“Similar goals, different perspectives”

Final meeting of the 2024 GRADE Postdoc Peer Group 2024

Photo: Jürgen Lecher

The postdoc phase poses many challenges for young researchers, whose everyday work often leaves very little time to tackle problems and conflicts in a structured manner. That is why the Goethe Research Academy for Early Career Researchers (GRADE) offers postdocs an opportunity to meet in interdisciplinary teams, and – guided by an expert coach – discuss personal challenges over the course of an entire year. The final meeting of the 2024 Postdoc Peer Group took place on January 22.

The four peers present at this last meeting, which was held in a hybrid format, reflected on their experiences with this method of peer coaching together with their academic trainer Dr. Silke Oehrlein-Karpi. Dr. Manpreet Jattana (Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics) recalls the first meeting held on the premises of his Modular Supercomputing and Quantum Computing (MSQC) research group in Bockenheim. Getting to know each other personally and sitting down over pizza afterwards were a good basis for building trust as well as addressing a topic outside the formal program framework and receiving brief feedback at eye level. The peers’ different perspectives helped in solving concrete problems, he says, just as much as it helped boost confidence in one’s own perceptions. Dr. Maria Zirenko (Faculty of Psychology and Sports Sciences), who works on the project “ALI – AI and digital Technology in Learning and Instruction”, also emphasizes participants’ mutual understanding of the very specific, personal experiences young researchers have in the German academic system. The shared context of the “postdoc” work and life phase, for example, does not exist in the exchange with friends or family, she says.  

Dr. Tin Yuan (Faculty of Medicine), researcher at the Center for Molecular Medicine, agrees. The young mother is joining via Zoom this time. “We all have similar goals, but different perspectives,” she says, adding how important it is to meet in person. Dr. Jens-Bastian Eppler, formerly a postdoc in neuroscience with a focus on creativity research at Goethe University’s Faculty of Physics who now works at the Centre de Recerca Matematica (CRM) of the Universitat Autonoma Barcelona, emphasizes that the peer networking helps combat the feeling of being alone with one’s problems. His advice for other Goethe University colleagues: “Do it! It will be worth your time.”

Photo: Jürgen Lecher

Coach Dr. Oehrlein-Karpi agrees that the fact that the 2024 cohort was able to meet in person again was a big plus for the trust-based exchange. Looking back at the experience she has had with the various postdoc peer groups in recent years, she says there are also other important ingredients that help make peer counseling a success. Participants should realize, for example, that they need not immediately focus on finding a solution to a problem: “Sometimes it is also good to take a step back, think about different approaches and reflect with like-minded people.” It is also important to really listen to everyone – even the more introverted interlocutors.

The participants of the 2024 GRADE Postdoc Peer Group will stay in touch via the WhatsApp group they set up to help them coordinate their meetings. Their advice for future postdoc peers – the 2025 cohort will have its kick-off meeting in February: Meet in person, especially at the beginning, identify “cases” from your everyday work and bring them to the joint meetings, stay on the ball and use the resources available at Goethe University for personal development. Much like their colleagues, the 2024 cohort also suffers from a general lack of time. But that is all the more reason, they say, to take a good look at the GRADE training program, which incidentally also features workshops on time management.

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