|
 |
Events
- On February 22, the Three-Minute
Thesis Competition will return as a live
event for the first time. In this competition,
doctoral researchers from all disciplines present
their dissertation topics in English with no more
than three minutes time! The winner takes home €
100. (Photo above: Christoph Worsch)
- The next UniWiND Lunch Session on 14 March
offers an insight into the work and decision-making
structures of the German Research Foundation
on the topic of "Academic Careers". The lunch
sessions take place several times a year, each time
from 12:00 to 13:00 via Zoom. Registration is now
possible here.
- On 15 March, the German Research Foundation will
provide information about the Emmy
Noether Programme in an online lecture.
With this programme, postdocs can qualify for a
university professorship by leading a junior
research group. In the information lecture, the key
points of the funding programme will be explained
and questions answered. The lecture will be in
German.
|
|
|
|
 |
Get
involved
- Currently, the 11th
call for applications for the mentoring
programme for female postdocs of the Unibund
Halle - Jena - Leipzig is open. The programme aims
at advanced female postdocs, habilitation
candidates, junior research group leaders and junior
professors. It offers individual mentoring by
experienced professors from the three universities
as well as top-class training courses on key
career-relevant qualifications. The University of
Jena can award eight places in the programme.
- How can you sustainably improve your teaching
based on the evaluations of your courses? The
project "Informal Learning of Teachers at the
Friedrich Schiller University Jena" would like to
support you in this and is currently looking for
participants who want to reflect on their teaching
from an academic perspective. If you are interested
in the programme, please contact Dr.
Uliana Proskunina or Merve
Ercan.
- The "Begegnungszonen"
programme of the Joachim Herz Foundation promotes
interdisciplinary events in the natural sciences.
Financial support can be requested, for example, for
the organisation of workshops, symposia, colloquia,
meetings or conferences that have a duration of at
least three days. The deadline for applications is
16 May.
|
|
|
|
 |
Announcements
- The Thuringian University and State Library
(ThULB) can cover publication
costs of articles in open access
journals written by researchers of the University of
Jena. Funding is also available for open-access
monographs resulting from projects funded by the
German research foundation (DFG). The funds are
provided by the DFG
and the state
of Thuringia and are available from 2023 to
2025.
- The LIFE
"Connect" fund supports the development
of scientific projects in the life sciences that
have the potential to successfully attract
third-party funding and establish new collaborations
between researchers from different working groups.
Financial support in the amount of 15,000 up to
25,000 euros is possible. The deadline for
applications is 31 March.
- Klaus Tschira Foundation: KlarText-Prize
for Science Communication (Deadline 28
February 2023)
- Körber Foundation: German
Thesis Award for the best theses from all subjects
(Deadline 01 March 2023)
|
|
|
|
 |
Qualification
offers
There are still vacancies in the following online and
on-site workshops:
- Graduate Academy:
- Lehre Lernen:
- Service Centre for
Research and Transfer (in German):
- Competence Center Digital Research (zedif) (in
German):
|
|
|
|
 |
This
may be of interest to you
- The
release of the GPT
Chatbot has led to widespread discussion
about its impact on research and teaching. The
chatbot generates texts by mining large amounts of
text. For example, it was able to write
scientific abstracts that were not recognized
as AI text by a third of the reviewers. There is
also discussion
about what impact the chatbot's use could have in
studying, for example when writing essays. By the
way, the maker of ChatGPT also offers a bot called Dall-E that
can create images from text input. The bot has
created the illustration above in response to the
given input "Discussion about Artificial
Intelligence".
- In
the USA, the National Science Foundation is
considering a new option for reviewing
grant applications: A reviewer should be able
to approve an application with a so-called "golden
ticket" – even if the majority of the other
reviewers does not approve it. Similar approaches
were already applied in Germany: In 2017, the German
Council of Science and Humanities had recommended
that research funders should try out a more
innovative design for selection procedures. That's
exactly what the Volkswagen Foundation then did,
making funding decisions in one
funding line on a partially randomized basis.
However, this funding line ended last year.
- The German academic system is criticised for
having career paths that are too difficult to plan.
One way to achieve greater clarity is to increase
the number of tenured junior professors. To promote
this path, the federal government and the states
have created 1,000 new tenure-track professorships
at universities in recent years with the so-called Tenure-Track
Programme. But how are these professorships
distributed? The Junge Akademie and the Deutsche
Gesellschaft Juniorprofessur have now presented
this in a map.
However, what is not clear from the map: Did the
start-up funding work and will the tenure-track
professorship become the new standard appointment
model? Or did the universities just gratefully take
the funding and then leave everything as it was?
|
|
|
|
 |
News
from University of Jena
- In the foyer of the Abbe Campus, the exhibition
"I
AM A.I. – Artificial Intelligence Explained"
can currently be viewed with numerous interactive
exhibits (Photo: Christoph Worsch). It not only
deals with abstract concepts of artificial
intelligence, but also with its consequences in
everyday life. The exhibition is accompanied by
weekly Sunday
lectures (in German). The exhibition can be
visited until 05 March. Admission is free.
- In December, the occupation of Lecture Hall 1
was ended by the students. Previously, the council
of the Faculty of Arts had decided with a large
majority to examine "viable ways for the
preservation of the professorship for gender
history". In order to continue the protest, the
students founded
the alliance "Dare more education". In January, a
lecture hall at the Bauhaus
University in Weimar has also been occupied –
due to the many current crises. Previously, climate
activists had occupied lecture halls in Halle
and Bonn.
|
|
|
|
 |
Latest
news from Jena and Thuringia
- Café
Wagner is relocating for two years into
an old lecture hall on the grounds of the old
children's hospital at Westbahnhof (see pictures
above). The move had become necessary because the
building in Wagnergasse had to be extensively
renovated. From May on, there should be events and
lunch service at the new location.
- On 15 February, comedian Dan Belkin will
perform his English comedy programme "Jew
gotta be kidding me?!" at Haus auf der Mauer. The
evening is organised by the Jena comedy stand-up
stage "Provinzcomedy".
Local comedians will perform also to start the
evening. You can find more information and tickets here.
- Since 2 February, masks will no
longer be compulsory on local public
transport. From this date, masks will also not
be necessary for long-distance travel. The
reason for the lifting are the declining figures of
infections. However, masks are still required in
many clinics and doctors' offices.
- Starting in February, Doreen Denstädt will be the
new
Minister for Migration, Justice and Consumer
Protection in the Thuringian state government.
The former police officer will be the first
black minister in eastern Germany. The
announcement has
already led to increased racist and insulting
comments on the net. With the personnel rochade, the
Thuringian Greens hope to get a boost for next
year's election campaign.
|
|