Leading junior scientists want to work in Göttingen

Advertisement of posts for the leadership of new research groups: highly qualified junior scientists from Germany and abroad apply

Several hundred leading young scientists have applied for posts advertised by the Georgia Augusta as part of its “Future Concept”. These junior professor posts are part of the project Brain Gain, with which the University is hoping to support outstanding junior scientists and establish a secure career path for them. They offer the opportunity for the leading of own research groups. Göttingen’s scientists who are taking part in the currently ongoing selection process speak of an “unusually high number of highly qualified applications from home and abroad”.

In a first application round 18 junior professor posts for the establishment of independent junior research groups were advertised. Up to 13 of these are to be based in the five newly established Courant Research Centres of the University. A further five will be established as independent research groups and supported as so-called free floaters. 540 young scientists have applied, with around 60 percent of applications coming from abroad. The applicants also include scientists currently working at top universities such as Oxford, Harvard or Stanford. Just over a third of applicants are junior scientists from Germany who are currently working abroad.

“With our future concept we place particular emphasis on the promising option of supporting junior scientists of outstanding potential, as many pioneering achievements are accomplished in comparatively early career stages. Our aim here is to offer leading junior scientists a secure career path to bind them to our University in the long term, which would be of sustainable benefit” emphasises the President of the University of Göttingen, Prof. Dr. Kurt von Figura. Furthermore, the outstanding resonance to the advertisement of the posts for the leadership of own research groups is proof for the attractiveness of the science location Göttingen, which thanks to the success in the Excellence Initiative is being increasingly appreciated both at home and abroad.

To indentify the very best of the applicants, selection symposia took place in January in the relevant Courant Research Centres. Here the invited applicants were able to present their research projects and discuss them with some of Göttingen’s scientists. A further symposium for the selection of junior researchers for the free floater groups was held on the 22nd and 23rd of February.

The project Brain Gain is – next to Brain Sustain, LichtenbergKolleg and Göttingen International – one of four central elements in the Future Concept of the Georg-August-University and takes a new approach to attracting top-quality junior scientists.