On 21 May 2024, the second Young Investigator Appreciation Day for junior research group leaders, advanced postdocs and interested doctoral students on the topic of science management took place at the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus. The aim of the event is to recognise the excellent work of all TU Early Career Researchers and, in particular, to honour the Athene Young Investigators (AYI) appointed in 2024. The photo on the left shows Professor Nico Bruns, Professor Steffen Hardt, Dr Henning Bonart (AYI), Professor Franziska Lang, Andrea Belluati, PhD, and Dr Lisa Wille (both AYI).
| Athene Young Investigator | Appointment | Portrait |
|---|---|---|
| Portraits by Astrid Ludwig, TU Darmstadt | ||
|
Dr. Lisa Wille Department of History and Social Sciences |
April 2024 | Portrait: Dr. Wille |
|
Dr. Andrea Belluati Department of Chemistry |
April 2024 | Portrait: Dr Belluati |
|
Dr.-Ing. Henning Bonart Department of Mechanical Engineering |
April 2024 | Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Bonart |
|
Dr. Jens Marquardt Department of History and Social Sciences |
April 2023 |
in German Portrait: Dr. Marquardt |
|
Dr. Pelin Tozman Department of Materials and Earth Sciences |
April 2023 | Portrait: Dr. Tozman |
|
Dr.-Ing. Alejandro Jiménez- Saez Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |
April 2023 | Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Jiménez-Sáez |
|
Dr.-Ing. Tobias Meuser Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |
April 2022 | Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Meuser |
|
Dr.-Ing. Yvonne Späck-Leigsnering Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |
April 2022 | Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Späck-Leigsnering |
|
Dr. Stephan Schulz Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Science |
April 2021 | Portrait: Dr. Schulz |
|
Dr. Vanessa Zeller Department of Materials and Earth Sciences |
April 2021 | Portrait: Dr. Zeller |
|
Dr.-Ing. Arne Schotissek Department of Mechanical Engineering |
April 2021 | Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Scholtissek |
|
Dr.-Ing. Lin Xiang Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |
April 2021 | Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Xiang |
|
Dr. Alexander Tichai Department of Physics |
December 2020 | Portrait: Dr. Tichai |
|
Dr.-Ing. Tomislav Maric Department of Mathematics |
October 2020 | Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Maric |
|
Dr. Tatiana Tatarenko Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |
April 2019 |
In German Portrait: Dr. Tatarenko |
|
Dr. Martin Grimmer Department of Human Sciences |
April 2019 |
In German Portrait: Dr. Grimmer |
|
Dr. Arash Asadi Department of Computer Science |
October 2017 |
In German Portrait: Dr. Asadi |
|
Former Athene Young Investigators |
||
|
Professor Dr.-Ing. Federica Ferraro Department of Mechanical Engineering |
April 2023 since May 2023: Junior Professor, Technische Universität Braunschweig |
Portrait Dr.-Ing. Ferraro |
|
Professor Dr. Martin Adam Department of Law and Economics |
April 2022 since December 2023: Professor, University of Göttingen |
|
|
Dr. Christian Janson Department of Computer Science |
April 2021 since September 2023: Cyber Security Architect at Airbus Defence and Space |
Portrait Dr. Janson |
|
Professor Dr. Miriam Oesterreich Department of Human Sciences |
April 2020 since 2021: Professor, University of the Arts Berlin |
In German Portrait: Dr. Oesterreich |
|
Dr. Pia Domschke Department of Mathematics |
April 2019 since August 2019: Senior Lecturer, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management |
In German Portrait: Dr. Domschke |
|
Dr. Xufei Fang Department of Materials and Earth Sciences |
October 2019 |
In German Portrait: Dr. Fang |
|
Dr. Johann Isaak Department of Physics |
October 2019 |
In German Portrait: Dr. Isaak |
|
Professor Dr. Meike Saul Department of Biology |
April 2018 since November 2023: Professor, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf |
In German Portrait: Dr. Saul |
|
Dr. Joel Lynn Department of Physics |
April 2018 since July 2019: Data scientist, Viasat Inc., USA |
In German Portrait: Dr. Lynn |
|
Professor Lin Wang, Ph.D. Department of Computer Science |
April 2018 since December 2018: Assistant Professor, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
In German Portrait: Dr. Wang |
|
Professor Dr. Eric Grosse Department of Law and Economics |
October 2017 since April 2020: Junior Professor, Universität des Saarlandes |
In German Portrait: Dr. Grosse |
|
Professor Dr. Juliane Krämer Department of Computer Science |
October 2017 since 2021: Professor, University of Regensburg |
In German Portrait: Dr. Krämer |
|
Professor Dr.-Ing. Michael Muma Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |
October 2017 since 2022: Professor, Technical University of Darmstadt |
In German Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Muma |
|
Professor Dr.-Ing. Philipp Beckerle Department of Mechanical Engineering |
October 2017 since October 2018: Assistant Professor, TU Dortmund University; since 2021: Professor, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg |
In German Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Beckerle |
|
Dr. Philipp John Department of Physics |
April 2017 | |
|
Professor Dr. Christina Birkel Department of Chemistry |
April 2017 since January 2019: Assistant Professor, Arizona State University, USA |
Portrait: Dr. Birkel |
|
Professor Dr.-Ing. Amr Rizk Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |
April 2017 since July 2019: Junior Professor, Ulm University; since 2021: Professor, University of Duisburg-Essen |
In German Portrait: Dr.-Ing. Rizk Portrait by Thomas Lenz, TU Darmstadt |
|
Professor Dr. Alesia A. Tietze Department of Chemistry |
April 2017 since January 2019: Assistant Professor, University of Gothenburg |
|
|
Professor Dr. Jurij Koruza Department of Materials and Earth Sciences |
April 2017 since 2021: Assistant Professor, University of Graz |
|
|
Dr.-Ing. Christian Hatzfeld † Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology |
April 2018 | |
Athene Young Investigator
The Athene Young Investigator Programme aims to qualify early career researchers for the post of university professor by
- increasing their scientific independence,
- supporting their commitment to teaching and to student supervision,
- offering special training to broaden their transferable skills and extracurricular qualifications,
- providing them with the opportunity to participate in academic self-administration,
- improving the visibility of their individual research profile.
All Athene Young Investigators are well integrated into their respective department at TU Darmstadt and are supported by experienced senior researchers. In addition, the university offers its Athene Young Investigators
- a funding period of 3+2 years,
- the right to supervise doctoral candidates and to act as an examiner in the doctoral examination procedure,
- a discipline-specific budget for self-determined use (research expenses, conferences, travel expenses, stays abroad including childcare, further education opportunities, assistants, publication costs, etc.),
- opportunities for independent teaching,
- pay grade classification to EG 14 TV-TU Darmstadt, the Athene Young Investigator programme covers only the costs for the upgrade from pay grade 13 to pay grade 14 TV-TU Darmstadt. The basic funding for the position of the Athene Young Investigator must be secured by the research group/department,
- training courses for extracurricular qualification (i.e., soft and transferable skills) for Athene Young Investigator specifically tailored to the needs of advanced junior researchers.
The Athene Young Investigator Programme has been conceptualised as a five-year, quality-assured programme, including an evaluation during the third year.
The competitive selection process is organised in two rounds and is overseen by the selection committee Early Career Researchers at TU Darmstadt which consists of six professors (representing all science cultures at TU Darmstadt) and the Gender Equality Officer, with the Vice President for Academic Careers acting as chair. In the first round, the committee pre-selects applicants whose proposals are then reviewed by external international reviewers.
Subsequently, candidates are invited for a personal introduction consisting of a 15-min. talk followed by a 20-min. interview. Based on the external reviews and on the interview, the committee then takes the final selection decision.
The applicant’s declared aim shall be to strive for a post as university professor. In addition, the applicant shall have and experience
- at least one year and at most five years of postdoc experience (compensation for maternity and/or parental leave, long sick leave etc. is possible),
- a (current or prospective) position in a department at TU Darmstadt,
- funding for a PhD position, either self-acquired or provided by the department (exceptions may apply),
- a doctorate completed with outstanding results,
- the engaged support of a supervisor with regard to the career goal “qualification for a professorship”
- scientific excellence by international standards (publications with significant own contribution, third-party funding experience, collaborations, awards, etc.),
- pedagogical aptitude for academic teaching,
- potential abilities to take on leadership and project management roles,
- substantial international research experience or substantial experience in the research division of a commercial enterprise.
- Offers provided by the Center for Educational Development and Technology
(“Hochschuldidaktische Arbeitsstelle”) - Towards Leadership – Young Academic Professionals Leadership Programme
- Workshops for advanced junior scientists applying for professorships, jointly organised by the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU)
Next closing date for applications is November 15th, 2024. Next Athene Young Investigator appointments start on April 1st, 2025.
Links & Downloads for Athene Young Investigators
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