Minutes: postdoc committee meeting

Date: June 2nd, 2015

Participants: Clemens Klokmose, Nico Marcel Döttling, Joanna Saad-Sulonen, Ivan Damgaard, Gerth Stølting Brodal, Ira Assent

Minute taker: Ira Assent

Agenda:

  1. Strategy: our input
  2. Postdoc retreat evaluations
  3. Upcoming postdoc event
  4. Evt.

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  1. Strategy

    - It is very important to focus on supporting postdoc career paths

    - We should make very sure that the associate professor criteria (considered very helpful) are known to everyone, with the message that they serve as “minimum bar” in open call competition

    - Tenure track should be the default for hiring permanent staff

    - It would be interesting to find numbers on the percentage of postdocs that continue in industry or research, respectively (the same nationally, internationally, respectively)

    - It would be helpful to provide information on how postdoc experience is perceived in industry and how postdocs can “sell” their experience if they decide to apply there

    - It would be helpful if we could clearly outline the rules for having your own company on the side, and how to continue an entrepreneurial career, which could later provide useful contacts for the department as well

    - Having a joint pool of postdoc positions for support of teaching activities (that could be used for CV building) would help the department

    - We should support postdocs with their next career steps also abroad, most importantly through international networks

    - We should support the general aim of hiring diverse postdocs (foreigners and women, but postdocs are already typically international staff)

  2. Postdoc retreat evaluations

    - There were only three responses

    - Generally very positive

    - For “new” postdocs, more centrally organized social activities could be a plus

    - The connection to the PhD students, also from other research groups, was mentioned as a plus

    - We could make it a general initiative (outside of retreats) that postdocs interested in improving their supervision skills could assist Master students from any group in preparing their thesis defences

  3. Upcoming postdoc event

    - Olivier is giving his workshop from the PhD retreat

    - Few registrations à need to find new date

    - Will be in connection with a social event at Slap Af

    -  Department covers dinner

    - We should communicate the announcement to all the postdocs at the faculty by contacting the respective heads of secretariat (mentioning that our department pays dinner for our postdocs, and asking if they would be ready to do the same)

    - We should ask our research group coordinators to encourage all postdocs to participate in (social) events

  4. Evt.

   APV follow-up:

  • the initiative regarding building a connection to all postdocs in the ST faculty has been put on hold, as there is currently no tow holder and we cannot get direct access to mailing lists in other departments
  • we will push for an appreciation talk / workshop (preferred) where Annemette and Olav offered help