There are many training opportunities available to postdocs throughout the year, including courses run by postdocs themselves. Below you can find a list of past and recurring courses, along with course descriptions and links to resources.

Personalized advice on designing and negotiating your start-up package

When postdocs are offered a faculty position after their job search, many seek advice about how to design and negotiate their start-up package with their new institute. To address this need, the Service/Facility Leaders (SFLs) will offer a technology consultation for anyone dealing with these issues. The SFLs will form a committee and give advice on how to design the technology package that you need based on the research you are proposing to do. They will also give advice on the negotiation process.

Personalized technology package consultation for your research

Anyone may take advantage of this, but it is especially useful for new postdocs. Postdocs can approach one of the Senior SFLs and let them know that they are interested in the consultation. Based on the postdoc’s proposed project and background, that SFL would put together a team of 4-6 Senior SFLs for a 1 hour meeting with the postdoc. During the meeting, both sides will present and discuss to come up with the ideal service/facility technology combination for the postdoc’s research.

Short internships for postdocs interested in pursuing a career path in services/facilities

Postdocs seriously considering a career path in services and facilities may inquire about doing a short internship in the appropriate facility at our institute. This would be useful for the postdoc’s CV, for getting a reference, and for gaining experience.

Public Relations Internship Program for Postdocs

The Public Relations Internship Program of the MPI-CBG and the CSBD offers interested postdocs the unique possibility to gain experience in various fields and aspects of Science Communication. During the six- to nine-month program, participants are required to write at least four news articles on scientific publications, events, or awards for a general, broad audience. The articles are published on the MPI-CBG or CSBD website, in the Institute’s internal newsletter or even directly distributed to journalists. Furthermore, every participant in the program has to contribute to at least one event that involves communicating science to a diverse public audience. The interns acquire diverse communication skills, including interview skills, event organization, and writing texts tailored to specific audience groups. Optional enrichment experiences in the program are Social Media communication, event photography, video creation, poster and flyer design, or the guiding of institute tours. 

'Pimp Your Postdoc' Seminar Series

In the summer of 2014, two CBG postdocs organized a fantastic series of talks featuring candid advice from group leaders on various topics related to getting a job and starting your own group. These talks were recorded and can be watched by logging into the CBG Intranet. Please also visit the Career Advice page on the postdoc blog for slides and links related to some of the talks.

Annual Career Symposium

Once a year, CBG postdocs team up with predocs to organize the Career Symposium. The event consists of all-day seminars by professionals from various careers after PhD in biological sciences and often concludes with a social mixer where one can interact individually with the speakers. Also, a career consultant is invited for individualized career advice. Attendance is free of charge!

Annual Postdoc Symposium

Each summer, a team of postdocs organizes a 2-3 day retreat in a nearby town. The retreat consists of seminars by internal and external invited speakers, as well as social events. External speakers are usually senior postdocs or new group leaders from other institutes in Europe, who are selected through nomination and voting based on their research synopsis. The external speakers give a brief overview of their research and also share what it’s like to apply for and get an academic position. Food, lodging, and transportation are sponsored by MPI-CBG. Check out previous years’ retreat pictures and topics on our postdoc blog.

MPI Innovation Day

December 9, 2015 was the first MPI Innovation Day, a postdoc-organized symposium which showcased the interesting and cutting-edge innovation and technology-transfer happening at the CBG. Attendees had the opportunity to meet with members of Max Planck Innovation to get advice about the tech-transfer potential of their own projects. We hope to make this an annual event!

The central Max Planck Society puts together an annual course program for postdocs. These courses are hosted at various MPIs across Germany. Participation in these courses is free! Your PI just needs to agree to cover your travel and accommodation costs. Find the 2017 course schedule here.

Minerva-FemmeNet is a network for female scientists of the Max Plank Society. This network is intended to build mentor-mentee relationships between junior and senior scientists. Any junior female scientific researcher within the Max Planck Society can apply to be a mentee.   

Members of Minerva-FemmeNet can also attend courses offered by their cooperation partners. Learn more on the Training & Networking page of the Minvera-FemmeNet website.