This week, as part of the launch of Next Wave in Germany, we are starting a series of articles on the present situation and ongoing changes of higher education system in Germany. Traditionally very strong in basic research, German universities are currently debating how best to incorporate better training for young scientists, the commercialization of both research and education, and how to remai...
Welcome to our new service for early-career researchers in the Netherlands. Read on to find out more about this site, the content you can find here, and the people who run it. Who We Are and What We Do Next Wave is a career development magazine, updated weekly on the Web, that has been published since 1995 by the research journal Science . Today, 5 April 2002, the Netherlands edition joins the fa...
This week, Science's Next Wave, in collaboration with one of Europe's top research organizations, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), continues the series of articles providing detailed travel information that will help you successfully plan your research career in an increasingly mobile scientific community. The "Survival Package Germany" article published below is a joint effort...
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Centre For Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) German Society for Marine Research (DGM) Max Planck Institute Marine Microbiology Alfred Wegener Institut Bremerhaven Zentrum für Marine Tropenökologie International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecosystems GKSS Forschungszentrum Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment Klimaänderung und Küste (AFF...
Young scientists from across Europe gathered in Brussels last month for a conference that was part support group, part brainstorming session, and part inspirational lecture. Sir Joseph Rotblat, Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, stole the show when he proposed his Hippocratic Oath for scientists, calling for ethical behavior by scientists...
No one can read everything that is being published about the job market for academics in the Netherlands--there's just too much going on. But by filtering this information and delivering it to you as well-researched and compact career advice articles, Next Wave Netherlands can help. Our writers and editors will pull together each month those bits of job market news that we think will most interes...
ULRICH SCHELLER:VOM FORSCHER ZUM WISSENSCHAFTSKOMMUNIKATOR BARBARA RITZERT:WEGE IN DIE WISSENSCHAFTSKOMMUNIKATION BARBARA RITZERT:WISSENSWERTES ZUM BERUF 'PR-SPEZIALIST WISSENSCHAFTSKOMMUNIKATION' "My job offers the fascinating chance to develop new concepts for science outreach and knowledge transfer in a team of colleagues with extremely different professional backgrounds. Although it also invo...
WIESBADEN--Last week, the rectors of Germany's universities met in Wiesbaden to debate the alma mater's responsibility for their graduates' success in the professional world. To emphasize their desire to foster interaction between higher education and industry, this year's meeting of Germany's Association of Universities (HRK) took place at a University of Applied Science (Fachhochschule Wiesbade...
BONN--This month, the German Research Foundation (DFG) has called on national universities to develop and submit proposals for developing bioinformatics research centers to boost Germany's research competitiveness. "We want to make university careers in biocomputing more appealing to young academics," explains Ingrid Ehses, coordinator of the DFG's projects on genetics, cell biology, and molecula...
This month, the DFG announced the winners of their new Bioinformatics Initiative. Out of the 31 proposals handed in for assessment, an international jury awarded 20 million DM each to five new centers of excellence at Bielefeld, Munich, Leipzig, Saarbrücken, and Tübingen. The newly funded research and training centers will considerably increase the number of Germany's young scientists trained in ...
A Ph.D. candidate's happiness and scientific success is largely dependent on the student's group leader and promoter. The supervisor, for his or her part, may well be an outstanding scientist but is less often a gifted mentor. The problems that arise from this dependence not only frustrate young researchers but also reduce the quality and quantity of a work group's scientific output. All this has...
Germany's students are mobile. Already about 10% of them spend more than a semester abroad. People from the worlds of industry, politics, and academia agree, however, that just meeting the European Union's (EU's) 10% minimum goal is not enough for an export-oriented country in the heart of Europe. "I'd consider it most desirable to double this percentage by the year 2010," said Germany's Chancell...
Should German universities introduce bachelor's and master's degrees? While supporters hope the proposal will speed up studies and boost the chances of German graduates in the increasingly global job market for academics, critical voices bemoan the sacrifice of tradition and fear that Germany's high education standards might suffer. The recommendation, from the Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat),...
There was something like spring in the air during the Eurodoc conference 2003. The unusually mild and sunny weather in Soest, the Netherlands, where the meeting was held, certainly played its part. But more influential by far were the enthusiasm and motivation of the PhD students from all over Europe. Although the young scientists from Northern and Southern, Eastern and Western Europe came from q...
T ips for Talent: Career Advice for Young Researchers The phrase "transferable skills" has become a buzzword, as has the equally enigmatic phrase "soft skills." But although most people acknowledge that young scientists need to learn more during their training than the highly specific expertise acquired during their PhD studies, there is a widespread uncertainty about what those additional skills...
For years, leading scientists have been demanding a considerable increase in the German genome research budget. Now somebody is listening. Germany has decided to invest an additional 350 million DM to stimulate research in functional genomics. On the occasion of the human genome's publication earlier this month, the German government presented plans for the creation of a National Genome Research ...
The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is considering new ways to make academic careers more attractive to excellent young researchers. Last week, a commission presided over by Jürgen Mlynek, vice president of Germany's major research funder, recommended extending opportunities for postdoctoral scientists to apply for independent positions to all research fields and funding programs. The reaso...
BERLIN--The German government will add 1 billion DM (500 million US$) to the public study allowance for German university students (Bafoeg), boosting the total Bafoeg budget by nearly 50%. Edelgard Bulmahn, federal minister for education and research, announced the ambitious plan at a press conference last week in Berlin. "We want to make sure that no adolescent will have to renounce his study in...
Germany and France plan to intensify their collaboration in the field of plant genome research (PGR). New research funding programs in both countries are accelerating Europe's research in a field that is expected to lead to breakthroughs in agriculture, pharmaceutical and environmental sciences, and nutrition. For young scientists, transnational research projects can open additional job markets a...
Germany is launching the second round of its Marine Materials research program with the aim to tap the oceans' vast resources of highly interesting biotechnological compounds. The new funding is intended to initiate new industry academia cooperations, to set up Centers of Excellence, and to support young scientists' research groups. Deadline for the new proposals is October 1, 2000. Marine life-f...
