information on career-related topics, get to know professors and other contact persons at the university and ask questions. The talks will take place in English on selected Mondays and Thursdays in the Fall Semester 2025 between 12.00 and 13.00 via Zoom. Just tune in! Here is the Zoom-Link:

https://uni-mannheim.zoom-x.de/j/65837642382

Do you want to communicate confidently and clearly with journalists – even if you have yet to receive your first press inquiry?

We are pleased to offer you a two-day media training that is specifically tailored to dealing with media and media-appropriate writing.

Aim of the workshop

You will learn how journalists select topics and what this means for presenting your own research:

• How do I formulate my message clearly and comprehensibly?
• How do I respond to press inquiries in a professional way?
• What entry opportunities are there in science communication – even without having established a large media presence in advance?

The focus is on practical exercise courses such as interview situations in front of the camera.

Date and Time

25 and 26 September 2025

9:00 – 16:00 (Day 1), 8:30 – 15:30 (Day 2) CET

Deadline for Registration

5. September 2025

Format

In-person event, University of Mannheim

Target Group

Doctoral candidates, Postdocs and Juniorprofessors from all disciplines at the University of Mannheim

Language

German

Trainers

Sina Löschke and Tim Schröder (journalists from the editorial office Schneehohl)

Maximum Number of Participants

12

Registration

Please register by 5 September 2025 via email to: postdocsmail-uni-mannheim.de using your university email address only. 
For questions, please contact: Yvonne Kaul (kaulmail-uni-mannheim.de) or Dr. Jayana Jain (jayana.jainmail-uni-mannheim.de). This workshop is organised in collaboration with the Communications Department and the Postdoc Career Academy at the University of Mannheim.

You have a solid academic profile, an inspiring idea and even the drive to make it happen? Yet, some promising opportunities seem out of reach.

Because often, it is not your work that is lacking. It is your network! As in most areas of life, personal connections in academia can lead to the most significant breakthroughs. This workshop gives you practical tools to build real connections that lead to collaborations, insights, and jobs without the need to “sell” yourself. It is about forming and drawing support from a friendly network.

This workshop will provide you with easy networking techniques and will teach you open, honest and unobtrusive methods to help you make the best use of opportunities like conferences, chance meetings and careers fairs.

This workshop will teach you how to:

• Approach people and start conversations in unobtrusive, non-pushy ways.
• Make a good impression on potential collaboration partners or employers without the hard sell.
• Reliably find an institute/group that is right for you to collaborate with or work in.
• Access the hidden job market of unadvertised positions when job hunting, become the “preferred candidate” or even have positions created specifically for you.
• Gather the information needed to aid your search and any negotiations (including conditions, authorship and salary).
• Give yourself the edge over others who use the more usual methods of contacting people.
• The confidence to make progress. Knowing how to network is not enough. You also need to develop confidence to practice it. To address this, the workshop includes a module on how to transform your self-confidence. It includes eye-opening insights on not just managing low confidence but actually changing how you feel about yourself in real networking situations. 

Outcome
By establishing a useful and productive network you will be able to remain updated about new scientific developments, collaboration opportunities and new jobs as they arise. This will give you the best choice of opportunities, as you will be among the first to know, giving you a strategic edge over others!

The workshop will be very interactive. Expect to be challenged, expect to be asked questions, expect to participate!

Date and Time 

10 and 17 November 2025

9.00–13.00 Uhr CET

Deadline for registration

27 October 2025

Format
Online via Zoom, link will be provided 

Please connect with a working audio and video device and expect to actively participate in the workshop with your camera on.

Target group
Early career researchers (doctoral and postdoctoral candidates) from the ENGAGE.EU partner universities 

Language of instruction
English

Instructor
Rob Thompson, RTTA.

Maximum number of participants
15

Registration
Please register until 27 October 2025 by writing to postdocsmail-uni-mannheim.de with your university e-mail address. Please note that we can only consider registrations sent from your university e-mail account to ensure affiliation with an ENGAGE.EU partner university. If there are more registrations than available places, the participants will be drawn by lot and informed by 31 October. Please find information on the processing of your personal data in our information on data protection (PDF).

This workshop, in collaboration with ENGAGE.EU and the Postdoc Career Academy at the University of Mannheim, is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.

Training Goals 

Leaving academia and looking for a job in the industry is an important and sometimes difficult step. This fundamental career training enables you to search for job offers efficiently and prepare convincing application documents.

Day 1 Content (Focus: Jobs in EU-wide Industry)

• Ideas for possible positions
• Identification of personal competences and interests
• Identifying key requirements in job ads
• Estimation of chances of success
• Presentation of AI use cases for applicants

On the first day of the workshop, you will deepen the awareness of competences you might have gained at the university and discuss positions in the industry which might be interesting for you and how you can target your search for future employment. In an additional live workshop, you learn the meaning of typical phrases in job advertisements and how much your chances of success are influenced by requirements you cannot fulfil. Finally, you will get to know various AI use cases with practical examples for applicants. You will get tips on how to optimise your prompting so that you get the right result quickly. 

Day 2 Content (Focus: Jobs in German Industry)

• Overview of most successful search methods
• Active job search activities with specific recommendations
• Passive job search activities
• Content and design of a CV
• Structure and example of a convincing cover letter

On the second day of the workshop, you will understand how to target your search for future employment, and where you can look for vacancies. You get to know various options of job databases and further activities to come into contact with employers, e. g. via social platforms and CV databases. Furthermore, you will understand how to write your cover letter and CV, and how best to adapt your application to the job offer. You will see examples for a professional application design and photos. Moreover, you will reflect on modern and traditional application aspects of job application in industry, and you will get hints for your application phase in general.

Date and Time 

24 and 25 November 2025

9.00 – 14.30 (Day 1), 9:00 – 12:00 (Day 2) CET.

Deadline for registration

31 October 2025

Format
Online via Zoom, link will be provided 

Please connect with a working audio and video device and expect to actively participate in the workshop with your camera on.

Target group
Early career researchers (doctoral and postdoctoral candidates) from the ENGAGE.EU partner universities who have little application knowledge and are looking for a new employment in the next 12 months.

Language of instruction
English

Instructor
Heidi Störr

Maximum number of participants
20

Registration
Please register until 31 October 2025 by writing to postdocsmail-uni-mannheim.de with your university e-mail address. Please note that we can only consider registrations sent from your university e-mail account to ensure affiliation with an ENGAGE.EU partner university. If there are more registrations than available places, the participants will be drawn by lot and informed by 5 November. Please find information on the processing of your personal data in our information on data protection (PDF). When registering for this workshop, you also agree to the following terms and conditions: https://www.push-your-career.com/privacy-policy/. This workshop, in collaboration with ENGAGE.EU and the Postdoc Career Academy at the University of Mannheim, is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.

The Career Talk at Noon series offers the perfect opportunity to easily obtain information on career-related topics, get to know contact persons at the university and ask questions. The lectures will take place on selected Thursdays between noon and 1 p.m. via Zoom. Just tune in! Here is the Zoom-Link: https://uni-mannheim.zoom-x.de/j/62260000423 .

6.3.2025 – 7.3.2025

9:30 – 13:00

Dr. Jana Emontz

Online

Termindownload

This course enhances your understanding of research integrity through comprehensive insights into the principles of good scientific practice and international guidelines.

In this course, we will address common challenges such as misconduct, data management, and copyright issues related to modern tools like ChatGPT. 

Our interactive format includes intensive sessions, case studies, and group discussions, allowing you to share experiences and network with fellow researchers. “Get your PhD, keep your PhD” – this course equips you with essential skills and knowledge to navigate the complexities of academic research successfully and aids you with questions or conflicts in the research context.
 

Topics

• Introduction and definitions
• Principles of good scientific practice incl. (inter-)national recommendations and regulations for safeguarding good research practice and research integrity
• Potential problem and conflict areas in the research process
• Misconduct cases in science Scientific data collection and documentation
• Research data management
• Copyright, ChatGPT and plagiarism
• Publications, collaborations and author­ship Supervision and organizational culture
• If needed:
  • Authorization or permission relevant research
  • Research on animals
  • Research with and on humans
  • Surveys, interviews, data privacy and security issues of personal data in research

Date and time
6 and 7 March from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (incl. breaks)

Format
Online via Zoom, link will be provided

Please connect with a working audio and video device and expect to actively participate in the workshop with your camera on.

Target group
Early career researchers from the ENGAGE.EU

partner universities

Language of instruction
English

Instructor
Dr. Jana Emontz, Heine Center for Academic Further Education

Maximum number of participants
20 

Registration
Please register until 19 February 2025 by writing to postdocsmail-uni-mannheim.de

with your university e-mail address. Please note that we can only consider registrations sent from your university e-mail account to ensure affiliation with an ENGAGE.EU partner university. If there are more registrations than available places, the participants will be drawn by lot and informed by 20 February. Please find information on the processing of your personal data in our information on data protection (PDF).

This workshop in collaboration with ENGAGE.EU and the Postdoc Career Academy at the University of Mannheim is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.

Self-Study Module: video tutorials or live online seminar on 30 April 2025, 09:00–13:00 CEST
Online Training focus on Grants: 16 May 2025, 09:00–13:30 CEST

You will learn a comprehensive design philosophy, process, and set of strategies tailored specifically for scientists to visually communicate your own complex ideas so your messages are effortlessly understood by scientists or non-scientists.

A structured, no fluff, memorable, easy to follow, useful and fun training that will empower and enable you to create effective images, slides, posters, and grants. You will imediatelly apply the new skills to communicate your own science, draw a graphical abstract and discuss it with your peers and receive actionable feedback on your images and slides.

Content

Self-study module—Mandatory Fundamentals, Slides, and Homework (5 h) before the Online Workshop

Particpants can attend a live online web-Seminar on 30 April 9:00–13:00 CEST or use the self-study material provided.

• Fundamental Visual Communication: understand how human visual perception and psychology shape our interpretation of visual information. Discover a science-based design method to visualize your research, making it easily comprehensible. We will cover strategic use of layout, eye-flow, colors, and typography applied to all types of scientific images.
• Slides, Posters, Grants: you will learn how to apply the Seyens Method™ design philosophy and strategies introduced in the Fundamentals to slides, posters, and grants. This will give you a holistic approach that builds from the first principles, makes sense and is easy to remember and apply.  
•  Homework: submit your images and slides to receive personalized feedback. . Images related to your grant proposals will be prioritized.
  
  Live Workshop: Focus on Grants — On Zoom (4.5 h) 16 May 2025, 09:00 – 13:30 CEST
• Recap and Q&A: an effective review of self-study topics and optional 1-on-1 consulting with facilitator to address your individual challenges. Focus on using visuals in grant proposals.
• Feedback on your submitted materials: you will get actionable suggestions on how to improve your own scientific images and slides.
• Graphical abstract drawing exercise: you will draw a sketch of your research to be used in your grant proposal.
• Peer-instruction group discussion: you will give and receive informed and structured feedback to improve yours’ and other participants’ graphical abstracts.

Date and time
16 May from 9:00 to 13:30 CEST

Format
Online via Zoom, link will be provided

Please connect with a working audio and video device and expect to actively participate in the workshop with your camera on.

Trainer
Dr. Jernej Zupanc, Founder of Seyens Ltd.

Target group
Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers from the ENGAGE.EU partner universities

Language of instruction
English

Maximum number of participants
20

Registration
Please register until 10 April 2025 by writing to postdocsmail-uni-mannheim.de

with your university e-mail address. Please note that we can only consider registrations sent from your university e-mail account to ensure affiliation with an ENGAGE.EU partner university. If there are more registrations than available places, the participants will be drawn by lot and informed by 11 April. Please find information on the processing of your personal data in our information on data protection (PDF).

This workshop in collaboration with ENGAGE.EU and the Postdoc Career Academy at the University of Mannheim is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.

27 and 28 May, 09:30–12:30

Academia is an ultramarathon that we try to run as a sprint. This approach tends to leave us with little time or energy for life outside of work and very few resources to cope when we face challenges. But a healthier approach to research is possible and is essential if you want to build a sustainable career in academia.

Despite our increasing diversity, academics tend to harbour a common chorus of voices in our heads. Voices that demand perfection, or that tell us we aren’t good enough and we don’t belong here; voices that have driven us to excel, but that also charge a pretty high tax. A tax on our emotional, mental and physical health.

Yes, the environment is a heavy contributor to the unhealthy, counterproductive lifestyle many of us live. However, we as individuals can address the way we approach academia to buffer us against stress and burnout, worry and fear, and the toxic competition we are often surrounded by.

This workshop provides you with tools to increase your resilience to stress, anxiety and burnout, and to enhance your overall well-being.

We explore:

• The self-critical inner voices that sabotage your motivation and enjoyment for your work; 
• How your mindset can help or hinder your day-to-day life and your future career prospects;
• How certain maladaptive coping strategies (e.g. procrastination and avoidance) maintain these self-sabotaging thought and behaviour cycles.
• How to reshape your thinking and behaviour patterns to work for you in pursuit of your goals.

Date and time
27 and 28 May from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Format
Online: 4 LIVE sessions & 3 video learning modules, run over two half-day sessions

Zoom & Vimeo

Please connect with a working audio and video device and expect to actively participate in the workshop with your camera on.

Target group
PhD and postdoctoral researchers from the ENGAGE.EU partner universities

Language of instruction
English

Instructor
Desiree Dickerson, Ph.D.

Maximum number of participants
20 

Registration
Please register until 14 May 2025 by writing to postdocsmail-uni-mannheim.de

with your university e-mail address. Please note that we can only consider registrations sent from your university e-mail account to ensure affiliation with an ENGAGE.EU partner university. If there are more registrations than available places, the participants will be drawn by lot and informed by 20 February. Please find information on the processing of your personal data in our information on data protection (PDF).

This workshop in collaboration with ENGAGE.EU and the Postdoc Career Academy at the University of Mannheim is funded by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg.

DFG Series Prospects

The content of the events ranges from an overview of all funding instruments for the time after your PhD to individual funding programs, alternating between German and English. PhD candidates and postdocs of all disciplines are welcome to join.

Upcoming talks in the Prospects Series:

• 18/02/2025, 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. CET – Heisenberg Programme
• 26/03/2025, 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. CET – DFG Funding Opportunities for Postdocs
• 28/04/2025, 1:15 – 2:45 p.m. CET – Emmy Noether-Programm (in German)
• 26/05/2025, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m. CET – Walter Benjamin Programme
• 27/06/2025, 10:30 – 12:00 a.m. CET – DFG-Förderangebote für die wissenschaftliche Karriere (in German)

Please check this website for updates on the individual talks.

Workshop in Cooperation with ZLL: Research, Lead and Teach: Make a Sustainable Impact as a Professor

Dates

• Thursday, June 26, 2025: Workshop for Postdocs and Habilitation Candidates
• Friday, June 27, 2025: Workshop for Professors

Juniorprofessors can choose one of the dates freely upon consultation.

On both days, the workshop will take place from 9 AM to 5 PM (including breaks) in person.

Trainer: Dr. Annette Spiekermann

Our ZLL Offer for You

Transformational competence is defined as a prerequisite for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Transformational competence encompasses a well-defined and scientifically grounded range of skills, action strategies, knowledge, and comprehensive in- sights to thrive in a complex and constantly changing environment and to create a good present for a liveable future.

University educators are particularly challenged here: On the one hand, they make an essential contribution to the personal development of the younger generation through teaching, supervising qualification theses, and leading staff. On the other hand, through their research, they promote a society with future-oriented technology, sustainable (trade) relations, and social stability.

The program KPI: Transformation! for professors focuses on the Inner Development Goals (see IDG) as a basis and framework for exploring and shaping personal development as a university educator.

We individually and in collegial exchange, develop a well-founded assessment of your current situation within the university system and offer space for shaping your vision for the future:

• Where do you see yourself in the future?
• In which areas do you want to invest in your development

Procedure

The joint kick-off workshop at the beginning provides an overview of the 5 dimensions of transformational competence for sustainable development. Here, the focus is primarily on the joint and individual reflection of your current situation at the university. You will sharpen your understanding of the complexity of your roles and their relationships in everyday university life. This, together with your personality profile, forms the basis for reviewing your teaching and research routine for opportunities and possibilities to align your actions with integrity, authenticity, and effectiveness and to identify individual development areas.

Language

The workshop can take place in German or English.

Registration

Seats are limited. To register, please send an email by May 27, 2025, to Anne Scheuing (anne.scheuing@uni-mannheim.de). Seats will be allocated based on the date of receipt.

Junior professors are requested to indicate their preferred date of attendance.

All interested parties must also indicate at the time of registration whether they would prefer the workshop in German, English, or if both languages are suitable for them.