For the second time, the Berlin University Alliance honors eleven junior researchers with the Career Development Award. The selected postdoctoral researchers from Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin will be granted leave of absence in the winter semester of 2022/23 and released from all university duties. In the meantime, the salary will be paid in full. During this time, applicants devote themselves to an individual research project that has the potential to be a kind of “booster” for their further career.

Especially the junior female researchers of the alliance were invited to apply for one of the popular awards. Many excellent female postdoctoral researchers took advantage of this opportunity, so that almost two-thirds of the awards were granted to women this year.

This concept was very well received by the researchers in the alliance, as it offered more freedom for research and full concentration on the next steps in their careers, especially after the stresses and strains of the Covid-19 pandemic. Vastly different disciplines are represented in the top group. The topics funded are also remarkably diverse, ranging from post-colonialism to cancer therapy to free speech from the perspective of jurisprudence.

“We know from previous award winners how valuable the award and the opportunities it provides are – whether in the preparation of applications for third-party funds, extensive archival research or the development of important networks,” says Prof. Dr. Søren Salomo, spokesperson for the "Promoting Talent" Steering Committee and Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at Technische Universität Berlin.

The funding line has set itself the goal of contributing to the design of the joint research environment of the Berlin University Alliance (BUA). In this way, most of the projects include collaboration with researchers from another partner institution of the Berlin University Alliance or from a university that maintains a strategic partnership with the BUA. Several award winners are planning research stays at the universities of Melbourne and Oxford, thus deepening the link of the alliance with significant international partners.

The researchers funded and their research projects are detailed below:

• Dr. Moritz Altenried, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Institute for European Ethnology): “The Future of Work: Platforms, Regulation, Automation”
• Dr. phil. Dr. rer. medic. Kerem Böge, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences): „Psychosocial and Digital Interventions for Schizophrenia (POSEIDON)“
• Ronja Demel, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Department of Psychology, Personality Psychology): “Contrary to one's own convictions: The role of intergroup empathy in activist commitment”.
• Dr. Jeanette Ehrmann, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Department of Social Sciences, Political Theory): “Repairing Democracy, Reimagining Postcoloniality”
• Dr. Nanine Lilla, Freie Universität Berlin (Department of Education and Psychology, Elementary Education): “Enhancing the Educational Success of Students with a Migration Background in the All-day School”.
• Dr. Christian Neumeier, LL.M. (Yale), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Chair of Public Law and Financial Law): “Free speech? On the Transformation of Political Public Spaces”
• Dr. Anja Sattelmacher, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Department of Musicology and Media Studies, Chair for Knowledge and Media): “Original or copy? Films as Documents of Contemporary History around 1960”
• Dr. rer. medic. Daniel Schindel, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Institute of Medical Sociology and Rehabilitation Science): “Between Systems: On the Logic of Contemporary Health Care for Homeless People”.
• Dr. Isabell Schuster, Freie Universität Berlin (Department of Education and Psychology, Emotional and Social Development): “Educational Pathways and Social Inclusion of Refugee and Newly Migrated Families”
• Dr. Sarah Spreckelmeyer, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Department of Nuclear Medicine): “Radioactive Gold for Radiopharmaceutical Application”
• Dr. Kathrin Wittler, Freie Universität Berlin (Peter Szondi Institute of Comparative Literature): “The Loneliness of Lyrical Poems”