As a postdoc at Friedrich Schiller University, you belong to a group of approximately 700 researchers with a doctorate. This group is an essential pillar of the university when it comes to research, teaching and transfer. The postdoctoral phase also sets the course for important decisions: for developing your own scientific profile, for career decisions and for long-term professional development. Postdocs are therefore encouraged to pursue further qualifications and are supported in their career development by transparent employment and career structures as well as by formats that help to develop an independent research personality.
The Vice President's Office for Research and Innovation and the?Graduate Academy are committed to improving the general conditions for postdocs at Friedrich Schiller University. Two comprehensive studies on the situation of postdocs at the University of Jena (2nd Jena Postdoc Study 2016pdf,?5?mb?·?de and 1st Jena Postdoc Study 2011pdf,?2?mb?·?de) have shown where we need to take further action and measures to improve the situation of postdocs. The university is taking it step by step, e.g. by the implementation of university-wide guidelines, and through the support offered by the Graduate Academy. These measures aim to support postdoctoral researchers in their academic development and provide them with the best possible research conditions.
By completing your doctorate, you have reached a significant milestone in your academic career. During the postdoctoral phase, new freedoms and opportunities open up for you: you can pursue your own research ideas, independently acquire and manage projects, establish collaborations and actively participate in supervising doctoral researchers. The postdoctoral phase focuses on independent academic work. The overarching goal is to develop into an independent researcher with regard to your own career goals.
The postdoctoral phase as such can last from the point of the completion of your doctorate until your appointment to a professorship. As long as someone is doing research at Friedrich Schiller University and thus intend? to continue their academic qualification, they are considered a university postdoc – regardless of whether this currently involves employment at University of Jena, external employment (for example with external "Habilitierenden"), a scholarship, or a transitional phase without funding.
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