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Am I more of a researcher or a teacher? For the first time, psychologists at Münster University have investigated both long-term and situation-related, short-term role identifications among junior researchers in Psychology. The study was published in the journal "Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education".

Henning Stroers, the Administrative Director of the Research Centre for Family-Oriented Human Resources Policies (FFP) at Münster University, speaks about having a family and simultaneously pursuing an academic career, and about human resources policies geared to different stages of people’s lives.

Prof. Niels Petersen has held the Chair of Public, International and European Law and Empirical Legal Research at the University of Münster since 2015. In this guest commentary he talks about his academic career. This is the third and last in a series of guest commentaries on the subjects of alternative careers outside research and the path towards a professorship at a university.

Dr. Oliver Sendscheid wrote his PhD in Münster. Since September 2016 he has been working at the US branch of the diagnostic laboratory company Euroimmun. In this guest commentary Sendscheid, a biologist, describes why he opted for private industry. This is the second of a series of three guest commentaries on the subjects of alternative careers outside research and the path towards a professorship at a university.

Dr. Sarah Eligehausen studied biology and took her PhD in the subject. Since 2015 she has been coordinating the Experimental Medicine course of study at the University of Münster. In this guest commentary she describes her career so far. This is the first of a series of three guest commentaries on the subjects of alternative careers outside research and the path towards a professorship at a university.

At Münster University there are various offers and funding programmes that support postdocs on their way to becoming professors.

Prof. Bernd Schlipphak has been the ombudsman for junior researchers in the Education and Social Science Faculty at the University of Münster since 2015 and, as such, has an open ear not only for PhD students and post-docs in Faculty 06, but also for their supervisors.

Xiaofei Yang and Peilin Li are doctoral students at the Münster University. In their guest commentaries, they describe their everyday work as junior researchers.

Leading a team of their own helps young researchers to become independent at an early stage. The University of Münster also has many teams of junior researchers which provide the team-leaders with an opportunity to take on responsibility early. Here we present the leaders of just three of many such teams: Dr. Lena Frischlich, Prof. Raphael Wittkowski and Dr. Anna Junker.

Helping junior researchers to look beyond their own four walls in preparation for an academic career is something that the University of Münster does not only in a decentralised way – in individual faculties, with a wide range of qualification opportunities – but also across faculty borders, with numerous centralised offers of support.

In addition to providing facilities for studies and research, the University of Münster offers apprenticeships and vocational training in 19 different occupations – from gardener to IT systems technician. One example of this vocational training is that for chemical laboratory assistants at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, where the two people responsible for this training are Karin Hassels (since 2009) and Peter Eggert (since 2001).

Promoting junior researchers plays a key role at the University of Münster. The University offers researchers a wide range of options – such as PhDs, graduate schools, junior research groups or associate professorships – in order for them to gain additional qualifications which prepare them for an academic career.