Young Scientists Week 2021
For the first time in the summer semester 2021 (25.5. to 27.5.2021), the Graduate Promotion organised a (digital) Week of Young Academics (WwN) at the Faculty of Cultural Studies. This format consisted of a graduate conference of the Graduate Forum (GFKW), in which doctoral candidates and postdocs of the Faculty of Cultural Studies gave lectures, and information offers, networking rounds, workshops and keynote lectures . The events of the first Week of Young Academics were linked by presentations and discussions of cultural studies research on the topic of knowledge transfer.
The approximately 100 participants explored the concept of knowledge transfer in various formats. They critically discussed the science system and received insights into current research projects related to the topic of the week in the form of 11 lectures by doctoral students and postdocs. The research projects showed the heterogeneity of the research based at the faculty: Apps, didactic methods, literary texts or works of art were presented as forms of knowledge transfer.
Keynote and evening lectures also introduced projects from the faculty that are in dialogue with actors from society, or stimulated further thoughts on the topic of knowledge communication as a task of academics. The opening lecture by Prof. Dr. René Fahr highlighted the topic of knowledge transfer as a task for the entire university. He highlighted those projects from the Faculty of Cultural Studies that are already in dialogue with actors outside the university. The keynote lecture by Dr. Anh-Mai Boger took a critical look at the concept of knowledge transfer and questioned the challenges of communicating academic work to a non-university audience. In the evening lecture, the association Erste Generation Promotion (EGP) looked at the entire university system as a place of hurdles for students and doctoral candidates from non-academic backgrounds. The participants were given insights into the work of the association, which is primarily connected to informal knowledge about the higher education system. Dr. Anjana Buckow from the DFG gave an informative presentation on the many funding opportunities for postdocs and advanced postdocs on the path to a professorship and encouraged applications for the programmes mentioned. She also named the topic of knowledge communication as a newly defined cross-sectional task of the DFG and emphasised the relevance of public relations for research projects.
Encouragement and helpful tips were also imparted in the two workshops that took place as part of the Week of Young Scientists: While Prof.in Dr.in Katrin Klingsieck from the field of ProLernen gave advice on efficient time management with a view to qualification projects, Dr Andrea Karsten from the Writing Competence Centre provided impulses for individual writing strategies and stimulating writing impulses.
Numerous actors from the field of graduate support presented their offers for graduates in the Market of Opportunities and were available to answer individual questions.
The results of the first week for young academics are to be published. In the meantime, the volume on knowledge transfer has been published in the series "Interdisciplinary Studies of the Paderborn Graduate Center for Cultural Studies" (only available in German).
