The postdoc phase is the most important stage of your academic career on the path to a professorship. In the early and late postdoc phases, you are confronted with a variety of challenges that you as a scientist have to deal with alongside your research. Among other things, it is necessary to decide on whether and - if so - in what form you would like to remain in academia.
Academic careers at a glance
The postdoctoral phase follows on from the doctoral phase and, in the case of a complete academic career, precedes the phase of established academics who work in leadership positions, primarily as university lecturers.
In line with the `European Framework for Research Careers‘, we at Leipzig University divide the postdoc phase into two sub-phases:
- two to a maximum of four years after the doctorate: early phase directly after the doctorate - “Recognized researcher”
- four to six, maximum eight years after the doctorate: advanced phase - “Established researcher”
The Postdoc Phases
The phases after the doctorate are characterized by different levels of experience, requirements and opportunities. Employment and funding in both postdoctoral phases are usually temporary and mainly involve scientific activities with the aim of gaining further scientific qualifications.
Find out more about what characterizes the phases and what typical positions are:
At Leipzig University, we define Recognized Researchers as postdocs shortly after completing their doctorate, usually with limited academic independence, for example in the form of a project position or a scholarship. The phase should last about two to three, maximum four years after the doctorate.
Example positions and funding:
- Research assistants
- Fellows (e.g. from the DFG's Walter Benjamin program, from the Marie Sk?odowska-Curie measures, from the Humboldt research fellowships for postdocs, from the DAAD research fellowship for postdoctoral researchers)
Established Researchers are scientists with a doctorate who are largely independent and have their own project or junior research group. They are further advanced in their career. This phase usually lasts four to eight years after the doctorate.
Example positions and funding:
- Research assistants
- Scholarship holders
- Junior research group leaders (e.g. with funding from the DFG's Emmy Noether or Heisenberg program)
- ERC Starting Grantees
- Holders of a junior professorship with or without tenure track
- Habilitation candidates
- Doctoral researchers with sub-project leadership in Collaborative Research Centers (CRC)
Requirements for the postdoc phases
In the early postdoc phase, the focus is often initially on scientific work. There is often a “review” of the dissertation, the results of which are evaluated. At the same time, during this period you should already be actively weighing up the direction your future career should take. As it generally becomes more difficult to switch to the non-university job market as time progresses, it is advisable to make this phase an orientation phase. At the same time, however, a number of other academic tasks such as writing (further) publications, travelling to conferences and often initial teaching and administrative tasks in the working group must already be mastered.
With increasing time after the doctorate, these tasks intensify and new ones are added. With regard to the career path, it is now crucial to sharpen one's own profile and become increasingly independent academically. It is therefore important to master many demands at the same time through good time and self-management in order not to lose sight of the important goal of establishing your profile. The following questions are important here:
