Vision 2024

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.