The portfolio Early Career & Equal Opportunity, EC & EO, of the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence focuses on the support of early career scholars in academic and administrative matters and helps doctoral and postdoctoral fellows to navigate the complex aspects of professional development with a perspective on individual career progression.
The Vice Dean EC & EO directs the portfolio and acts at the same time for the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies, BIGSAS, as Spokesperson in close cooperation with the Deputy Spokesperson.
In consultation with the Vice Dean of Research, the portfolio EC & EO implements best practices in the professional guidance of scholars on their career pathway and thus complements research- and competence training for the doctoral fellows, postdocs, and junior research group leaders who are based in the Academy.
The academic coordinator of EC & EO and the coordinator of BIGSAS support the strategic agenda and vision.
Contact person of the portfolio: Dr. Christine Scherer, christine.scherer@uni-bayreuth.de
Early career researchers (ECR) are crucial for innovation and for meeting the future demand for highly skilled professionals both within and outside academia. The Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence (AMC) supports the development of early career researchers in all five Cluster locations by fostering research in individual and collaborative research projects. Research-oriented training and intergenerational knowledge exchange are prioritized towards academic citizenship in a highly diverse and international academic space that offers a multiplicity of pathways for sustainable academic, personal, professional and specified learning.
ECRs supported by the Cluster are embedded in the overall strategy of early career researchers at the University of Bayreuth and respectively in four African Cluster Centres. ECRs conduct their research in general as
- Doctoral candidates on their doctoral theses and are guided by a supervisor and an interdisciplinary mentoring group, in the AMC usually as a part of a research project.
- Postdoctoral Researchers in research-projects to gain further qualifications on their career path to a professorship or towards a professional career beyond the university.
Since desiderata of guidance and supervision change according to the different career stages, our overall approach is aligned to the principles articulated by the German Research Foundation (DFG), and guided by good academic practice on a daily basis as a common denominator. Early career researchers in the AMC therefore enjoy a balance of support and personal responsibility appropriate to their career stage. They are empowered on all levels to manage their needs via increasing autonomy and the facilitation of self-initiated activities as well as training offered on demand and organised by the distinct locations. These measures emphasize methodology and future skills in regular colloquia of work-in-progress, hands-on-mini-workshops, etc., hybrid or in presence.
All members of the AMC, including our partner institutions in Africa and the diaspora, can contribute their expertise and their standing in a broad range of disciplines, activities, and learning formats. In addition, the portfolio Early Career & Equal Opportunity offers individual advice and closely collaborates with several training and service units at the UBT to react to desiderata articulated by early career researches.
The development of academic citizenship, early international visibility and international networking is strongly encouraged. Support during critical periods, and assistance in minimising challenges to career progression are available on request. Mobility periods of incoming and outgoing research-travels are open to all and fostered as door-opener to other professional avenues. Thus, the portfolio Early Career & Equal opportunity offers its service to the Cluster’s early career researchers in exchange with the ACCs’ best-practices and their early career representatives, committed to all early career researchers in the AMC.
Contact persons:
- Prof. Dr. Susanne Mühleisen, Vice Dean of Early Career & Equal Opportunity AMC (Susanne.muehleisen@uni-bayreuth.de)
- Dr. Christine Scherer, Coordinator Early Career & Equal Opportunity AMC (Christine.Scherer@uni-bayreuth.de)
- Carla Coburger, Representative AMC-doctoral candidates (researchers stage 1) AMC (Carla.coburger@uni-bayreuth.de)
- Prof. Britta Frede, Representative AMC-postdoctoral candidates (researchers stage 2-3) AMC (Britta.Frede@uni-bayreuth.de)