Podcast "Taking Your Academic Career Abroad"

With the first episode of this new podcast series, we take a look at the USA. Together with Professor Hannes Schniepp, Professor of Applied Sciences at the College of William & Mary, we look at typical career paths in the American academic system. Of course, the American tenure track is also explained.

The interviewer in this episode is Stephen James Sechrist, Regional Coordinator for North America, Australia and New Zealand at the International Office of Leibniz Universität Hannover.

Our third interview was a special one, as we had it with a postdoc from one of the EULiST universities: Dr. Matteo Ardini.

He is postdoc and researcher in Biochemistry, Structural Biology and Bionanotechnology – and told a lot about the Italian academic system. Especially the position as a „tenure track postdoc“, but also less funding than in Germany and the national scientific ‚habilitation‘ which differs a lot from possible qualifications for a professorship in Germany were part of the interview. We talked, moreover, about the L’Aquila and the university – enjoy listening to it!

The fifth episode does not go abroad….it rather deals with the academic system in Germany and the particular site of the EULiST network, the Leibniz University Hannover. So, all who are interested in getting to know how to tackle or pursue an academic career in Germany, you are more than welcome to listen to our half-hour episode!

For this episode, we interviewed Dr. Kerstin Schäfer who is now an assistant professor in the Netherlands, but she used to be a PhD student and a postdoc at Leibniz University and knows a lot about the university and the academic system in Germany.

With Kerstin, we spoke about her experience in strategically starting and planning a postdoc career, her prestigious funding, her time abroad and the offers she has used while being first in Gießen and then in Hannover. So enjoy listening!

Host and interviewer of the episode: Nadine Pippel

This podcast episode is of particular significance – and likely to be touching. The interview has been held with two experts who have a connection to Ukraine. The subjects discussed included an examination of the academic system in Ukraine prior to the Russian war of aggression, and a comparison of the university system since then.

Our first guest, Viktoriia Hnatushenko, an engineer and professor in Ukraine, arrived at Leibniz University in 2022 with the assistance of the Philipp Schwartz Initiative for Researchers at Risk. She told us about that and as well that the Ukrainian academic system bears a strong resemblance to its German counterpart. We are also indebted to Nataliya Butych, the regional coordinator for Central and Eastern Europe at the International Office of Leibniz University, for the information that the first Russian attacks in 2022 coincided with the commencement of the second round of a cooperation programme for research managers in Germany and Ukraine.

Finally, the topic of the Ukrainian academic system's preparedness for online teaching in the context of the pandemic was addressed. This can be considered a fortuitous outcome in the face of adversity.

Hosts and interviewers: Manuela Schimmels, Nadine Pippel

In the second episode of "Taking your academic career abroad", we take a look at India. Together with Sriram Venkatachalam, Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai, we take a look at typical career paths in the Indian academic system. Professor Venkatachalam was an assistant and associate professor before his current professorship and, as a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, is familiar with the German academic system, which serves as a background foil.

Host/interviewer: Dr. Balasubramanian Ramani, Programme Coordinator India, International Office, LUH.

For our fourth interview, we went to France, Paris, and met our guest there, at least virtually….: Amélie Fau is ‚maître de conférences‘ which is a special position in France and at the Ecole normale supérieure Paris-Saclay which is one of the French top universities.

In our talk, we spoke about this kind of university, the teaching and researching position of a ‚maître de conférences“ and much more, so enjoy listening!

Host and interviewer: Nadine Pippel

This is the sixth episode of our podcast series, and the second in our focus on the EULiST university alliance. Therefore, we spoke to Lucia Naldi, a professor at Jönköping University.

Professor Naldi is a business administration expert and used to be vice president for early career researchers. She knows a lot about the academic system in Sweden!

We discussed the main (and only) career path in Swedish academia, the opportunities available to PhD students and postdocs at Jönköping University, and her own career path prior to obtaining her current professorship. Enjoy listening!

Host and interviewer of the episode: Nadine Pippel