Contacts, Networks, Careers.

Establishing professional contacts is necessary and beneficial by the time one starts a postdoc at the latest: to build visibility within the academic community or within one’s own (specialist) field. The Graduate Academy supports postdocs during this transition, but also in the subsequent stages of their careers, as networking remains hugely important even three, five or six years after completing a Ph.D.

With the help of the ‘Contacts, Networks, Career’ funding programme, postdocs can establish and develop lasting contacts up to twice a year, thereby strategically preparing for their future careers. In this way, the programme primarily supports career development and planning within the academic field, which is explored jointly during a consultation. The amount of the respective lump sum depends on the destination of the short trip. The following rates apply:

• Germany: 250 euros
• Europe: 500 euros
• Outside Europe: 1,000 euros

The trips should be related to the next steps in your career and the establishment of well-founded contacts.

Financial support for establishing and developing contacts goes hand in hand with the opportunity to receive assistance from the office in finding suitable contacts. This also allows you to gradually build one-to-one contacts, and we are happy to help you establish and secure these with our expertise and supporting materials. For further information on setting up a personalised mentoring partnership or a one-to-one mentoring pair, please see: One-to-one Mentoring.

Please refer to the fact sheet below for further details and all application forms.

All postdocs at Leibniz University are eligible to apply. The selection criteria include the applicant’s CV and professional background, how the establishment of contacts and networks fits into their CV, the choice of contact partner, and the justification for the necessity of the trip. When attending specialist meetings and conferences, the applicant’s own contribution must be clearly visible, the direct benefit to their own research and work must be evident, and/or key contacts must also be active participants in the meeting and/or discussions between them and the applicant must have been initiated. 

The application deadlines are 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December. However, this must be preceded by an initial consultation by telephone or in person at the office. Furthermore, the networking trip must take place after the relevant application deadline.

Please submit all documents (not stapled together, not with adhesive binding and not individually in transparent sleeves) to:

Graduiertenakademie
Leibniz Universität Hannover
Stichwort: Kontakte, Netzwerke, Karriere.
Welfengarten 1
30167 Hannover

Additionally, please send all documents as one PDF file to
graduiertenakademie@zuv.uni-hannover.de.

Visiting Address

Wilhelm-Busch-Straße 22
30167 Hannover