Financial Support for Making Professional Contacts

Establishing professional contacts is highly significant, at the latest when starting your postdoc – and that for your visibility within your scientific community and for steps outside academia. The Graduate Academy supports postdocs in the first four years in passing to next working phases after finishing their doctorate. With the help of the funding line “Contacts, Networks, Careers.”, postdocs are able to establish lasting professional contacts in- and outside academia for the strategic planning and preparation of their future career. This opportunity is available up to four times a year. Thus, the program supports specific career development and planning in- and outside academia that will be determined in a personal counselling interview. The amount of each rate depends on the destination of the short trip. The following lump sums apply:

• Germany: 250 Euros
• Europe: 500 Euro

Initiating contacts beyond Europe cannot be supported. Moreover, trips that have no direct link to the next career move and do not include a justified contact initiation cannot be supported neither.

All postdocs of the Leibniz University up to four years after finishing their Ph.D. are entitled to apply. In the application process, we consider and evaluate the curriculum vitae (CV) and the background of the applicant, the adaption of the contact and network design into the CV, the selection of contact partners and how the necessity for the networking trip is described. Applications can be submitted at any time to the Graduate Academy. Nonetheless, a first interview (via phone or in person) has to precede. Feel free to contact our person in charge!

The financial support for initiating and establishing contacts goes hand in hand with the possibility of being supported by the office in the search for suitable contacts. This also allows you to gradually build up one-to-one contacts. We will be happy to help you establish and secure these contacts with our expertise and supporting material. For all further information on how to establish an individual contact partnership, a one-to-one-mentoring tandem, please visit: One-to-one-mentoring.

Further information are provided in the fact sheet below.

Submission of Documents

In writing to:
Graduiertenakademie
Leibniz Universität Hannover
Stichwort: Förderung zur Anbahnung von strategischen Kontakten
Welfengarten 1
30167 Hannover

Additionally, please send the completed electronic form and all further enclosures as one PDF file to graduiertenakademie@zuv.uni-hannover.de

Visiting Address

Wilhelm-Busch-Straße 22
30167 Hannover