As a couple for your career in the Rhine-Main region
MAINZ SCIENCE ALLIANCE joins network to promote dual career couples
Press release
FRANKFURT/DARMSTADT
Bringing highly qualified couples to the Rhine-Main area is the goal of the network, which four universities and eleven non-university research institutes founded in Frankfurt and Darmstadt two years ago. Eight members from the Mainz Science Alliance have now joined the network, so that the network currently includes 26 science organizations from the entire Rhine-Main area. All network members have signed a strategic agreement to promote these so-called “dual career couples”. These are couples in which both value pursuing their professional careers consistently.
When recruiting specialists and managers, all of the organizations in the network have found that they generally do not want to take up the position offered if it harms their partner's career or if they have to constantly commute between their family and their place of work. Many specialists and managers live in a relationship with someone who is also highly qualified and committed to their own career. However, it is difficult to offer two suitable positions for such couples. A dense network of diverse organizations creates attractive opportunities here. There are designated contact persons at every organization who bring inquiries from the network to the right place internally.
Juan Castillo, a doctor in physics and computer science from Spain, was able to successfully test this. After his wife, Shizu Minami, also a physicist who originally comes from Japan, accepted a research position at the Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research (GSI), he also looked for work in the region. Previously he had to commute from the Netherlands - not easy, especially since the couple has a 15-month-old child. Since last autumn, the family has finally had a shared residence between Darmstadt and Frankfurt, because Juan Castillo has been working at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics on Frankfurt's Riedberg since then. He found the position through the dual career network, to which both institutes belong. “It was particularly good that I found the job while I was still in the Netherlands. I also like the international working environment. My family and I felt very welcome here.”
The MAINZ SCIENCE ALLIANCE has also recommended its members to join this network. “In the competition for top talent, the great locational advantages of being located in a metropolitan area with an extremely strong research base and, on the other hand, being in a very international environment must clearly be used,” emphasizes Professor Dr. Gerhard Muth, Chairman of the MAINZ SCIENCE ALLIANCE and President of the Mainz University of Applied Sciences. “Because,” Muth continues, “if work and family are compatible, then you can convince even the best minds.” That’s why this Rhine-Main network is so attractive – for scientists, but also for us, the research institutions.”
Commercial companies are also increasingly addressing the issue because they too are experiencing that their ideal candidates are turning down job offers because the partners cannot be offered a professional perspective. In particular, companies that are already feeling the shortage of skilled workers and managers or are committed to being family-friendly are networking with the universities' dual career services. The first companies will soon want to join the Dual Career Network in the Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region.
The eight new members from the Mainz Science Alliance:
• Mainz University of Applied Sciences • University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
• Academy of Sciences and Literature
• Helmholtz Institute Mainz
• Institute of European History
• Institute for Microtechnology Mainz GmbH
• Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research
• Natural History Museum Mainz
The previous members of the network:
• Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
• Darmstadt University of Technology
• Evangelical University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt
• Frankfurt am Main University of Applied Sciences
• Darmstadt College
• Justus-Liebig university of Giessen
• German Institute for International Pedagogical Research (DIPF)
• Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS)
• Fraunhofer Institute for Graphical Data Processing (Fraunhofer IGD)
• Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (Fraunhofer SIT)
• Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research GmbH (GSI)
• Hessian Foundation for Peace and Conflict Research (HSFK)
• Institute for Molecular Biology gGmbH Mainz
• Max Planck Institute for Biophysics
• Max Planck Institute for European Legal History
• Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
• Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research
• Senckenberg Society for Natural Research (SGN)
Contact:
Marlar Kin
Dual Career Service Coordinator
Goethe University
kin@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Birgitta Loehr
Head of office
Mainz Science Alliance
birgitta.loehr@fh-mainz.de
Goethe University is a research-focused university in the European financial metropolis of Frankfurt. Founded in 1914 by citizens of Frankfurt, it is now one of the ten largest universities in Germany with the highest third-party funding. On January 1, 2008, it gained a unique degree of independence by returning to its historical roots as a foundation university. At the same time, the university is also receiving a structural new look. A new campus is being built around the historic Poelzig ensemble in Frankfurt's Westend that sets aesthetic and functional standards. The “Science City” on the Riedberg brings together the scientific departments in the immediate vicinity of two Max Planck Institutes. With over 55 endowed and endowed guest professorships, Goethe University plays a leading role according to the donor association.
Publisher: The President of the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.
Editor: Dr. Dirk Frank, press officer/deputy. Head of Marketing and Communications Department
frank@pvw.uni-frankfurt.de
Goethe University Frankfurt
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As a couple for a career in the Rhine-Main region MAINZ SCIENCE ALLIANCE joins network to promote dual-career couples Press release FRANKFURT/DARMSTADT Bringing highly qualified couples to the Rhine-Main region is the goal of the network, which includes four universities and eleven founded non-university research institutes in Frankfurt and Darmstadt two years ago. The network now has eight members
