Career advancement

Franziska Seidl Funding Program

On behalf of the Rectorate, the Culture and Equality unit offers three fixed-term positions (6 months each) for female postdoctoral researchers every six months as part of a new program for the advancement of women. The positions will especially be awarded in those faculties/centers of the University of Vienna where women are significantly underrepresented. The program supports female scientists at the University of Vienna in completing research projects, finalizing / revising / resubmitting research proposals and/or completing publications.

• Go to job announcement

Habilitation training for female academics

Habilitation is a postdoctoral qualification in several countries and by its peculiarity requires much knowledge and understanding of the academic world and its rituals. In general, women have less access to male-dominated networks and informal information. Hence, this one-day-workshop is targeted towards female postdoctoral candidates working on a specific habilitation project and female postdocs who aspire to or are at the beginning of a habilitation. The workshop is designed with the aim to provide them with concise information about the process and regulation of habilitation and to support them in planning their steps towards a successful habilitation.

Thematic focus:
Significance of the habilitation for an academic career; the process of habilitation: prerequisites, requirements and types of habilitation; the unwritten rules of habilitation; time management during habilitation.

• Next training: 8 January 2025 or 28 January 2025 or 14 May 2025
  
• Course language: English or German
• Trainer: Ute Riedler
• Brochure "Steps to a successful habilitation" (PDF)

On these 3 dates a one-day online workshop will be offered. You are invited to participate in one of these workshops. 

Please specify in your applicaton for which training/date you apply (if more than one date are possible and make sense at this stage of your career please state so in your application) and if German and/or English is acceptable as training language for you (the training language will be decided upon the preferences of the applicants). The more options (dates, languages) you accept, the easier it will be to offer you a place in one of the workshops.

To apply for the training, please send your CV in tabular form and a short abstract about your habilitation project to the following e-mail address: equality@univie.ac.at.

Appointment training for prospective professors

This offer is an important measure to increase the career opportunities of female academics at the University of Vienna and thus to promote gender equality. By taking part they acquire extensive formal and informal knowledge about the professors’ appointment process and are prepared for their national or international applications. The workshop is targeted towards female academics of the University of Vienna holding a habilitation or equivalent qualification who are currently applicants in national or international appointment procedures or who are planning to apply for a professorship within the next few years.

Thematic focus:
Legal framework; coaching of soft skills; unwritten rules of the appointment process; talking with the appointment committee; strategies for salary negotiations.

• Next training: 24 + 25 February 2025 OR 24 -26 September 2025
• Course language: English or German
• Trainer: Ute Riedler
• Program

The training is a two-day (less participants) or three-day training and we invite you to apply.

Please specify in your applicaton if German and/or English are acceptable as training languages for you (the training language will be decided upon the preferences of the applicants) and also which of the dates are suitable for you (or both?).

To apply for the training, please send your CV in tabular form and a one page motivation letter to the following e-mail address: equality@univie.ac.at.

Networking lunch for female academics

Based on the experience that good networks are of key importance for an academic career, the Culture and Equality unit has been organising networking events for current and previous participants of its programs. Each networking lunch is designed to provide a space for input and in-depth dialogue on a selected topic as well as time for networking, reunion and informal exchange.

• Previous networking events:
  "Self-Leadership - Connecting to the Source" with Anette Hammerschmidt.
  "Networking made easy?" with Deborah Ruggieri.
  “Does a successful academic career go together with family life and private interests?”
  with Prof. Andrea Olschewski, Moderation: Ute Riedler.
  "Salary negotiations for women" with Ute Riedler

Marie Jahoda Grant

With the Marie Jahoda Grant, the University of Vienna aimed to support female, highly qualified postdoctoral researchers who had to reduce or interrupt their research activities because of care obligations in their families or close environment.

Starting in 2014, the grant (formerly Back-to-Research Grant) has been issued every year from the rectorate's ressources. With Marie Jahoda, a renowned social scientist who started her career at the University of Vienna lends her name to the grant. In the winter semester 2022/23, up to 10 grants set at EUR 30,000.00 each were awarded from the ressources of the rectorate.

The Culture and Equality unit coordinated the grant and its award process.

We warmly congratulate the 11 grantees 2022:

• Veronika Burz-Tropper, Faculty of Catholic Theology
• Linda Dezsö, Faculty of Business, Economics and Statistics
• Laura Gianvittorio-Ungar, Faculty of Philological and Cultural Studies
• Lisa Isola, Faculty of Law
• Olga Kepinska, Vienna CogSciHub
• Sabine Kraushaar, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy
• Nana Naetar-Kerenyi, Centre for Molecular Biology
• Monika Palmberger, Faculty of Social Sciences
• Agnieszka Pasieka, Faculty of Social Sciences
• Angela Stöger-Horwath, Faculty of Life Sciences
• Sylvia Plöckinger, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Geography and Astronomy

FEMAC – career development program for female researchers in English

FEMAC is a three-semester career development program for female postdoctoral researchers and habilitation candidates at the University of Vienna and is held in English. The program combines career-integrated coaching led by national academic coaches and training sessions and workshops led by international experts. The group coaching aims to promote the exchange of experiences among the participants.

The second run of FEMAC 2 started in March 2018 and ended in June 2019. Participants were female postdoctoral researchers and habilitation candidates of all disciplines of the University of Vienna (minimum duration of the current contract until January 2019), who pursue an academic career.

• FEMAC 2: Program Folder (PDF)
• Further information (Intranet)

Berta Karlik Program

As part of the Berta Karlik Program, special professorships were created at the University in 2011 to promote excellent female researchers. Following the principles of gender equality, the Berta Karlik Program was designed to increase the opportunities of highly qualified women researchers at the University of Vienna. These temporary professorships increased their chances of subsequently being appointed as professors in Austria or abroad. The Program was launched two times. 6 Berta Karlik professorships were awarded in total.

• Photo report "Verleihung Berta-Karlik-Professuren 2015" (uni:view)(in German)
  

"Leading, Managing and Developing Competences": career planning curriculum for female postdoc university assistants

The three-semester career planning curriculum "Leading, Managing and Developing Competences. Women in Academia Shape their Future" offered female postdoctoral academics at the University of Vienna the opportunity to broaden their skills for their professional future. The program was mainly directed towards female postdoctoral university assistants who were in longer-term employment with the University of Vienna (the employment contract had to run for a minimum of two years as of the beginning of the program).

• Information booklet on the curriculum "Leading, Managing and Developing Competences" (PDF)(in German)
  

Career planning curriculum for female predoctoral researchers

The three-semester career planning curriculum for female researchers "Steps to Success" was organised by the units Culture and Equality and Human Resources Development. The program was exclusively directed towards female academic staff in the predoctoral phase: university assistants, external lecturers and academic project staff.

• Information booklet on the "Steps to Sucess" program (PDF)(in German)