Young Scientist Update September 2023

Proposals, Networking, Events and Information for the Young Scientists of the Medical Faculty‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

getting ready for "Science and AI: friend or foe" - our research day is on the horizon - for the first time with a motto and meet the expert sessions. Already more than 60 registrations plus 4 science slammers in the starting blocks. Please welcome with us on November 24 our very special guest Dr. Barbara Marte, Senior Editor at nothing less than Nature. We are so happy that she is very open for discussion - feel free to send us your questions now - do not be shy. We are so much looking forward to a great day!
In our Career Bites Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Gerd Heusch will talk about conflicts at work, enthusiasm for science and how hard work can outcompete talent.
Last, not least, you will also find a selection of our most popular Instagram posts about your successes in the news section.

Yours,
Prof'in Dr. Anke Hinney
Vice Dean for Young Scientists and Diversity

PROPOSALS - INTERNAL

EVENTS & NETWORKING

Inspired by the celebration of the Postdoc Appreciation Week in the USA and the UK, the PAW Germany coordination team invited researchers and research institutions, postdoc coordinators and research administrators all over Germany to join them in creating a special program, events and a social media campaign to honor the incredible work of postdocs. The initiative was well taken and our colleagues and postdoc networks all over the country quickly put together a great program with a wide range of topics – most of them online and open for attendees from any institution in Germany. The GC Plus Team has organized several events, such as an informal meeting with Prof. Astrid Westendorf, Vice-Rector for Research and Early Career Researchers.
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On October 10, the young researchers of the Collaborative Research Center "Extinction Learning" (SFB 1280) leave their laboratories in neuroscience, medicine, biology, neuroinformatics, etc., and join the renowned biopsychologist Onur Güntürkün on stage. Absolutely entertaining, exciting interdisciplinary, and tingling, as only science can, they present the latest research and their fascination with it.
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It is not easy to pursue a scientific career in Germany as an international scientist. With this network, we are providing a space to exchange experiences, give advices and support each other as an international community. Every scientist who is working in Essen and who is interested in or feels addressed by these topics is welcome. First meeting will take place on September 29 at 2 pm, room tba. For further information send an email to Silvia.VegaRubindeCelis@uk-essen.de
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NEWS & SOCIAL MEDIA

Communicating and maintaining established standards is a fundamental requirement of scientific integrity and trustworthy research. These standards of good scientific practice are subject to continuous development and are based on numerous national and international regulations. Therefore, the UDE has given itself new "Principles for Ensuring Good Scientific Practice" on July 13. They apply to all members of the university and affect numerous aspects of research and teaching.
At the UDE you will find centralized and decentralized consulting and support services for numerous aspects, e.g. for correct citation in theses or for sustainable archiving of research data in research networks.
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What was the most challenging phase in your career - and how did you manage it?
I found the initial phase of my professional career most turbulent and stressful. I had completed the final practical year of my MD studies in Bonn with an elective term in cardiac surgery and wanted to become a cardiac surgeon. My cardio-surgical boss in Bonn therefore sent me off for basic scientific training to his own former mentor who was then the director of the physiology department in Düsseldorf. When, after finishing my obligatory military service, I actually took up this position, this person had unfortunately died. I nevertheless started to work at the physiology institute but without a real mentor. I could pursue my interest in coronary blood flow, do my experiments in the lab for three years, and eventually succeeded to publish quite well. Then, after a 3-year interim, a new director was appointed who had other scientific interests, and we also did not get along well on the personal level - there were major conflicts. When I then wanted to submit my habilitation thesis, my boss truly asked the faculty members to not let me enter the habilitation procedure. However, luckily that request did not find the approval of other senior cardiovascular faculty members, and in the end I had a top-class habilitation committee and was awarded the best habilitation of that year. To avoid further conflicts, I then went with a DFG scholarship to San Diego and had there in UCSD cardiology for the first time a real scientific mentor, John Ross – again with a focus on coronary blood flow and myocardial ischemia. I then returned to Düsseldorf with a Heisenberg scholarship to continue working experimentally in physiology and clinically in cardiology. This dual experimental-clinical background in myocardial ischemia research very quickly won me the call to my current position in Essen. Here, at age 33, I was Germany's youngest full professor at a medical faculty at the time. All this happened in just eight years, indeed a stressful and challenging time in my career.

Would you do things differently or make different decisions with the knowledge you have today?
In retrospect, I do not regret my decisions and my fighting spirit in those early eight years, if only because there was a happy end. Maybe I would not be quite so cheeky with my boss. Another important crossroads of my professional career was the choice between a clinical career or an experimental one. With the call to Essen, I decided in favor of research.
When I came here, there was no chair of cardiology and only a somewhat underdeveloped cardiovascular research. However, the Essen faculty has always been good to me, gave me the opportunity and ressources to do what I wanted to do, and let me develop the cardiovascular focus, including the establishment of a cardiology chair and the recruitment of excellent cardiovascular scientists and clinicians. Therefore, I have also refused the offers of chairs in either experimental and clinical cardiology in the US and gladly stayed in Essen.

What advice would you give to young scientists?
The most important advice to young people considering a career in science is, that they must be clear about their motivation and perseverance, and be honest about that to themselves. Do I have sufficient enthusiasm for research and also the strength and perseverance? Because for a scientific career you need two things: talent and hard work. I have seen many young scientists who were really talented but not willing to work hard. Conversely, there were many who had far less talent but were willing to work hard and were therefore successful in their careers. Our Western understanding of work-life balance is of little interest in other countries - but you have to compete with them internationally. Personally, I cannot remember ever getting by with a 40-hour week.

What drives you?
Curiosity is very important, ambition is also part of it. At the end of the day, it is mainly enthusiasm for science and having fun doing what I can do. I started 40 years ago in the physiology of coronary arteries, in the broadest sense I still work in this field and can still publish successfully. You need real enthusiasm for research.

PROPOSALS - EXTERNAL

Through "Scoping workshops", the VW foundation intends to encourage a reflection and further development of disciplinary and interdisciplinary research areas and communities. Through this funding, researchers are given the opportunity to jointly assess the current status of their field of research and, on this basis, to work out perspectives for its further development.
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Dear Young Scientists,

Application for Junior Clinician Scientist fellowship - open until October 1

Apply now: the revised MediMent mentoring program

Day of Research on November 24
Science and AI: friend or foe

How to teach Medicine: Didactic Course Offers

Infrastructure fund supports
teaching with 2 million euros

Prospects: Talk Series on DFG Funding Opportunities on September 21 and 25

September 18-22: Postdoc Appreciation Week Germany

GUIDE: Idea Competition

October 10: Psycho Slam "Brain Talks"

October 21: 10th AluMedEs Annual Meeting

November 8: Public Access for Post Docs

September 29: The International Network

New application round for Epi&CR

#wissenschaftlichernachwuchs

New principles for ensuring good scientific practice at the UDE

Wanted: Lawyers for voluntary work in the Ethics Committee

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Gerd Heusch

Eva Luise Köhler Research Award for Rare Diseases

academics-Nachwuchspreis

Hans Böckler Foundation | Maria Weber Grant

Short Term Fellowship

Funding for Scoping Workshops

Boxberger Prize Bad Kissingen 2024

Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators