Women bring immense potential to science, yet they remain underrepresented in top academic and research roles. In 2022, over 52.3% of all students enrolled at German universities were women, and women earned more than 46% of doctorate degrees. But when it comes to university professors, this number drops dramatically to just 28% (Source: German Federal […]
Lessons from failure: A researcher’s journey through a disastrous experiment
When in January 2020 I started my PhD in Plant Ecology, I felt a mix of enthusiasm and anxiety. I knew the journey I was beginning would be arduous, and that was even before the several events that ended up making it even tougher than I expected. What follows is a recap of perhaps the […]
How to grow in the shadows
I walk through the forest and see a few old and sturdy trees, that are dominating their surroundings. I look up and see how they sway in the wind, but they bend and hold and aren’t bothered in the slightest. Down here in their shadow, I am surrounded by an army of saplings. Most of […]
Overcoming lack of funding as a PhD Fellow to attend EGU 24
I’m Mafalda, a 29-year-old Portuguese woman doing my doctorate at the University of Kiel with a Portuguese PhD fellowship that allows me to develop my project with the cooperation of GEOMAR and the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA). I’m doing my PhD in Marine Geology studying a natural submarine system where carbon […]
FYORD Travel Grant Reports: Impressions from the largest European geoscientific conference (Part 1)
With this blog post, we would like to introduce and launch our new cooperation with FYORD! FYORD is a joint network by CAU and GEOMAR initiated to connect and support Early Career Researchers of the marine sciences from Master’s to PostDoc level. After occasional exchanges in the past (see our blog here), we are very […]
At the beginning there was bureaucracy
Last year in summer I finished my Master’s degree. I was, and still am, very much in love with science, and enjoyed my research-focussed program a lot. No surprise that I wanted to pursue a scientific career, and that I was very happy I had managed to secure a PhD position as the next step […]
“Drama, Baby!” Meine Erfahrungen im Wissenschaftskommunikationszertifikatsprogramm
November 2023, ich stehe auf der großen Bühne in der Pumpe, einem Veranstaltungszentrum in Kiel. Vor mir sitzen etwa 200-250 Leute, die Sitzplätze sind alle besetzt und ein paar Leute müssen sogar stehen. Sie sind bereit, zwei Stunden lang zu stehen, um zu erleben, wie junge Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler bei der Science Show ihre Forschung […]
“I need more drama” – What I learned in the science communication certificate program
November 2023, I am standing on the big stage in “die Pumpe” an event centre in Kiel. In front of me, there are about 200-250 people, the seats are all occupied and a bunch of people are standing. They are willing to stand for two hours to experience young scientists explaining their research in an […]
Science – at the edge of knowledge
One of the biggest realizations during my PhD so far was that doing science means that literally nobody has ever done whatever you are doing. Duh! That’s kind of the point of science, isn’t it? Generating new knowledge? Yes, but I was somewhat unaware of the consequences for me as a scientist. In a nutshell: […]
Why a hackathon has nothing to do with coding!
If you received an invite to a “Hackathon” event – would you sign up for it? Chances are, if you’re not a programmer by training, studied IT or went far down the rabbit hole called modelling for your research, your answer will be thanks for the invitation, but no thanks. “No way!” was my first reaction […]