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Modern and Excellent: Qualification for a Professorship

At KIT, state-of-the-art paths to a professorship have been established apart from post-doctoral lecture qualification (habilitation): Junior research groups, junior professorship, and work in industry.
Illustration of paths to professorship
Paths to professorship

The Research Office of KIT provides information on specific funding instruments and offers support on your individual career path, especially with establishing an independent junior research group. A central strategic element of support is the Young Investigator Network (YIN), the independent network of all junior research group leaders at KIT, which has already gained international recognition.

KIT offers the following framework conditions for scientists on their path to a professorship:

  • Excellent early career researchers receive extensive support and mentorship while preparing a proposal for a junior research group within the Young Investigator Group Preparation Program (YIG Prep Pro).
  • Junior research group leaders can obtain official recognition as an independent "KIT-Nachwuchsgruppe" of KIT. This status is supposed to counteract the inflationary use of the term "junior research group" and thus serves the purpose of quality assurance and the protection of junior research group leaders.
  • The "KIT Associate Fellow" status enables junior research group leaders to supervise and examine doctoral students.
  • In order to increase the predictability of the scientific career, KIT is continuously expanding the number of tenure track professorships.

 


NEWS

Kick-Off for YIG Prep Pro Fellows

On 27 November 2019, a kick-off meeting for the first cohort of fellows in the Young Investigator Group Preparation Program (YIG Prep Pro) took place. All fellows who have been accepted into the program have recently started their research project at KIT. The meeting offered the interdisciplinary group the opportunity to network with each other and to exchange experiences and tips.

New Helmholtz Young Investigator Groups in 2019

Dr. Emma Järvinen from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder/Colorado and Dr. Martina Klose from the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre will establish their own Helmholtz Young Investigator Group at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research in the departments Atmospheric Aerosol Research and Troposphere Research within the next 6 years.