The first PostDoc Meet & Greet took place online on November 23, 2021 (as a lockdown-replacement of the Guided Tour of the Campus, which will take place as soon as possible). The 1,5-hour unimeet-get together was co-organized by the PostDoc Office, Welcome Center and solar physicist Philippe A. Bourdin. The focus was on participants getting to know each other and finding out if there are colleagues who have shared interests or shared experiences.
Julia Taucher from the Welcome Center discussed in a breakout session how important it is that as many people as possible (regardless of whether they are international or not) know about services and offers at the university. Julia presented the newly created brochure for new international employees. It can be ordered via welcome(at)uni-graz.at and includes sections about the organizational chart of the university, service units, starting work in Austria, contracts, etc.
Philippe A. Bourdin hosted a breakout session about making connections: New PostDocs are often internationals that seek information on the city, social life, university structure, as well as on political groups or the workers union. All these improve the life and experience during a limited time. The following ideas were mentioned:
1) Establish a regular (monthly) meeting for new PostDocs, where locals and internationals meet to exchange informations and socialize. New PostDocs should get official information on that meeting, where also representatives of other types of sub-groups may introduce these groups. Examples are groups for the political representation at the university, as well as a group on the "UG Novelle" regarding the time limits for PostDoc contracts.
2) Another (e.g. weekly) lunch meeting is planned to make a tour through different institutes with suitable rooms, so that new contacts can be created across disciplines and one gets to know other institutes.
3) On these informal meetings, interested people are encouraged to form new sub-groups to organize, e.g., sports events (like hikes), excursions, cinema visits, lunches or dinners at the weekends, etc.
The PostDoc Office offers to list activities organized by PostDocs for PostDocs and contact details of existing groups here: By PostDocs for PostDocs - Information and Service for PostDocs (uni-graz.at)
In the third breakout room, Johanna Stadlbauer explained aims and upcoming offers of the PostDoc Office. It is an initiative by the Vice-Rector for Research and Career Development. It is intended to support PostDocs in maintaining optimal conditions for their work, in promoting their professional development and to make the potential of this very active group of researchers more visible. Offers are based on a needs analysis (focus groups with 100 postdocs in November 2020). Among the offers are individual consultations, career development workshops, coaching with external trainers (starting March 2022), public events, informative networking events, a peer mentoring group, later on also international academic mentoring (currently in development), PostDoc Grants and a PostDoc Award (both in development), guidelines for PostDoc support (in development), and a physical networking space. The role of the Postdoc office is to aid in networking and community building and to be aware of current needs and concerns of PostDocs. There is an official kick-off event on January 27, 2022, from 7 to 8.30pm in the University Library. Invited speakers are the former rector of Graz University of Technology Hans Sünkel, the president of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Christof Gattringer and Derya Özkaya, postdoctoral researcher at the Center for South-East European Studies.