Researcher Development in Graz: A Research Careers Community

What's a fair way to allocate research grants?

* RCC Blog, 29.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Does using a lottery-system reduce expert biases, allow for truely innovative ideas to get funded, and reduce time wasted on convoluted application systems? We're interested in your stance on this issue!

Funders receive a great number of applications that pass the quality treshold - often double or more the amount than can be awarded grants. In that instance, some currently trial partial lotteries (for example through using a hat). Why?

• VolkswagenStiftung argues that for applications whose differences in quality can no longer be further differentiated by experts, it relieves a burden
• biases & group dynamics among reviewer panels could be reduced (such as a bias towards better-known institutions, male applicants, more senior researchers)
• consensus finding often leads to preference for established topics and methods, while the "lucky draw" could increase diversity

Those funders who are trialling a randomization process are also evaluating it. What's their experiences?

• applications to funds that use lottery systems tend to be shorter - saving valuable time for research
• rejected applicants don’t feel as disappointed - they were good enough to get funded and take it as the luck of the draw
• assessment panels dont need to agonize over which application needs to be placed slightly higher than another one, just agree that both are good enough to be placed in the hat
• lottery systems encourage "risky", potentially innovative research
• the scientific community responds well to the new systems

Read more about lottery systems and arguments for and against here:

VolkswagenStiftung (2020) 8 Thesen für ein Loselement in der Forschungsförderung | VolkswagenStiftung

David Adam (2019): Science funders gamble on grant lotteries (nature.com)

Nature Editorial (2022, 609, 653) The case for lotteries as a tiebreaker of quality in research funding (nature.com)

What's your take on this?

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How is care for children compatible with an academic career?

* RCC Blog, 26.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

If this question is relevant for you, you might find these studies (recent and older), contact points, and networks helpful. Please share what recent data you have come across as well!

Sigrid Metz-Göckel u.a. (2011)

• Beschäftigungsbedingungen und generative Entscheidungen des wissenschaftlichen Personals an Hochschulen. Femina politica: Zeitschrift für feministische Politik-Wissenschaft 20, 1, 166–172

Isabella Buber-Ennser u.a. (2011)

• Doing science, forgoing childbearing? Evidence from a sample of female scientists in Austria (Working Paper No. 1), 

Abteilung Gleichstellung und Diversität der Universität Wien (2022)

• Eine Frage der Organisation? Daten und Analysen zur Vereinbarkeit von Beruf/Studium mit der Sorge um andere und sich selbst,

Andreas Baierl & Eva-Maria Schmidt (2024)

• Väter in Unternehmen: Perspektiven von Führungskräften und Potenziale für Geschlechtergleichstellung

Netzwerk Mutterschaft und Wissenschaft

• A mailing list for Austria connects mothers in academia, with nodes in Graz, Vienna, Innsbruck and other places!

unikid & unicare at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz contact point

• Die Anlaufstelle für Vereinbarkeit der Uni Graz: Studieren, lehren, forschen oder arbeiten Sie an der Uni Graz und vereinbaren Sie Ihre Tätigkeit mit Ihrem Familienleben mit minderjährigen und/oder pflegebedürftigen Angehörigen? Kontaktieren Sie uns gerne!

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How does research integrity play out in supervision and mentoring relationships? Who can contribute to a fair work climate in which honest scientific conduct is the norm?

* RCC Blog, 25.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

If you are eager to delve into these issues, check out these resources old and new.

Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad (VLIR) has just created Mind the GAP: an online training tool for researchers on Good Academic Research Practices (GAP), based on The European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity.
Homepage - Mind the GAP (vlir.be)

UK Research Integrity Office (UKRIO) regularly holds (and records) webinars on topics like

• social media and research integrity
• decolonised research culture and practice
• open research for early career researchers

Find the webinar series and many other useful materials here: Webinar Series - UK Research Integrity Office (ukrio.org)

ENRIO European Network of Research Integrity Offices has published a Handbook on Whisteblower Protection in Research in 2023. It offers, among many other things:

• sample curriculums
• case studies
• tools for teaching
• educational movies

Find the materials listed here: Resources - ENRIO

Of course, University of Graz has many areas in which we actively engage in maintaining research integrity. This website provides a list of the main resources: Ressourcen - Gute Wissenschaftliche Praxis (uni-graz.at)

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Maybe you're brimming with ideas for potential new projects - how do you work out which ones are feasible, interesting enough in the long term, and suited to your future goals?

* RCC Blog, 24.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Here are some approaches!

Laura Saetveit Miles describes what she does in her substack newsletter - here's some of Laura's "hacks", alongside what we think could work well.

• approaching your trusted network for virtual coffees ("I’m exploring new ideas for my next project. Can I bounce some of them off you?")
• writing every new insight on this idea down as soon as you can - be it critical questions, new angles, ideas for who to talk to,...
• meeting some people who do related work - ideally you'll find your niche, and can tell if you can actually contribute some new angle
• keeping in close contact with materials, sources related to your project idea - once a day, even when you are busy
• taking breaks from the idea and letting it percolate - or seep - to see what gets distilled over time

Read more on how Laura did it:
Momentum through meetings - by Laura Saetveit Miles (substack.com)
And let us know what worked for you in the past!

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Do you want to become more visible on social media but not quite convinced of benefits of engaging in science communication?

* RCC Blog, 24.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Let us recommend some blogs and videos: Inspiration for developing your online presence, as well as motivation for communicating your science on social media.

European Commission let's two project leaders answer the question "how social media can increase the impact and reach for your research" here 
Science Communication: how social media can effectively boost your research project - European Commission (europa.eu)

Elisabeth Wagner shares from her experience as a social media science communicator: Science Communication auf Social Media – ein Kampf gegen Windmühlen? Elisabeth Wagner: Science Communication auf Social Media - Brennpunkt WissKomm (youtube.com)

Science Buster Martin Moder talks Youtube as a medium:
Wissenschaft auf YouTube Martin Moder: Wissenschaft auf YouTube - Brennpunkt WissKomm

Hildrun Walter offers a thoughtful talk on the role of research communication in society:
Zuhören, Mitreden, Mitgestalten: Möglichkeiten der Wissenschaftskommunikation in Krisenzeiten
Hildrun Walter: Zuhören, Mitreden, Mitgestalten - Brennpunkt WissKomm (youtube.com)

Holly Prescott offers two blog posts on LinkedIn as a tool for establishing a effective online presence:
'Where The Magic Happens': How to raise your profile on LinkedIn (for PhDs) - PostGradual: The PhD Careers Blog (phd-careers.co.uk)
Exploring Career Options Beyond Academia: Essential LinkedIn ‘tricks’ for researchers

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Are you effective at managing what is put on your plate (or rather, desk)? Or do you feel you have little agency there?

* RCC Blog, 22.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Knowing when to put up resistance in the context of hierarchies is tricky. Maybe the following reading suggestions can help.

Dr. Neela Enke. 2020. DUZ-Kolumne „Unter vier Augen“ zur Frage „In der Flut der täglichen Anfragen habe ich das Gefühl, nicht zu dem zu kommen, was mir wichtig ist. Was kann ich tun?“ In: duz 01/2020, S. 75. DUZ_M0120_Unter4Augen_Enke.pdf (coachingnetz-wissenschaft.de)
What it contains:

•  the wisdom "work goes where it gets done"
•  the potential of gaining respect through considered and well-argued refusals
•  the benefit of asking for time to deliberate
•  the strategy to counter with a later time-window for taking on the task

Amanda E. Cravens, et al (25 August 2022): Why four scientists spent a year saying no. Nature career column. Why four scientists spent a year saying no (nature.com)
What it contains:

• using a "tracking" approach to your workload, measuring in weeks and months, is helpful for deciding what you can take on and communicating that to others
• empowering yourself to select and deepen relationships with collaborators who respect your boundaries
• holding firm is the way that your NO sticks, and for that you need peer support

PD Dr. med. Anne Braczynski gives advice in the comments of this insightful LinkedIn posting about a superior individualising organisational problems that lead to overwork: Post | LinkedIn
We take from it:

• assuming good-will on the part of the person assigning you too much work is helpful to maintain good communication
• expressing your view that it's not solely your responsibility to handle the workload is allowed
• actively drawing on collegial support to better manage tasks is an option

What is your perspective on this?

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How do you make space for new ideas to come to you?

* RCC Blog, 16.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

In a day-to-day marked by tasks to finish and deadlines to meet, it is a challenge. And yet, researchers are always coming up with burning issues to investigate, and concepts for doing this effectively. Let's share how researchers (and artists) create space for ideation!

Laura Saetveit Miles has a corner in her office decicated to developing new projects.

• Physically moving yourself into a create-space might also alert your brain to the fact that it's time to get creative.
• Laura's substack newsletter is super inspiring for those who are seeking to develop their next big thing.

Kel Weinhold suggests definitely using your "sharp elbows to protect space for ideation".

• Read more about steps involved in considering yourself an artist in this blog post at Karen Kelsky's The Professor is in: Just One Thing: Claim Your Creativity - The Professor Is In

Gerald Lind advises a mindset of "openness".

• Up to a certain point, to be effective at creative exploration of possible new projects, you must desist from thinking of a specific outcome (and future reception of your brainchild).
• That's a tip not only for researchers, but rooted in his experience with writing novels.

And we at the PostDoc Office suggest finding yourself a willing audience to listen to you talk yourself through new ideas (obviously offer the same to your peers as well!).

• Hearing yourself talk in front of trusted colleagues can do wonders for coming up with new connections between topics, assessing ideas for feasibility, and convincing yourself they are worth pursuing.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Do you have a knack for productive work meetings? Or do yours resemble involuntary therapy sessions?

* RCC Blog, 15.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Let's share some hacks for getting things done collaboratively. Below is what works for us!

Before the meeting: Advance preparation!

• Determine if the meeting is necessary at all (or...could it be an email?)
• Communicate a clear goal
• Let everyone have the agenda
• Give a deadline if input is needed on anything beforehand
• Make sure everyone knows why they participate
• Agree on roles: who facilitates, who takes minutes, who prepares what

At the start of the meeting:

• Allow participants to settle in, but start on time
• Facilitator welcomes, sets out goal again
• Intro round if not everyone knows each other, explain roles
• Explain note taking and what will happen with notes afterwards
• Agree again on agenda topics, adding topics if necessary, denying addition of topic if not suitable
• Make clear again when the meeting will end

During the meeting: The facilitator...

• makes sure that everyone has chance to participate
• watches the clock
• politely cuts short long-winded speakers, involves silent ones if needed
• guides through agenda items
• summarizes important outcomes verbally to get consent on them, making it easier for the notetaker

End of meeting:

• Summarize main results & give overview of what will happen next
• Note down: Who does what until when?
• What are open points for the next meeting?
• Find another date if needed

What have we forgotten? What's your style? Do you love meetings?

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Inquiry into effects of climate change, disease prevention, border politics, or family relationships: Doing research on these topics - and many more! - can be emotionally challenging.

* RCC Blog, 05.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

We want to highlight support options - and hear from you about what you build into your projects to maintain researcher wellbeing.

(1) TAKE UP TRAINING OPTIONS

Tina Skinner and Kristine Brance offer this workshop on May 15, 2024: "Addressing Secondary Trauma in Emotionally Challenging Research: impact, coping and proactive interventions". Check out the whole project on researcher wellbeing: (PDF) Researcher Wellbeing Project Report 11 12 23 (researchgate.net)
(Thanks to Stefanie Giljohann for your March posting on this important topic!)

(2) PLAN FOR RESEARCHER WELLBEING

Build provision for researcher wellbeing into project proposals. These questions need to be addressed before the project starts:

• How can researchers access help in case of negative impact?
• What's the budget set aside for this?
• How will the workload allow for accessing support services?
• Which experts will provide regular team supervision?
• What sort of team culture can be helpful to maintain wellbeing?
• Is this support available in every language and for every researcher?
• Is there methodology specific to your field that is the gold standard? (such as Ethnopsychoanalytical Reflection Groups for qualitative inquiry*)

(3) ACCESS UNIVERSITY & EXTERNAL SUPPORT SERVICES

Gain familiarity with support services before it is needed. Signpost others to it. Contact providers proactively and ask them about what exactly they offer and how.

• Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz has free employee counselling - find it via typing "Uni Help" into the intranet search bar
• BVAEB - Versicherungsanstalt öffentlich Bediensteter, Eisenbahnen und Bergbau offers free psychological counselling
• Psychotherapy can be accessed in Austria via a primary care doctor.

(4) TAKE YOURSELF SERIOUSLY

You don't have to do research on "extreme" subjects to be affected emotionally. If you feel you would like support, that's enough of a reason to access it. It's an investment into your development and future ability to handle challenging situations.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Are you taking up a new role soon?

* RCC Blog, 04.04.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Postdocs are often experts at managing transitions. Here are suggestions ⁽¹⁾ on how to arrive successfully in a new job. Let us know what works for you!

"Being new" is a time with potential that you should use intentionally.
You might be more permitted to

• ask „stupid“ questions and inquire into the status quo
• try doing things in a new way, unique to you
• make mistakes, since you don’t know the informal and formal rules yet

Get a feel for the social environment in which you are operating. Identify and actively approach your main „stakeholders“:

• in your unit and related disciplines
• from relevant research networks
• from relevant administrative units
• in university committees and leadership
• among the student body
• in the city and region

Reflect on each of these groups‘ expectations:

• What influence do they hold related to your goals?
• What are their interests in your work?
• Are they neutral, critical or positive towards what you want to achieve?
• How do they prefer to communicate and collaborate?
• What and who do they not like?

After you have "gathered data" by actively seeking chats and asking questions, think about how you want to fit into this environment:

• Is there wiggle room that you can actively use?
• What expectations can you fulfil and where are your boundaries?
• Who can be supportive persons?
• Which patterns do you want to establish now to create an environment in which you can do a good job?

We have a useful guideline for your first talks with a new supervisor here: Wie kooperiere ich gut mit Vorgesetzten und in der Organisation? - Information und Service für PostDocs (uni-graz.at)

⁽¹⁾ Read more in this text by Dr. Anette Hammerschmidt: "Anfang gestalten", in a book co-edited by her called "Forschen Lehren Führen Das ABC für die Hochschulkarriere".

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Do you celebrate things you tried that didn't work out? Do you acknowledge work put into rejected proposals, conference talks, job applications? Sharing professional fiascos (in a fun and community-minded manner) can put them into perspective.

* RCC Blog, 27.03.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Below we offer:

1. suggestions on what to do with your team, in your group, across your school/faculty.
2. inspiration on improving your teaching and research praxis
3. notes on how to establish an error-friendly culture

1) Things to try with your team. group or school

Rejection Party: Create a Rejection Spreadsheet and Host A Party 

• This piece outlines the idea and positive effects: Let's Celebrate Our Failures - The Atlantic
• Everyone who gets rejected for a grant (or anything else you determine party-worthy) logs it into the speadsheet, and when you hit a certain number, you host a celebration.

Rejection CV: Compile a CV of things tried and failed and give a public dramatic reading 

• You might have heard of the CV of Failures: This Princeton Professor's CV of Failures Is Something We Should All Learn From : ScienceAlert
• Why not try compiling one yourself, motivate your group members to do it as well, and get together to give each other dramatic readings from it?

Rhaina Cohen's text linked above imparts the following wisdom:

• by making rejection experiences visible we can show that it is an ordinary part of a career
• rejection stings less when it’s reframed as progress and handled as a community
• letting go of fear of failure can lead us to take bigger risks and be more confident

2) How to improve your teaching and research praxis

Further development is not about finding an error-free solution, but rather about practicing, teamwork, trying things out and communicating.
An essential part of the learning process is making mistakes:

1. Assess what happened.
2. Integrate learnings into a new way of doing things.
3. Move on.

Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz has devoted their teaching excellence award this year to the topic of failures. It will nominate those lecturers who create a space in which

• Students learn how to deal with errors productively
• Students receive constructive feedback
• an error-friendly culture is established

On Apr 26, you can take a training on "failure as opportunity" in your teaching praxis:Misslingen als Chance (uni-graz.at)

What about research?
In a current Research Culture Uncovered episode, the discussants call for acknowledging research failures:

• away from a blind focus on reward
• to ensure that failures are properly reflected upon
• and an awareness of how to avoid negative impact of research in the future

Listen to Exploring Grimpact: The Other Side of Research Impact with Gemma Derrick, (Bonus) Exploring Grimpact: The Other Side of Research Impact with Gemma Derrick - Research Culture Uncovered (captivate.fm)
 

3) How to establish an error-friendly culture

Not everything you go for professionally will work out  That doesn‘t reflect on your abilities. We’re suggesting: Celebrate your professional fiascos!  What does an error-friendly approach to your work encompass? What might be benefits of an error-fiendly team culture? 

In the postdoctoral career stage, failure to achieve milestones can mean the end of funding. Monitoring and reporting are widespread. Even without external pressure, academics often hold themselves and their work to high standards (which is good, since the world needs high-quality research!).

On a personal level, this can mean fear of mistakes and being negatively assessed is ever-present, while obvious achievements being taken for granted (which is bad, since it makes for unhappy researchers).

An error-friendly approach can help: Reflect on the standards you hold yourself and your team to:

• When is error-free work necessary and shows professionalism?
• Where does more effort not lead improvement of the outcome?
• Where can you allow errors (and therefore learning experiences) to happen, because you can handle repercussions?
• How much monitoring and control can you do without realistically?
• What systems are in place for open discussing of mistakes and learning from each other?
• Can you bring in some outside help to explore what "trial and error" can look like in your field and team?
• What does joyful, creative and brave exploration look like, and does your culture allow for it?
• What support do you need to manage critical feedback well?

On November 4, 2024, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz will again be the host for the Fiasco Fest. Postdoctoral researchers from all the Graz universities will be guided through joyfully facing and integrating their mishaps by Sabine Bergner, and learn from each other.

Read on:

• EILLES-MATTHIESSEN, Claudia und POHL, Carsten, 2015. Perfektionismus als Thema im Coaching. Ideen für ein wertschätzendes Navigieren zwischen Leistungsmotivation und Optimierungszwang. In. Coaching-Magazin 1/2015,
• S. 34–38.
• Petra Boynton (2020): Being Well in Academia: Ways to Feel Stronger, Safer and More Connected, Routledge.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Do you regenerate best when you are with others? Or do you enjoy a nice quiet walk between one part of the workday and another? In either case, we suggest you take a lunch break!

* RCC Blog, 26.03.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

What are the benefits?

• Getting up from your desk relieves back and neck pain.
• Stepping away from tasks supports regaining focus.
• Eating well and regularly maintains your energy levels.
• Going outdoors during the workday gives access to vital daylight.
• Taking a social lunch means you stay connected.
• A brisk walk reduces stress levels.

And here are some options for how to spend it.

1: If you are social (but maybe don't currently have lunch buddies):

•  You can join Personal- und Organisationsentwicklung's Tuesday Lunch Exercise. No charge, no registration, just come to the garden of the Personalressort at 12:05.
•  You can come to the PostDoc social lunch at Cafe Global, every semester at the last Wednesday at 12.

2: If you are not social:

• Why not check out these green spaces next to the main campus: Hilmteich, Botanic Gardens, Rosenhain
•  Or come and sit quietly in our PostDoc space in Heinrichstrasse 22, 2nd floor. Let us know when you need the room and we won't disturb you.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Here is a list of reading recommendations on the topic of the 2024 PostDoc Office Annual Event: the mobility requirement for academic careers.

* RCC Blog, 21.03.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Substantial international working experience and networks across the globe are understood to be a pre-requisite for a professorship. Academic mobility can, however, be at odds with care obligations and intimate relationships. Furthermore, Homophily mechanisms in hiring, varying language proficiency, and local traditions in assessing research performance might even disadvantage scholars who move often.

Make up your own mind by diving into these recent publications:

Sautier, M. (2021): Move or perish? Sticky mobilities in the Swiss academic context. High Educ 82, 799–822

• The article asks: How do institutional definitions of "research mobility" compare to the lived practice of academics? Should you "feign a long stay abroad" to satisfy assessment criteria? It uses qualitative analysis of over 60 interviews with early-career researchers, as well as case studies, and goes into: why mobility is a gendered precarity issue, how researchers experience both career development benefits as well as added insecurities when changing places, how costs of mobility can be different according to gender, how postdoc researchers who are unwilling or unable to relocate may build similar competencies easily via other means, the many different practices of being "on the move", such as commuting ...and more!

Vera Axyonova, PhD / Florian Kohstall / Carola Richter (eds., 2022): Academics in Exile: Networks, Knowledge Exchange and New Forms of Internationalization, transcript Verlag

• What the book does: it unpacks the paradoxes of exile and provides insights from the lived experiences of displaced academics, it argues that the involuntary academic mobility of #displaced and at-risk scholars can significantly impact and shape transnational knowledge production, transfer, and exchange, it critically explores what academic freedom means in the context of scholars’ precarity and subjectivities.

Simone Kauffeld et al. (2019). Auf dem Weg zur Professur? Laufbahnen im wissenschaftlichen Kontext. In: Kauffeld, S., Spurk, D. (eds) Handbuch Karriere und Laufbahnmanagement. Springer Reference Psychologie

• Why is it not expected for an academic to remain at the same institution from graduate school to tenure? What does career research tell us about how academic paths work? What are the historical conditions in which certain policies have made sense for universities? The article goes into what the background to the "Hausberufungsverbot" in Germany is, employment and career development conditions at German universities, evidence-based key predictors for successful academic careers, data on the German academic system (such as age of first professorship) ...and more!

Hochschulrektorenkonferenz (2024): Gewinnung und Berufung internationaler Professor:innen, here.

• Topics: The complex issue of attracting talent and creating a thriving, diverse, and multi-lingual research community. How successful are universities in German-speaking countries in recruiting international professors? And how do they ensure that the researchers will have the best experience once appointed? The Handreichung shows existing challenges many will know from personal experience, such as monolingual buerocratic systems, implicit bias in selection committees, lack of welcome culture or dual career support - and makes concrete suggestions on how to change this.

Helene Schiffbaenker, Florian Holzinger and Marita Haas (2022): The gendered nature of independence in the context of research funding and excellence. SN Social Sciences 2(12)

• What does the notion of „independence“ mean when you are evaluated by funding panels, and how is it connected to mobility and gender?  The authors looked into how reviewers for a large grants understand the idea of a researcher's independence. What do they draw upon when they assess the independence of an early career researcher? The authors identified five dimensions that are related to relationships with influential figures (supervisors, managers) as well as to originality, networks and mobility. They make the point that these constructions of independence are gendered.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

What power can you wield as a member of an internal committee?

* RCC Blog, 20.03.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

How might it serve your academic career? We’ll explore this question with expert Renate Dworczak again in May 2024 - and here are some thoughts to get you in the mood.

What are potentials of serving on a committee within your university?

• You understand how your institution (and similar ones) works and is governed
• You establish your professional network within the university
• You get proficient in building coalitions across units to reach goals
• You can have an impact on long-term strategic directions of your unit or the whole university
• You are in the know on current developments
• You can get things done and get a reputation for getting things done

What are critical perspectives on committee work?

• It can take time away from scholarly work that has a higher likelyhood of getting rewarded by funders and hiring committees
• If you are a temporary employee or an international scholar, sometimes you have to fight for a seat at the table
• If you happen to fall into an underrepresented category, you might end up fighting off constant invitations to serve in committees
• There might be a culture of decision making and hidden interests that appear impenetrable to an „outsider“

For the Austrian context, this is an insightful article:

• Enzenhofer, B, Elisabeth Anna Guenther, Brigitte Ratzer (2021). „Unangenehm ist normaler Alltag“ – Quote und Macht in universitären Gremien am Beispiel von Technischen Fakultäten in Österreich. In: Wroblewski, A., Schmidt, A. (eds) Gleichstellungspolitiken revisted. Springer VS, Wiesbaden

You can register for our expert talk on May 15 (go to kurse.uni-graz.at/postdocs) to discuss this topic further!

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Why do I have to fill out yet another form? And why are there so many ways of filling it out incorrectly?

* RCC Blog, 12.03.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Handling university buerocratic processes is a heated issue. So much so that we like to use it as an ice-breaker topic for our PostDoc Pizza nights.

The PostDoc Office is a third-space unit. We have a research background, but we’re part of the Verwaltung - and we are passionate about collaboration. So allow us to aid your efficient handling of necessary (and unnecessary) admin with these suggestions:

How to actually get things done: Be as proactive as you can.

• Identify colleagues who have experience and can guide you.
• Be aware that a friendly phone call can achieve results if written communication can't.
• Be as concise and short as you can in your requests, lead with the important stuff!
• Once you have identified supportive persons, maintain a good relationship.
• Follow up if you haven't heard anything - but allow a reasonable time frame.
• Understand that usually, if someone says they can't help you, it's not because they don't want to. But they might still advise you how to get a solution.
• Explain your context and constraints to achieve understanding.

How to be less frustrated: Understand it like an anthropologist.

• The roles of research staff and admin staff follow different contraints.
• To achieve excellent research results, you are required to innovate, be creative, self-organize, be flexible and pivot.
• To support the running of a university, one must adhere to regulations and laws, which should apply equally to all.
• The work of admin staff is usually subject to directives and placed within strong hierarchies. Their professional practice includes getting others to follow processes and further developing them.
• Compensation and job flexiblity also differs quite a bit.

So have fun collaborating! Do you have top tips to share?

Thanks for the inspiration & wisdom to:

• Dr. Neela Enke, who has written a great piece about it in this utb. book: Forschen Lehren Führen: Das ABC für die Hochschulkarriere (p. 222f).
• German Scholars Organization e.V. (GSO) who share tips here: Dealing with Bureaucracy in German Academia - German Scholars Organization (gsonet.org)

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

You know how to write a compelling grant proposal and where to get expert support. But do you know how to cope when it doesn’t work out? 

* RCC Blog, 11.03.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Join us in exploring how to handle failed grant applications. Let us know what your strategies are! And find some inspiring reads on this below.

PUT IT IN CONTEXT AND DE-PERSONALIZE IT

• Since most grants do not have a 100% funding rate (more 1% to 20%), competition and high rejection rates are a feature of the system.
• Your unsuccessful proposal is part of the majority.
• Every researcher will have more rejections than funded projects.
• That your project wasn’t funded doesn’t mean it wasn’t fundable.
• Excellent proposals can be rejected because the funder’s budget was exceeded.

ALLOW TIME BEFORE YOU CONSIDER NEXT STEPS

• Put the proposal to the side for some days.
• Allowing associated emotions enough space can help with regaining clarity of mind.

IF COMMISERATION HELPS YOU, KNOW WHERE TO GET IT

• It’s good to mark submission of a proposal with a small celebration, and it’s good to mark also the decision – positive or negative.
• Make an occasion of it by seeking the sympathetic ear of someone who has been through it.
• Your peers might be most helpful, since they know the stakes involved maybe better than a long-time tenured professor can.

PUT IT IN CONTEXT AND DE-PERSONALIZE IT

• Since most grants do not have a 100% funding rate (more 1% to 20%), competition and high rejection rates are a feature of the system.
• Your unsuccessful proposal is part of the majority.
• Every researcher will have more rejections than funded projects.
• That your project wasn’t funded doesn’t mean it wasn’t fundable.
• Excellent proposals can be rejected because the funder’s budget was exceeded.

ALLOW TIME BEFORE YOU CONSIDER NEXT STEPS

• Put the proposal to the side for some days.
• Allowing associated emotions enough space can help with regaining clarity of mind.

IF COMMISERATION HELPS YOU, KNOW WHERE TO GET IT

• It’s good to mark submission of a proposal with a small celebration, and it’s good to mark also the decision – positive or negative.
• Make an occasion of it by seeking the sympathetic ear of someone who has been through it.
• Your peers might be most helpful, since they know the stakes involved maybe better than a long-time tenured professor can.

IF YOU HAVE TAKEN AMPLE TIME AND MADE SPACE TO CELEBRATE THIS GRANT FIASCO: WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?

Suggestion 1: Connect to peers, mentors and research management professionals.

Why? Because they might...

• help provide context for the rejection, if they know the scheme in question or the research area deeply.
• point you to suitable funding opportunities to bridge a gap.
• connect you to a larger group that you could join in a new bid.
• help assess if resubmission is allowed and likely to lead to a better outcome.
• help you assess feedback you received from the funding body.

Suggestion 2: Seek alternative ways to get your idea out into the world – and do it justice.

How? By considering if...

• your current circumstances allow submitting a quality proposal – or if you need more time, additional resources, or support. If necessary, advocate for these.
• it makes sense to break down the project you proposed, aiming for different sources of funding to cover specific aspects of the work.
• you want to re-purpose work to create another form of visibility for your innovative idea and thereby prepare the ground for future funding (e.g. write a literature review, organize a lecture series, or conferene panel?)
• it makes sense to maintain the relationships established in the process. Maybe a creative collaborative endeavor can come of it – or maybe you part ways for the time being.

Suggestion 3: Continue to give yourself credit.

Why? Because the work you did

• in establishing collaborations,
• setting up an argument and a narrative,
• researching funding schemes & getting familiar with requirements,
• laying the empirical ground work,
• checking the feasibility of your idea,
• project planning your writing time,
• editing,
• getting expert support

-> all of this is valuable and should be acknowledged - regardless of the outcome.

* Fiasco Fest is what we call it here in Graz when postdoctoral researchers get together and celebrate each other as the excellent researchers they are. It happens every autumn guided by Sabine Bergner.

* Fiasco Fest is what we call it here in Graz when postdoctoral researchers get together and celebrate each other as the excellent researchers they are. It happens every autumn guided by Sabine Bergner.

Read more here:

• Anna Pilz: #ResearcherRealities: Unsuccessful grants and what to do with them – IAD4RESEARCHERS (ed.ac.uk)
• Anna Pilz: A Comprehensive Guide to Fellowship Applications — University of Edinburgh Research Explorer 
• James Mitchell Crow:  What to do when your grant is rejected (nature.com)

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

* RCC Blog #1, 27.02.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Suggestions for recruiting female researchers for professorships

Would you like to have a wealth of brilliant female researchers around you? Do you suspect that a mixed, diverse team might be more productive? Are you concerned that open positions at your unit often have more male applicants? Here’s some tips on how to recruit female research talents for top positions.

Your unit will have a professorship coming up in a couple of years‘ time. Become visible internationally & increase your female candidate pool by:

• creating semester programmes of female-researcher-led guest lectures
• creating or advertising existing short-term fellowship opportunities for female researchers 
• selecting a majority of women for your unit’s edited editions & conferences

Use an ongoing process of scouting „out of the box“ to become more aware of brilliant women in your field. That can mean:

• going beyond who everyone at your department knows, and beyond who comes to mind first
• making it a task in your regular department meetings to present one female researcher that wasn’t previously known to you
• checking female-only expert databases for your field or blogs devoted to raising visibilty of "women in [field]"
• creating a „pipeline“ by intentionally giving female students, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers transparent information on academic career paths & and the profile that is needed to develop into a desirable candidate

What could a professorship look like to attract a large number of female applicants? Try:

• having a wider denomination
• leaving it open in terms of seniority until you have an overview of candidates (open-rank)
• a top-sharing professorship
• being very transparent with expectations & framework conditions

For all three segments: Make sure you and those around you:

• receive your unit's female visisting researchers enthusiastically
• have fun with brainstorming outside the box
• are aware of personal and systemic biases when serving in hiring committees!

Resources:

• Read on in this useful guide by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation: fog-empfehlungen-2020-data.pdf (dfg.de)
• Experts like Zita Küng can offer systematic approaches for identifying the wealth of female talents in your field: Die Gute Nachrede® equality (equality-consulting.ch)

* This text is the inaugural post of our researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How and why should we reflect about the academic habitus and increase diversity?

* RCC Blog, Feb 28, 2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Ever been mistaken for cleaning staff when setting up for a lecture? Or wondered what to change about yourself so you fit in better? Academia regularly loses talents by making those who might not fit the dominant image of academics feel out of place. Let’s talk about how we can make our universities and research teams a more diverse place.

Maynooth University psychologist Katriona O'Sullivan has managed several large grants, and makes a significant impact on policy. Her bestselling memoir describes that when she started her career, she was made to feel out of place at university. Flowery dresses, gold hoops, fake tan, and speech patterns figure in her vivid description of how (not) to pass as "professorial". O'Sullivan didn’t leave academia, but switched to a more diverse institution.

Feeling like an outsider or imposter isn’t something people make up in their mind, or a lack of self-confidence. It’s often the result of repeatedly experiencing systemic bias and exclusion (to quote Ruchika Tulshyan & Jodi-Ann Burey).

If we want to keep potentially brilliant researchers from leaving, academia needs to be more accessible and permeable. In a leadership role, you have the power to make it easier for everyone. How?

• Focus on potential rather than background when making decisions (like taking on a PhD candidate or hiring someone for your team).

• Think: Could communication in your team or your hiring processes benefit from an external coaching to reduce bias and exclusion of great perspectives or candidates?

• Check your citations, reading assignments, choice of visiting lecturers: Is there a theme that could be traced back to a bias?

• Reflect: Can students from all walks of life find role models in your department? Can they ask questions and are their ideas acknowledged?

• Think twice before you tell someone to be more confident or resilient, and instead reflect on if you can change your environment to require this less.

What else do you do to attract and retain the brightest researchers?

Read on:

• Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey (2021): Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome, Harvard Business Review, 
• Katriona O’Sullivan (2023): Poor, Sandicove.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

What does conference organization give to your career?

* RCC Blog, 26.02.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

We're sharing these insights to inspire you to apply for a PostDoc Event Grant! Here's our evidence-based answer from evaluating the impact of the grants:

Organizing academic events is valuable for your career because:

• It gives visibility to your specific field of research and your unique contributions to it.
• It allows you to make sustainable connections with fellow researchers.
• It makes your CV more competitive, as it is an essential requirement to become eligible for large grants.
• You can hone your programming and facilitating skills by drafting an exciting call and putting together an engaging agenda.
• You can invite those keynote speakers who you find most intriguing.
• It shows you are able to create a budget and obtain funding from different sources.
• It puts your working group and the university as a whole on the map of places where innovative research is taking place, and it might just attract inspiring future co-workers.
• It demonstrates your project management skills to future employers inside and beyond academia.
• It sets you up with a network of helpful people in and out of the university (i.e. technical staff, billing department, catering companies, room booking…) from which you can let your collegues benefit in the future.

There’s a lot more – feel free to send us your view on the subject!

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How could you benefit from peer mentoring?

* RCC Blog, 07.02.2024, Petra Hamer & Johanna Stadlbauer

We've asked Petra Hamer, anthropologist & member of the 2nd cohort of our programme, to share her insights with us! Read about her surprises, and what's happening for her in 2024. 

Tell us a little about yourself and why you decided to take part in the programme.

My name is Petra Hamer and I come from Slovenia. I am an ethnologist and cultural anthropologist and I finished my PhD studies at the Centre for Southeast European Studies. During the long (and Covid-related) phase of writing the thesis, I realised how lonely the process is/was. After getting an Austrian Academy of Sciences scholarship for my future book, I knew I needed more contact with my peers in the process of writing. The Peer Mentoring programme seemed like a perfect place for it.

What surprised you the most about the programme?

The first surprise was actually realising how different and diverse Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz is. In a sense, I have spent most of my time with fellow anthropologists, ethnologists, historians… and here, there were a geographer, a chemist, an economist, psychologists…. And they all have similar interests as I have.

Why would you recommend it to other researchers?

The Peer Mentoring programme is a great place to meet new people, to exchange ideas, questions, dilemmas, fears, gossips. It is a safe environment where you can freely talk about different topics, you get professional trainers and specialist to help you and support you along the way. I learned many new methods, started to cherish and acknowledge my academic career even more. I became more familiar with the possible funding organisations, and I learned to be more goal oriented.

What's next for you in 2024?

2024 will be a busy year. Next to writing a book about musical landscape in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the war, I am a postdoc researcher at an European Research Council (ERC)-funded project at the University of Ljubljana, and I will conduct ethnographical fieldwork in several Bosnian-Herzegovinian cities. Additionally I have couple of conferences to organise and/or attend, articles to write, and I will spend my free time with my family and friends doing things I like.  

We thank Petra Hamer for agreeing to this interview - and congratulate all former members of the programme on their achivements and your dedication to collaboration!
 

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

What are merits, dangers and tools of public engagement?

* RCC Blog, Feb 5, 2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Takeaways from an expert talk with cultural historian and heavy metal researcher Peter Pichler:

What can make you hesitate to engage in science communication?

• Traditions in your discipline (like a lack of strong networks with schools, museums, policy makers..) or practices in your research group influence how „doable“ scicomm & public engagement feel to early-career researchers.
• It might appear that you produce nothing of relevance for a „broad“ audience because a widely impactful result of your research is some decades down the line.
• Or your research might be „too relevant“ (such as exploitation of local communities for globalized food production, or migration issues), making you fear that you can create misunderstandings.
• As a female researcher, you mightn't want to risk reactions such as "she's shamelessly self-promoting..." or getting hate online when talking about complex issues.
• It takes time and creates a workload next to what you "actually should be doing".

What are ways to approach this activity productively?

• Be strategic in who you want to reach and why and choose your media & tools accordingly.
• Use metaphors, comparisons, connections to your audiences' lifeworlds to "hook" them in and interest them.
• See how you can combine public engagement with the rest of your work to make it reap more benefits (with teaching, with data collection, ...)
• It is an ongoing process - if you feel you were misunderstood, you have another chance with a new act of communication, as in everyday communication.
• Try out different tools, let yourself be mentored, and select those you can do authentically.

Peter Pichler encouraged that you should reflect

• is this for me
• what is in it for me (for my research)
• who is your most important audience
• what can I connect to that is currently of general interest
• when is it good to reach out
• ...and then BE PROACTIVE!

We thank the participants of this international and interdisciplinary group, who posed honest, critical questions and described their practices freely. 

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How do you get into a calm frame of mind after a stimulating work day?

* RCC Blog, 05.02.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Here's a suggestion from our collection of practices intended to make you feel good about yourself.

Explore what allows you to release tension built up during a work day. 

There are evidence-based strategies for moving from stressed to calm. Identifying the strategies which work for you and using them regularly can help you rest and recharge better.

Things to try after a work day:

• exerting your body (from punching a pillow for a minute to going for a run)
• creative explorations (paint, scribble, sing, dance...)
•  physical affection (from humans or animals close to you)
• deep breathing, laughing

Where to learn more:

• Amelia Nagoski and Emily Nagoski talk about the theory behind this in their book "Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle".
• More things to try can be found in this great book: Petra Boynton (2020): Being Well in Academia: Ways to Feel Stronger, Safer and More Connected, Routledge.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Is there a perfect way of designing a CV & application documents to get hired at a university?

* RCC Blog, 30.01.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

What are the country-specific conventions? Here are suggestions for those currently jobhunting in European academia!

• Disciplinary culture, preferences & prior international experiences of hiring committee members, and regulations at universities may all influence how your documents are perceived. So you might have to customize and adapt.
• Go for "reader-friendly" (i.e. easy for hiring committee to create synopsis of your candidacy, well-structured into thematic sections, clearly highlighting professional path, education, strengths, research focus, and additional qualifications).
• Get inspiration for styles & structure from other researchers who were already hired where you want to work - often they will have a PDF of their CV online. (Discuss with a trusted colleague if some elements strike you as very unusal!)
• Research the unit you are applying at to see how you fit into their set-up: who can you collaborate with, what skills do you bring that are missing, how will you meet their current needs. Make it easy for those assessing your documents to see how your profile fits the role description.

For German-speaking countries:

• Conventions & guidelines can be found in "Bewerben auf Juniorprofessuren und Professuren. Strategien für die ersten Berufungsverfahren" by Mirjam Müller as well as in "Blackbox Berufung. Strategien auf dem Weg zur Professur" by Christine Färber and Ute Riedler (both in our uni library!).
• If you work at Uni Graz, use our yearly workshop with expert Dr. Margarete Hubrath or access our coaching offers! And talk to us obviously!

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

What's a work pace you are comfortable with?

* RCC Blog, 24.01.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

And where are the guidelines for this? Here comes another suggestion from our collection on "recharging your research batteries"!

Use yourself as a measure to find a sustainable work pace. 
When planning your work, ask yourself:

• What is realistic to achieve in a day so I can also do it tomorrow and the day after tomorrow?

It can be a more useful question than asking yourself what is expected of you. The answer will be unique to you and your current circumstances.

The question is taken from participant discussions in workshops about handling work stress and self-care. Related tips from the participating researchers were:

• be realistic with your to do lists: create achievable steps; adjust when you realize that a task is bigger than expected
• set alarms for breaks
• don't use perfection as a measure to count a task as done
• visualize your achieved results/completed tasks
• create a ritual to mark the end of a workday

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

A key to good time management is saying no.

* RCC Blog, 18.01.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

We're bringing you this suggestion from our collection of practices to feel good about yourself:

Avail yourself of a Saying-No-Committee and become a specialist in saying no. 

Being aware of your priorities and resources when evaluating tasks for which you take responsibility can make you a better researcher.

Questions you can ask yourself to assess opportunities and tasks:

• Does this fit my research agenda and identity?
• Do I have time to do a good job on it without sacrificing my other committments?
• Does this leave space for my personal life?

It's hard emotional work, so you might need a group of peers to help you assess opportunities and practice declining them. The questions above and lots of learnings from this experiment in intentional yes-saying come from this article: Why four scientists spent a year saying no (nature.com)

In it, four mid-career environmental social scientists describe how this helped preserve energy and creative capacity to do a better job. Give it a read and be inspired for your own praxis!

How do you handle saying no?

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Where are we at with accessibility and academic careers?

* RCC Blog, 16.01.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

What are spoonie researchers? And how is academia equipped to let them thrive and do their work? Let's share some resources.

What's with the spoons?

• Spoon theory describes what life can feel like for someone whose energy gets depleted quickly. The spoons symbolize energy reserves. Handling the barriers in a society built for able-bodied people can severely reduce your spoons. And, of course, our bodies have different capacities, depending on the current state of our health.
• The Secret Life of an Academic Spoonie, published anonymously on Karen Kelsky's blog, details the everyday (internal) negotiations necessary to succeed in highly competitive environments as a person with a chronic illness: The Secret Life of an Academic Spoonie-WOC Guest Post - The Professor Is In
• Katta Spiel's interview for Geraldine Fitzpatrick's Changing Academic Life podcast is also very insightful in this regard: Katta Spiel (Part 1) on career uncertainties, gender identity and health issues - Changing Academic Life (captivate.fm)

 
How are these experiences recognized in academia ?

• Research funders show increasingly more awareness that timelines for achivements can be influenced by this. They try to design their selection processes accordingly. Austrian Science Fund FWF for example states „career breaks or interruptions due to disabilities, chronic illnesses, or other reasons can be detailed when submitting a proposal.“, see Inclusion — FWF
• Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz explicitly states on our careers page that we welcome applications from researchers (and all other professions) with disabilities. According to research by journalists from Dossier and Andererseits, our current initiatives and support structures work quite well, but of course there’s always room for improvement.

If you want to deep-dive into the data on this topic, we recommend:

Verena Bauer and Theresa-Marie Stütz wrote a great article on the current state of support for students and PhD researchers at Austrian universities: DOSSIER · Lernblockade

A 130-page report from the Austrian Rechnungshof (2022) details career provision for early-career researchers at universities, such as the ProMoLi programme for PhDs, accessiblity of buildings, existence (or lack of) contact points, inclusive didactics and more: Bericht des Rechnungshofes: Barrierefreies Arbeiten und Studieren an Universitäten (uniability.org)

2023 also saw the publication of a special issue of Forum Neue Medien in der Lehre Austria titled 'Inclusive Design of Universities – Innovation and Accessibility in Teaching', with contributions by the Zentrum für digitales Lehren und Lernen team & fascinating insights into AI and accessiblity: fnma Magazin | Forum Neue Medien

DISTA (disability studies austria) provides a useful link list related to academia and disability here: Partner und Links - DISTA (uniability.org)

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How do I plan my next career move? And where do I look for jobs?

* RCC Blog, 10.01.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Here are some platforms that list vacancies for people with a research background - in Austria, Europe and beyond! These platforms not only come in useful if you currently need a job. Researching on them can also be great if you want to:

• see requirements for certain job types and work on your skills accordingly
• check typical documents and steps required in an application process
• compare salaries and benefits in different countries
• gain an idea of how frequently vacancies come up in your discipline and if there are any current "trendy topics"
• compare academia with other sectors which employ researchers

EURAXESS lists vacancies and fellowships from more than 40 European countries and other regions in the world: Jobs & Funding | EURAXESS (europa.eu)

The Job-Börse of Austrian Science Fund FWF is a service for anyone interested in getting involved in a FWF project: Research-related job openings — FWF

German Scholars Organization e.V. (GSO) Top Picks – Jobs für Wissenschaftler*innen presents selected opportunities for researchers in academia and beyond: Top Picks Jobangebote - German Scholars Organization (gsonet.org)

ERIC FORUM lists jobs at European Research Infrastructures such as BBMRI-ERIC, DARIAH ERIC, CESSDA ERIC, European Social Survey, SHARE-ERIC and more: Job Opportunities - (eric-forum.eu)

For the UK, a suggestion from social psychologist and author Petra Boynton: 

• jobs.ac.uk have listings and free resources to help with job seeking, applications etc. Also I always recommend searching different university websites in places you'd like to work as jobs are listed there. So much also happens through networks so professional organisations and informal groups (particularly online) can be really beneficial.

And of course:

• join mailing lists for your discipline / field of research and look up the websites of relevant professional organisations!

More help for career planning can be found on our website: Wie plane ich meinen nächsten Karriereschritt? 

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

We would like to draw your attention to six dimensions of kindness in everyday interactions in academia. 

* RCC Blog, 04.01.2024, Johanna Stadlbauer

Introduction

Giving one's time and attention to aid someone else’s work: that's an example of kindness in academia. Can kindness go beyond the interpersonal, to the organisational dimension?

As a researcher, you might have experienced academic kindness when:

• a more experienced scholar mentors you
• peers take time to edit your work, gift their phrases and subject matter expertise
• information is shared freely, so all have the same access to opportunities
• colleagues participate in a greater cause that doesn't serve an immediate purpose for them personally
• people you meet encourage you and highlight your strengths, also to others

You might also have had opposite experiences:

•  witnessing game of thrones-like wars between research approaches,
•  inappropriately harsh public criticism,
• carelessness in the duty towards early-career colleagues,
•  glorification of over-work, etc.

These instances can make one question if one should stay in this sector. To make academia a good workplace for all those who have something to contribute to research and education, it's worthwile to focus on the concept of academic kindness. 

There are current examples for kindness as a mode of organisational development, e.g. from Scotland and the Netherlands, heavily centered around teamspirit and collegiality:

• Utrecht University puts a lot of thought into changes in recognition and reward systems, towards an openscience culture in which "colleagues are willing to help one another, pay attention to diversity, and are open to sharing our knowledge". 
• The University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh and University of St Andrews are just kicking off a 3mio Wellcome Trust funded collaboration to "identify and overcome the barriers to a more equitable, inclusive and kinder research culture".

These exciting initatives are inspired by and will inspire the many ongoing changes in the higher education sector (research assessment, the validity of distinct staff categories, job security, leadership skills, ...). 

Organisations have to have rules in place to encourage good professional conduct and fair, healthy working environments. It can't be on individuals only to negotiate gaps in the system, to be "kind to one another". Therefore, we'll take a lot of note of initiatives like those above for our work at the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz!

Example No 1: the work of persons who support junior colleagues and act as mentors and supervisors.

Many researchers thrive when they receive mentorship that is empowering, makes visible opportunities, shows an understanding of their specific circumstances, and encourages professional development. To quote the academic kindness tumblr blog:

• "My supervisor believed in me and my ability to learn, gave me heaps of constructive feedback and was always willing to praise the work that I did. A senior colleague offered to pay for a graduate student to do several hours of work for me every week this summer to ensure I make my tenure deadlines."

Providing mentorship can be joyful and fulfilling. It’s satisfying to have a part in someone else’s success. Especially for those who haven’t had the most easy path in academia themselves. In that sense, support for junior colleagues is essential for a more diverse and equal academia.

But it must be stressed: Mentoring and supervision are academic care work. They require time, skills, and emotional stamina. They need to be recognized in tenure, hiring, funding decisions. 

Rayne et al (2023) call for the science system as whole to enhance reciprocal relationships of care. If you are interested in how they describe the care for the community, read this paper:  

• Rayne A., Arahanga-Doyle H., Cox B., Cox MP., Febria CM., Galla SJ., Hendy SC., Locke K., Matheson A. and Pawlik A. (2023) Collective action is needed to build a more just science system. Nature Human Behaviour 7(7): 1034-1037.

Example No 2: Acknowledging workload limits – your own and those of others.

Give each other respite from the „theatrical performance of productivity“ in academia. Sometimes, we can get a sneaky feeling that everyone else is working longer and better than we are. It can feel impossible to communicate that your productivity has limits.

These quotes (real-life examples, but anonymized) evidence the balancing act required:

• "Hearing university leadership say publicly that working through the weekends is normal for a successful researcher made me feel really inadequate."
• "I am so glad to have found a team in which I can freely voice that I will not work more hours than I am paid for in my contract."
• "Due to a previous illness, I have to be careful not to overwork myself. My supervisor let me know at the start of my contract that my contributions are very valuable and are enough, even if I don’t always work full-time."

Professor Megan MacKenzie reminds us that it’s especially hard for early-career researchers. She cautions against toxic career advice:

• „It also creates the impression that individuals that do get jobs have just worked harder than those who didn’t, which – again - ignores both structural privileges and the ways that hiring committees work.“

Since overwork doesn't equal job success, how about this experiment in academic kindness:

We reward each other and ourselves for being conscious of our boundaries and energy limits. What could that look like?

• If you feel you have done enough, be vocal about it. The Better Science Initiative emphasises that when you are satisfied with your own performance, you have a positive effect on your working environment.
• Have open conversations about where your work must be excellent and where "good" is good enough.
• Appreciate the colleague who leaves on time, who always takes a lunch/exercise break, who is really committed to her weekly board-game night, who spends long weekends at cosplay conventions or on hikes with his family.
• Treat sick-leave, early nights, unavailablity because of care responsibilities as matter-of-factly as possible.
• Encourage an atmosphere in the team that allows everyone to say "no" to tasks if they would be overwhelming, and try together to find fair ways to distribute work.

This has the potential to make academia a more accessible workplace.

Example No 3: Thanking authors of publications you use in research or teaching; letting them know how their work has made a positive impact.

Philipp Schulz, researcher at University of Bremen writes:

• "… we too seldom just articulate positive, affirmative, encouraging and generous feedback about something we truly enjoyed reading, and from which we benefited intellectually, politically or even personally."

Giving and receiving feedback is a practice academics are very used to. Through peer reviews, after conference presentations, or in funding or hiring decisions, assessments are made.

Often, there is constructive criticsm meant to inspire improvements. Sometimes, feedback is less constructive and more hostile; an act of gate-keeping, targetting women and other underrepresented groups much more frequently.

To counteract this on an individual level, we can be generous with our praise, if we find a work of research useful or inspiring. It can make someone's day or even week to learn that their work gets noticed!

Schulz shares from his teaching practice, that he and his students:

• "… let the authors know how we engaged with their work, to recognize and thank them for their work, and to share with them how this has been beneficial for us."

Why not try this out - yourself, with your students, or encourage it among your team, and see what you get back!

• Read on: Philipp Schulz (2020): Practicing Academic Kindness in the Classroom: Toolbox Blog: Gender- und Diversitykompetenz für die Lehre

Example No 4: Using your power and voice for others‘ benefit.

Are individual acts of kindness futile in an unjust system? Personal experiences and research show academia is not a level playing field. To name but a few examples:

• those who take time out to care for elders or children can be negatively assessed because of “gaps” in their CVs
• faculty of color can be targets of biased teaching evaluations
• graduates who do not have financially secure backgrounds cannot even afford to pursue a career that starts with a long series of short-term contracts

So what does it matter if you write someone a random email of praise or take a training to use less ableist or sexist language? Are you in fact masking discrimination if you engage in everyday "wellbeing" efforts?

 Sociologist Kris De Welde writes:

• „…organizational transformation can (and does) happen through people and their actions if those individuals have as their end goal a broader purpose for justice and equity.“

What could that look like in practice?

• Collective efforts, aimed at changing institutional processes and policies
• Using the power you might hold for those with less power, with no need for personal gain or expectation of reciprocity
• Persons in leadership roles who recognize injustices and take opportunities to advocate on behalf of others

So a wider understanding of kindness can be: Recognizing unjust systems and processes as the backdrop to our everyday interactions, and embracing our responsibility to actively support change.

What instances of „academic solidarity“ have you witnessed or been part of?

• Read on: Kris De Welde (2022). Minding and Mending the Gap between Academic Kindness and Academic Justice. Queer STS Forum, 7, 54-65

Example No 5: Talk well about each other & amplify others' accomplishments.

Is someone you know doing a good job? Tell others about it & be specific!

• What's their name and current location / position?
• In what context have you witnessed their good work?
• What specifically impressed you about them?
• How might this be relevant to the person you are talking to currently?
• How has your own research, daily practice, overall work been impacted by this person?
• Where can one find examples of the good work of this person?

This can be done without a specific goal in mind. But it can also serve the purpose of bringing attention to the accomplishments of persons who are part of a minority in academia. In that case, keep in mind to do it when:

• a job opening is coming up at your department
• someone seeks a co-organizer for a panel
• collaborators in a funding proposal are needed
• keynote speakers are wanted

Suddenly, it might seem that there are so many talented people who could be approached!

The practice of talking well about others has been developed into a leadership tool by Zita Küng from Switzerland. The goal is to aid organisations in recruiting the best women for leadership positions. It is called Die Gute Nachrede ® . The PostDoc Office can fund coaching sessions with Zita Küng.

Example No 6: Sustainable research practices.

How can researchers reduce negative impact on the environment?

Among the critical areas are travel by you or your research participants, computing, lab equipment, waste generated, impact on field sites - and many more. Here are some suggestions you could try:

• Assess energy use of research-related travel and modify where possible (consortium meetings, conference presentations, field work...); use the Carbon Tracer: CarbonTracer (uni-graz.at)
• Open access publishing is a way to avoid wasted resources from duplicating research
• When designing your research, map out how to make openly accessibly any materials, data, software that could be of value to others in academia or industry
• Be alert in your working area and report it if equipment isn't working efficiently; turn off equipment if not in use; do your part for recycling
• Estimate the carbon footprint of your computation with Green Algorithms:Green Algorithms | Green Algorithms (green-algorithms.org)

Educating yourself, sharing useful tools, advocating with leadership, accessing specific sustainability funding schemes are also ways to be kind to the environment as a researcher. 

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Are you good at handling transitions?

* RCC Blog, 13.12.2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

What major career transitions did you manage so far? What advice would you give your former self? Here are some attitudes and actions that have helped other researchers:

• Awareness and regular reflection about your larger purpose and the goals connected to your professional life can aid in weighing opportunities.
• An appreciative and kind attitude towards yourself - especially when something doesn't work out as planned - can be relieving.
• Accessing your trusted network can help with that appreciative attitude and can help you adapt your course if necessary.
• Being confident in advocating for the best circumstances in which *you specifically* can thrive will often pay off.
• Marking transitions (from one role to the next, from one project to the next, from one career stage to the next) can be very useful - that can include finishing up "old stuff", celebrations, public announcements, other rituals.

Strategies and attitudes to successfully handle career transitions are very personal. Ww would be very interested in what you found helpful.

(The idea for this posting comes from one of the reflective exercises on the Prosper portal and resulting discussions with researchers here in Graz!).

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How can you find fascinating insights about where former Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz postdocs now work?

* RCC Blog, Nov 28, 2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

Follow Holly Precott's instructions in Exploring Career Options Beyond Academia: Essential LinkedIn 'tricks' for researchers - PostGradual: The PhD Careers Blog (phd-careers.co.uk) and select research services as the current industry of our "postdoc alumni". This allowes you to see which research roles are available beyond academia, and in which research-adjacent roles our former employees currently shine. 

The results:

• a great number of former Uni Graz researchers are now hashtag#entrepreneurs 
• many now work (like me!) in research support roles (what we call in German Wissenschaftsmanagement); the variety of universities in Graz (and the whole of Austria) is definitely a plus if you want to move into that field
• an even larger segment works in R & I, so contributes their research expertise to the success of companies and research organisations

Just a short selection of  findings intended to showcase the variety of employers:

• Innophore
• acib GmbH
• Enzyan Biocatalysis GmbH
• BBMRI-ERIC
• KNAPP
• JOANNEUM RESEARCH
• Lactosan GmbH & Co. KG
• QPS Austria GmbH
• Fresenius Kabi
• Raiffeisen-Landesbank Steiermark
• BNN - BioNanoNet
• Universalmuseum Joanneum Careers
• Anton Paar Know Center

What can we deduce from this? 

• skills developed during a research career equip you for a variety of different careers and leadership roles
• Graz and Styria have quite a fascinating array of employers, also English-speaking ones
• there's a community of "postdoc alumni" out there, ready to be delved into as future collaborators, mentors, and advice givers (If that is you, get in touch, we'd love to talk to you!)
• and it's definitly a good idea to keep the research talent we currently have at our university happy and invest in their development

Further learning:

• The goal of the yearly PostDoc Office "should I stay or should I go"-workshop is to explore together how to handle career uncertainty. It ties in well with our mission to keep as many researchers as possible from self-selecting out of academia because they think they don’t fit and to encourage as many as possible to experience how appreciated they are beyond academia, so that they can hopefully return if they choose with their confidence built up. Next workshop in Graz happens in November 2024.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

A culture of care and awareness in relation to sexualized discriminations and violence in academia: What does it look like?

* RCC Blog, 09.11.2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

• Everyone at the institution feels responsible for protection against discrimination and violence.
• When members of the institution witness inappropriate actions, they do not look away but take a position.
• No apologetic explanations for inappropriate actions will be tolerated.
• Members of the institution seek advice from contact points to clarify their options for action and responsibilities.
• If those affected seek help, they are taken seriously.

Do you want to learn more? Try these events at Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz:

• Sensibilisierungsworkshop: Umgang mit Diskriminierungssituationen im Kontext Hochschule
• Sexualisierte Belästigung und Gewalt: Handlungsmöglichkeiten, Verantwortung und Prävention
• Privilege Awareness: Selbstreflexion für ein besseres Miteinander an der Universität - über Identität, "blinde Flecken" und unbewusste Machtverhältnisse

Current dates here: Veranstaltungskalender - Koordinationsstelle für Geschlechterstudien und Gleichstellung (uni-graz.at)

Sexualized discrimination and violence does not begin to exist only when it is recognized as such by employers, a court or in the media. It begins to exist at the moment when perpetrators violate the boundaries of those who they are harassing or against whom they use violence.

If you want to read more, try this:

• Informative portal from Leuphana University of Lüneburg
• Sara Hassan &  Juliette Sanchez-Lambert (she/her)'s practical guide for navigating the twilight zone of sexual harassement

What's the context for this text? From November 25 to Dec 10, the yearly 16 days against violence campaign happen in Austria and in other countries, look out for the  interesting events!

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Flamingos already have it down. How do you make it work as a postdoctoral researcher?

* RCC Blog, 16.10.2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

Open exchange of ideas, collaboration & mutual support are key to good research and workplace wellbeing. But in competitive environments, it can be challenging to prioritize community.

There’s stuff that makes it hard:

• You might change employers frequently, move internationally, handle a high workload, have family & friendship committments in other parts of the world.
• Maybe you’ve also been taught to be careful about being too transparent in a professional context.
• Self-organizing can be challenging when people drop out of contact due to health issues or contract changes.
• Different life experiences and personalities might result in mismatched expectations.

So it's really impressive that there is still so much community-building and maintaining of relationships going on! Our researchers in Graz create and maintain communities that are interdisciplinary, mixed-gender, and span languages and backgrounds. Such as:

• The Friday writing group – a self-organized, often changing group of researchers who share their current tasks, goals and accomplishments.
• Lunch groups – created after getting to know each other at the writing retreat, the fiasco fest or the peer mentoring programme.
• Networks around shared research interests and shared characteristics, such as creating change in academia, parenthood or being a female mathematician or early-career historian.

It is a joy to see the impact of peer networks on careers and on our research culture here in Graz.

Look at our events to see the next chances to connect.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Is it time to set your own research agenda? Are you ready to develop an independent project? Do you want to lead a team?

* RCC Blog, Oct 23, 2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

Here are some considerations when planning to submit a funding proposal:

• Seed funding: Travelling to important collaborators or sites for data collection, professional language editing, short-term student support might all be fundable via the right seed-funding channels.
• Advice from professional research managers: Your goals, career stage, background and circumstances are unique to you. The university‘s research managers know the regional, European and even global funding landscape intimately and will help you find a match.
• Advice from mentors: Get the opinion of trusted established researchers on what your next career step should look like and which schemes are well regarded in your discipline (though you of course make the choice yourself!). They might also connect you to researchers who have succeeded before you.
• Info directly from the funders: Attend their webinars for schemes that appeal to you. Don’t hesitate to pose your questions directly to their representatives.
• Clarity on your unique research profile: You have made contributions to specific fields, you want to expand a certain area, gain new skills, and eventually you want to be recognised as an expert. Where are you now and where do you want to be in ten years?
• Clarity about who benefits from your research: Think about impact beyond your immediate discipline and beyond the scientific community. Be as specific as possible about who could be affected by your findings. Also reflect on your motivation for research - what mark you want to leave with your work?

There‘s a lot more to consider, and there is support:

• Book a session with the FMS Team at Uni Graz. The research management and service experts will guide you on your way to funding.
• Participate in Yasmin Dolak-Struss‘ Kickstart Workshop on Proposal Preparation (Nov 30).
• Take a session with an academic coach to lay out your goals in a structured way or map out your unique profile.
• A really inspiring and informative read (from the UK) is Anna Pilz' A Comprehensive Guide to Fellowship Applications (IAD, Edinburgh, available online if you google it).

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Tandems, triads, trusted collaborators: Do you have buddies who feedback your work, and how do you organize this? 

* RCC Blog, Oct 15, 2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

Talent, creative spirit, and skills aren’t the only things that lead us to do great work – of utmost importance are also the circumstances which we create for our work. 

Many researchers greatly benefit from peer-exchange formats. And, seeing as academia is characterised by competition and multiple dependencies, it's fascinating to explore ways of sharing, solidarity, giving of your time, and open exchange of raw ideas. 

There are ways to tie this in to research methods or topics: An example is a network for peer exchange on qualitative methods. Just by having a space in which to yourself talk through issues you grapple with is helpful, and there is benefit in receiving kind outside advice, maybe even from strangers who just happen to be there at a monthly open meeting.

Other researchers have tandems with one colleague - in an agreed-upon frequency they feedback each other’s products. This is similar to what successful authors do: As a writer who is in it for the long haul, you should be on the look-out early for peers who understand your genre and are in a similar stage of their career, and possibly form a „triad“ with them. They are the ones who read your drafts, whose feedback you will take seriously, and who maybe will keep you accountable or help you through difficult times.

We'd be fascinated to hear how all of you practice this kind of collaboration! How do you set it up? What are your experiences with the openness and vulnerability, the time committment, the giving of time it requires? What does it give to your work?

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Have you ever considered working at an ERIC?

* RCC Blog, Sept 14, 2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

European research infrastructures foster collaboration by providing resources and services for research communities. Their work can stretch to education or public services & they may be single-sited, distributed, or virtual.

ERICs include

• major scientific equipment or sets of instruments
• collections, archives or scientific data
• computing systems and communication networks
• any other research and innovation infrastructure of a unique nature which is open to external users.

They’re also really exciting places to work, offering an international environment at the forefront of research innovation. ERICs have headquarters and nodes - for example, BBMRI-ERIC's headquarter is in Graz.

ERIC Forum has listed job vacancies here: Job Opportunities - (eric-forum.eu)

Here's a selection of ERICs for different disciplines or foci:

• BBMRI-ERIC
• CERIC ERIC
• CESSDA ERIC
• CLARIN ERIC
• DARIAH ERIC
• EATRIS Finland
• ECRIN (European Clinical Research Infrastructure Network)
• ECCSEL ERIC
• EMSO ERIC
• European Social Survey
• Euro-Argo ERIC
• European Spallation Source ERIC
• EU-OPENSCREEN
• EMBRC - European Marine Biological Resource Centre
• INFRAFRONTIER
• SHARE-ERIC
• LifeWatch ERIC
• Instruct-ERIC

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Embrace your professional fiascos. There are ways to find joy in perceived failures, to learn from them, and to calmly (or very dramatically!) let them go.

* RCC Blog, Aug 14, 2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

From our collection of practices intended to make you feel good about yourself as a person, and as a researcher: 

• One of the ways is do to it as a community: Celebrate fiascos with your peers, who have surely also experienced them, since they are a normal part of academic life. Work out together ways of dealing with these experiences; learning from them, integrating them, letting them go, moving on. Psychology researcher Sabine Bergner hosted a Fiasco Fest in Graz, and there are also the so-called "fuckup nights". Or you could create your own celebration!
• Or try designing a CV-of-failures, which serves to highlight how motivated, productive and resilient you are: This Princeton Professor's CV of Failures Is Something We Should All Learn From : ScienceAlert

More inspiration:

• Glass, R.L. (2000): A letter from the frustrated author of a journal paper, In: Journal of Systems and Software, volume 54, issue 1, p.1.
• "Dealing With Rejection", Podcast by Karen L. Kelsky PhD (The Professor is In).
• Jaremka, Lisa M. et al. (2020): Common Academic Experiences No One Talks About: Repeated Rejection, Impostor Syndrome, and Burnout, In: Perspectives on Psychological Science Volume15, 3, 519-543.

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

Postdocs can tell great stories!

* RCC Blog, Jul 26, 2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

For your enjoyment, here is a list of PostDoc Office content featuring fascinating insights into researcher's work and lives:

• Let physicist Lisa Kapper tell you how peer mentoring enhances professional development: PostDoc: How Peer Mentoring Enhance Professional Development (aircampus-graz.at)
• Listen to religious studies scholar Lisa Kienzl & cultural historian Peter Pichler discuss niche subjects and interdisciplinary research: alumni post.talks: Postdoctoral researchers from Graz interview international alumni (youtube.com). Two researchers who share a passion for niche subjects and interdisciplinary perspectives talk about:
  • E-Sports, gaming communities, metal music studies, historical identity constructions, and the TV show Supernatural
  • Why you sometimes just really need an anthropologist
  • Managing distance and proximity when researching fan cultures
  • How unconventional research topics might open funding opportunities
  • Interdisciplinary collaboration, finding your research allies
  • German and Austrian academia
  • How to “time-manage” a career in times of Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz and Kettenvertragsregelungen
  • Committee work and engaging with university policy
  • Who benefits if researchers think about the purpose and impact of their research
• Hear mathematician Federica Caforio & biophysicist Florian Müller discuss what makes a good mentor & how to collaborate effectively in interdisciplinary teams: alumni post.talks: Postdoctoral researchers from Graz interview international alumni (youtube.com). The two researchers who both have a strong interdisciplinary and international background have a conversation about:
  • what makes a good mentor
  • how to collaborate effectively in interdisciplinary teams and how to make the most of each team member’s skills
  • the role lasting and supportive networks with your peers can play in your career
  • how to lead teams, how to support younger researchers on their path
  • strategies for dualcareercouples combining family and work life
  • how to achieve gender balance in hard science fields
  • how international moves can open your eyes & spark personal development
  • …and much more!
• If careers in academia are built on teaching or on research success is explored by Gerhard Kristandl, Associate Professor of Accounting and Technology Enhanced Learning & educational scientist Markus Meschik: alumni post.talks: Postdoctoral researchers from Graz interview international alumni (youtube.com) The two researchers and passionate university lecturers discuss:
  • How do Austrian and UK academic systems compare to each other?
  • How to get your passion for your subject across to your students
  • How to use digital tools to create a community & a good learning environment
  • What can we learn from the technological advancements of the pandemic?
  • How can universities handle the widespread use of #AI?
  • Are careers in academia built on teaching or on research success?
  • What are “bread and butter papers”?
  • What is the value of networking and collaboration for good research?
     
• Baker's yeast and how industry work and university work compares for molecular biologists is discussed by Barbara Koch and Katharina Kainz: alumni post.talks: International Research Careers I (youtube.com)
• Legal studies scholars Luisa Scarcella and Anna-Maria Anderwald discuss international mobility, funding and careers in the area of tax law: alumni post.talks: International Research Careers III (youtube.com)
• Learn about the material turn in the humanities and how to schlepp books on international moves from Helga Müllneritsch, Isabella Managò and Amelia Kennedy: alumni post.talks: International Research Careers II (youtube.com)

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.

How do I know when I am ready to submit my habilitation?

* RCC Blog, Jul 4, 2023, Johanna Stadlbauer

Takeaways from a PostDoc Office expert session for postdoctoral researchers about all questions related to this academic ritual that's still very widespread in Austria, Germany and some other countries in Europe. 

Expert Stefan Zehetmeier, an Associate Professor at the Universität Klagenfurt, has a background in mathematics, physics, pedagogy and teacher training. He managed to create an interactive space & was very empowering and encouraging. After going through participants' questions related to procedures and strategic considerations, and describing his own experiences, he also shared some personal advice:

• be aware that you are always growing as a researcher, throughout the work on your habilitiation
• really reflect about what you want to be known for in your field, and use the habilitation to strategically position yourself and your speciality
• make a plan for developing your profile (people to connect to, journals to publish in, conferences to attend) which allows time for both your work as well as for the important people & other responsibilities in your life
• use critical friends and mentors to help you develop and assess your progress
• when building your academic network, allow space for humor, kindness and enjoyment of the people you meet along your path

We very much enjoyed the session with Stefan Zehetmeier, who really modelled academic kindness. We'll do it again next year.

Here are some links to the relevant regulations, contact points as well as networking opportunities, such as the Habilforum Fachdidaktik, who kindly introduced us to Stefan Zehetmeier: Wie funktioniert eine Habilitation? - Information und Service für PostDocs (uni-graz.at)

* This text is part of our Research Careers Community Graz researcher development blog, reflecting about academic culture and working conditions.