BarCamp WissenSCHAFFTkarrieren111 Participants, 24 Sessions, Countless New Ideas for the HRA
10 December 2018
Photo: HRA/Peter Oldorf
How to create a platform for Hamburg’s doctoral and early career researchers where they can discuss academia and careers openly and on equal footing? On 29 November 2018, the Hamburg Research Academy ventured to organize an interactive BarCamp—with resounding success! More than 100 doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and junior professors from 9 higher education institutions in Hamburg met and exchanged ideas in 24 topic sessions. A big win for all: the participants proposed the topics.
Hamburg’s doctoral and early career researchers want to network, have their voices heard, and test new event formats. The discussions in the individual sessions, lively conversations in the breaks, and significant feedback to the HRA made this abundantly clear. The creative surroundings of the venue, the co-working space betahaus, promoted an open and animated atmosphere.
Topics
In their welcome address, Elena Nendza, manager at the HRA, and Dr. Sandra Barth from Human Resources Development at Universität Hamburg encourage all participants to get actively involved in the day. The unusual format didn’t rattle anybody: the 4 session rounds with a total of 24 sessions proposed by the attendees were booked. In groups of 4 to 40 people, the participants discussed the proposed topics and shared questions, experiences, and ideas.
Some of the topics were of particular importance to the participants: the relationship to supervisors, working conditions and work–life balance, visibility and representation for doctoral and early career researchers, and career opportunities.
All session titles and chosen result posters can be seen in the image gallery at the bottom of the page.BarCamp—what now?
The HRA is already planning for the future. The 4 topics transferable skills, advising, career development, and internationalization will be the focus of our future program, which will consist of various workshops, events, and innovative programs, in addition to our extensive information and advising service. The HRA will also offer different formats on current topics like scientific communication, work and health, or data management. We will evaluate the many suggestions and the results from the BarCamp sessions and the feedback cards, and take them into consideration when planning our program.
Specific HRA opportunities
The HRA, together with its cooperation partners, already has information sessions for some of the topics proposed at the BarCamp: Sustainable research data management (15 January 2019, in German) External funding for the early postdoc phase (23 January 2019, in German) Good scientific practice (24 January 2019, in German) Going abroad during your doctorate (26 March 2019, in German). In addition, the HRA will be offering workshops on the following topics (among others): dealing with stress, self-marketing, leadership training for postdocs, résumés and cover letters, giving up or going on, finishing your dissertation. The strong interest shown by English-speaking researchers in the BarCamp has strengthened the HRA’s resolve to offer as much of our program in English as possible.
After the BarCamp, the HRA team threw itself into preparations for the next big networking event in the fall of 2019: In cooperation with various institutions and companies, we have planned a Career Day for Hamburg’s doctoral and early career researchers.
For those who can’t wait until the fall, HR development’s COMPASS event series “Insights into ...” has scheduled company presentations earlier in the year: Insight into an international NGO using the example of Viva con Agua (22 January 2019) and Insight into Computer Science Using the Example of Adobe (27 March 2019).
Good to know:
- The HRA event database lists all of the transferable skills qualifications offered at Hamburg’s higher education institutions by target group. The database is available to all HRA users.
- Do you have general questions about the current phase of your career? Use the HRA advising service!
Stay in the loop
You want to stay up to date about the HRA’s offerings? Follow us on Twitter or Facebook! Or sign up for the HRA email list at office"AT"hra-hamburg.de.
The HRA team extends its heartfelt gratitude to all BarCamp participants, the experts who took part, and our cooperation partners, HR development and the MIN Faculty at Universität Hamburg, for the successful day!