Our postdoctoral community is made up of 53 postdocs from more than 10 different nationalities, reflecting the rich diversity that strengthens our institute. With 36% of us being female, we see a valuable opportunity to further enhance inclusivity and create an even more attractive environment for women. We bring together a wide range of scientific expertise and career experiences, creating a dynamic and supportive environment.
As postdocs, we play an important role in the institute, mentoring and guiding Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD students. Many of us also take part in teaching activities through the university, often going beyond our own areas of research.
Our group includes postdocs at all stages of their careers. Some of us are just starting out after earning our PhDs, while others have over ten years of research experience. Most of us fall somewhere in between. To keep things running smoothly and to organize activities within and outside the institute, we rely on our postdoc representatives, who take on the role voluntarily.
PostDoc Representatives
Our postdoc representatives come from various departments and research groups, acting on behalf of the entire postdoc community. Their mission is to:
- Build connections with other postdoc communities and establish networks within and beyond academia.
- Organize activities and events focused on career and personal development.
- Foster communication and collaboration between postdocs, directors, and other staff to strengthen research at our institute.
The postdoc representatives meet with the Board of Directors every two months to discuss concerns, share updates, and relay important information back to the community. They also manage financial support provided by the Board to organize events and initiatives for postdocs.
To ensure our activities are aligned with the needs and interests of the community, the representatives frequently meet with fellow postdocs to gather feedback and fine-tune the content of events, courses, and workshops. Additionally, we maintain strong ties with the wider postdoc community in Marburg, including those from the University of Marburg and the University of Giessen, to encourage collaboration and interaction beyond the Max Planck Institute.
External PostDoc Representatives
In addition to the local support and activities available at MPI-Marburg, we also share updates and opportunities from the Max Planck Society's PostdocNet community. PostdocNet connects postdocs across all Max Planck Institutes, offering a broader network and organizing additional events and workshops for career and personal development.
At MPI-Marburg, postdocs typically elect an external representative, who serves as the primary contact between our institute’s postdocs and the PostdocNet Steering Group. This role is crucial for ensuring our community stays connected with PostdocNet initiatives and contributes to the larger Max Planck postdoc network. Currently, we do not have an external representative, but we are actively looking for someone to take on this important position.
More information can be found online: https://www.postdocnet.mpg.de
Upcoming Activities
In 2025, we have an exciting lineup of activities planned for our postdoc community. These include informal meetups, workshops, seminars, and our 3rd Annual Postdoc Symposium.
One of the highlights will be the return of the highly popular Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) course, where participants will learn how to ensure reliable and reproducible manufacturing processes while preparing the necessary documentation to meet rigorous industry standards.
Stay tuned for more details and announcements about these activities — we look forward to your participation!
We further invite Postdocs to sign up for workshops provided by the MARA team in Marburg and also other training in the range of 50 – 100 € per candidate. The list of available MARA workshops can be found here:
https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/mara/program/calendar-of-events
Past Activities
IIn the past, we have organised numerous events, courses and workshops on topics including career and personal development, scientific communication, grant application, managerial and administrative skills and computational skills.
2024
Grant Writing Workshop
This intensive three-day workshop was designed to equip participants with essential skills for securing research funding. The sessions covered a wide range of topics, including how to identify suitable funding opportunities, structure research proposals effectively, and address key evaluation criteria used by funding agencies.
Participants learned to write compelling narratives, outline realistic proposals, and highlight the broader impact of their research. The workshop also emphasized strategies for tailoring applications to specific funding bodies and avoiding common pitfalls.
Through interactive exercises and feedback from experienced grant reviewer as well as their peers, attendees were able to refine their proposal-writing skills and gain confidence in approaching future funding applications.
2nd Annual Postdoc Symposium
The symposium served as a vibrant platform for postdocs to present their work and connect with the broader community. This year’s event featured engaging method demonstrations and short research talks, where postdocs introduced themselves and showcased their research projects.
The event aimed to improve visibility and foster interdisciplinary collaborations by encouraging postdocs to share their expertise and discuss potential synergies with others in the institute. In addition to the presentations, the symposium included networking sessions, where participants exchanged ideas and explored opportunities for joint projects.
2023
24 November 2023: PostDoc symposium
Together with PostDocs from the Centre for Synthetic Biology (SYNMIKRO), we were host a PostDoc symposium, where 20 PostDocs met to discuss their projects and the current state of the PostDoc community. Several PostDocs were giving talks about their academic track and scientific work, followed by lively discussions. We further had four extended method talks, in which state-of-the-art technology such as super-resolution microscopy, in vitro protein biochemistry, cell-sorting coupled sequencing (SORT-seq) and live-cell imaging with microfluidic systems were presented. This exciting event demonstrated the breadth of research that is conducted at our institute and we are planning to continue with this successful format.
15 May 2023: Panel discussion at the IT MA(t)TERs conference
In May, the PhD community organized the IT MA(t)TERs conference that is annually held in collaboration with the MPI for Marine Microbiology in Bremen. The PostDoc Representatives contributed with a panel discussion, in which we presented our career track and discussed important aspects of the PostDoc life with the PhD community. The lively discussion was a lot of fun and demonstrated the importance of communication between different peer groups.
2022
6 December 2022: 1st Postdoc Academic Career and Development Symposium
Dr. Henrike Niederholtmeyer and Dr. Katharina Höfer talked about their career path, which decisions they took (and why!) and gave advices to the PhDs and Postdocs at the MPI and SYNMIKRO. We want to thank both of them for their inspiring talks! Afterwards, the Postdoc representatives presented their strategy for the community, current opportunities and where to find documentation and content.
24 and 25 November 2022: Career building workshop
Dr. Thomas Koch held an informative and interactive workshop on how Postdocs can advance their career and get funded. Next to group work, self-assessment and discussing general principles as a prospective PI, we talked a lot about funding schemes and efficiently planning your Postdoc phase.
23 June 2022: Get-together
We had our first “beer hour” organized by the new Postdoc representative team. We met at the backyard of the institute for some beers, had fun and discussed science and opportunities.