„Plenty of Doctorate Holders“ was one of the headlines in „Das Handelsblatt“ in 2019. Indeed, the number of doctorate holders has grown steadily in Germany in the last decades. In 1975 the number of successfully finished doctorates was 11,418 – 20 years later the number has doubled (22,387 in 1995). Another 21 years later it reached an all-time peak in 2016 (29,303). Since that year the number shrinked to 26,220 in 2020. According to the OECD Germany has a relatively high share of doctorate holders: 2.0 percent of the people aged under 35 are PhD-holders, in all OECD countries this share is lower (1.1 percent). But in contrast to other countries most of them leave the academic sector. But what are the career outlooks? What are the working conditions for those who leave and those who stay in academia? And what chances do people have when leaving the academic sector relatively late? This talk will pick up on these questions and will deal with job prospects for people with a doctoral degree.

Dr. Kolja Briedis, German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW), Research Area 1: Educational Careers and Graduate Employment

Dr. Kolja Briedis holds a diploma (Diplom) in Pedagogics, completed his doctorate at the University of Oldenburg and has been working at the DZHW since 2002. Initially, he was active in the research department focusing on studies of degree holders, whose head he became in 2006. In addition, as leader of the project „WiNbus“ he was responsible for different surveys among early career researchers for a couple of years since 2008. Since 2013 he has been the leader of the project „Careers of PhD Holders“ and since 2017 he has, furthermore, been the leader of the project „Nacaps“ that focuses on PhD candidates as well as PhD holders in Germany. His research primarily lies in the fields of careers and career paths of the highly educated, the relationship of higher education and employment as well as early career researchers in Germany.

As a part of the PhD Day 2022 you have the oppertunity to present your scientific work in form of a poster. The graduate schools oltech and 3GO invite the submission of posters contributing insights into the main focus, goals, methodology and/or resulting from PhD research projects. Through their posters, young researchers will have the opportunity to share their findings with other PhD students. The print costs are covered by the graduate schools. 

Pimp your poster: two workshops 

Basic rules of graphic design and layout technique will help you to present your research visually well organized and eye-catching. The courses will equip you with both the concepts and the practical design skills and provides the possibility to put directly into practice what you have learned as well as to get useful feedback from group and trainer.

• Clear at Glance – Designing Effective Academic Posters (for Natural Scientists)
• Sozial- und geisteswissenschaftliche Poster layouten

The transition from completing a PhD to a career inside or outside academia can be challenging: How do my skills translate to a job in the business, public or non-profit sectors? Where can I find inspiration and what’s behind certain job titles? If I want to stay in academia, what options do I have, how do I get a professorship (will I get one?) and what are important points I need to know when following the academic career path? This talk aims to give an overview of the career paths inside and outside academia, gives advice and inspiration and also aims to explain some of the particularities of the German academic system and its careers.

Dr. Linda Jauch, Hamburg Research Academy (HRA)

After her undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral studies in the United Kingdom (Royal Holloway College, University of London; University of Oxford; University of Cambridge), Linda Jauch started her career in science management. Since 2011 she has been working in the field of the support of researchers without a professorship at universities in Germany such as Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Oldenburg. Since 2018 she has been an officer for postdoctoral researchers and W1-Professors at the Hamburg Research Academy, the central institution for early career researchers of nine universities in Hamburg. Furthermore, Linda has been leading a project on academic and scientific career paths for Universität Hamburg.

Linda Jauch has been active in different networks in the field of early career researchers, esp. postdocs, in Germany and the UK for several years. Since 2021 she has been a member of the adivsory council of UniWiND e.v. and has been leading the working group on postdocs and the relevant structural and personnel development.