A piece I composed on my experiences running a postdoc network during my time as Spokesperson of the Max Planck PostdocNet has just been published in Nature Careers!

The piece addresses 4 challenges I encountered and my advice for overcoming them to successfully run a postdoc network. Additionally, the piece shares my reflections of engaging in professional service at an early career stage.

You can read it here.

In my role as Spokesperson of Max Planck PostdocNet I was invited to speak on the WissZeitVG for the German Scholars' Organization. You can read a recap of our session here. 

Watch here the Welcome Session of the German Scholars' Organization Conference To Be Honest on the Future of Academia. It was a pleasure to be part of this session!

This year PostdocNet celebrated five years as a network in the Max Planck Society. I had the amazing opportunity to interview President Cramer on all things postdocs! We premiered this interview at our General Meeting in Göttingen.

Looking for to talking about the WissZeitVG for the GSO conference on Thursday!

I was absolutely delighted to present at the workshop Glimpses of the Invisible: Visualizing the Principles of Nature Before the Rise of Modernity at the University of Messina. A special thank you to Nicola Polloni for the invitation. It was a fantastic workshop and I enjoyed presenting my research on Philipp Jakob Hartmann and his dissections and illustrations of 'unnatural' kidney shapes.

Looking forward to be a panelist on the Future of (German) Academia for the German Scholars Organization To be Honest Conference! Check it out and register!

For the Max Planck PostdocNet is our General Meeting the biggest event we host each year. This year's meeting called Vision 2024 was held at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen. From 4-6 November we gathered for scientific and career talks, and of course our official business in PostdocNet.

​Below is the introduction to the report I gave as part of my duties as Spokesperson of PostdocNet, who reports on the activities of the Steering Group at the General Assembly. 

Annual Spokesperson Report

Introduction

In 2019, a small group of Max Planck Society postdocs saw an urgent need: a need to establish a network that could unify postdocs across the Society, improve their professional lives, and open up vital opportunities for mentorship and academic exchange. This network would strengthen connections among postdocs, creating solidarity and representation across the MPG. Through elected representatives at each institute, it would establish contact points, advocate for improved working conditions, and ensure that postdocs, especially international ones, received appropriate contracts with social and health benefits, ideally at the E 13.3 level instead of stipends or fellowships.
The network would also be dedicated to understanding the needs of these postdocs, conducting surveys to collect valuable data that would guide its advocacy both within the Society and throughout Germany. Additionally, it would organize meetings, host expert speakers, and develop events focused on scientific growth and career development. The network would even engage in discussions with the German federal government on policies affecting academic short-term employment, ensuring a voice for postdocs on matters critical to their careers.
Today, that network is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Today, each of us is here as part of that network, strengthening a community founded to support and advance our future. Thanks to the efforts of the General Meeting Working Group, led by Jeremias Brand, we have a special program to celebrate this milestone. Over the next two and a half days, we will enjoy a full schedule of scientific discussions, career-building sessions, networking opportunities, and official PostdocNet business, including statute revisions and the election of a new steering group.

When brainstorming a theme for this year’s meeting, it became clear to us that as a dynamic and forward-thinking community, we are here not to dwell on the past but to look toward the future. Our work in PostdocNet is about serving that future: the future of science, of the network, and of postdocs within the Max Planck Society. We are here to create a stronger path for those who will follow. As we gather over the next few days, all of you are invited to think with us and work with us to shape our vision for the future. This is why we have chosen Vision as the theme of this year’s meeting.

To propel us toward that future, the organizers of this meeting envisioned a program that would engage postdocs across all three Max Planck Society sections. Our goal was to create a space for this cross-section dialogue among postdocs. This year’s keynote is Anthony Hyman, a molecular biologist from the BMS section, with a response by Katja Krause, a research group leader from the HSS section. Klaus Blaum from the CPT section will bring together research with career paths by historicizing his research and sharing how he became a Max Planck director. Our panel discussion will address the theme of AI in scientific research, featuring experts on the methodological, philosophical, and ethical dimensions of AI.

It is with great pleasure that I officially open the PostdocNet General Meeting Vision 2024!

According to the statutes of the Max Planck Society PostdocNet Section 2.1.3, the Spokesperson of PostdocNet “shall report on the work of the Steering Group in front of the General Assembly during the General Meeting, near the end of their term.” The report shall be published on PostdocNet website no later than eight weeks after the General Meeting.
 
This past year has been a tremendous success for PostdocNet and I am extremely proud of the what we have accomplished, but the daily and weekly activities of the Steering Group are often gone unseen. This is why it is not only a duty but a joy for me to report the activities of the Steering Group this past year to you today. It has been a privilege for me to serve as Spokesperson of PostdocNet this past year but it is together as a team of the Steering Group that we accomplished so much.

I had the pleasure to organize a panel discussion on AI and the future of science for Max Planck postdocs, moderated with Jeremias Brand.

Panelists:
1.     Dr. Ian Robertson, Research Fellow at PAIR, Centre for Philosophy and AI research, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg 
2.     Prof. Dr. Isabel Valera, Professor on Machine Learning at the Department of Computer Science of Saarland University in Saarbrücken (Germany)
3.     Dr. Caitlin Corrigan, Executive Director of Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence, Technical University Munich
​

Concept and Aim of the Panel:
Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged not only as a powerful tool but as an impetus for breakthroughs in scientific research and innovation, transforming research methodologies, accelerating data analysis, and raising the capabilities of researchers themselves. Given the many AI tools available for researchers, to what extent should AI be part of ‘doing research’? Should AI be only a tool to assist? Should AI be part of the creative process of doing science, such as generating scientific ideas? This panel aims to bring together experts from diverse backgrounds to explore the intersection of AI technology, ethics, and scientific research. 
Based upon the definitions and distinction utilized by the Nationale Strategie für Künstliche Intelligenz wherein “strong” AI refers to AI systems with the same intellectual capabilities of humans and “weak” AI refers to systems developed to support human thinking and solve specific problems, we will focus on ethical considerations regarding “weak” AI through three main topics of discussion: research, bias and fairness, and transparency and accountability.

I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with the President of the Max Planck Society to talk all things relating to Max Planck postdocs! Our enlightening and stimulating conversation includes internationality of postdocs in the MPG, mental health measures, the WissZeitVG, mobility and challenges of dual career postdocs, and even a personal story from Professor Cramer's time as a postdoc.

My interview with Professor Cramer, President of the Max Planck Society, will be shown for the first time on 5 November 2024 at the General Meeting of PostdocNet at the MPI for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen. Stay tuned for the full video, which will be made available shortly after our General Meeting.