Postdocs and the Research Ecosystem: Shaping Sustainable Career Paths
What happens when you bring together people who experience the research system from very different perspectives – and give them the space to genuinely listen to one another?
You get conversations that are difficult, constructive, inspiring – and, importantly, forward-looking.
Our recent Theme Week 2026 “Postdocs and the Research Ecosystem: Shaping Sustainable Career Paths”, organised by the GPN and the Volkswagen Foundation, brought together a remarkably diverse group of people in Hannover to discuss the future of postdoctoral careers and the research ecosystem in Germany.
Over three days, perspectives from postdocs, research managers, funding organisations, politics, industry, and research policy came together around questions that concern us all: How can postdoctoral careers become more transparent and sustainable? How should the postdoctoral phase evolve? And how can we create better opportunities for mobility between academia and other sectors?
What we found particularly valuable was the breadth of perspectives in the room. Different experiences, interests, and responsibilities sometimes led to very different views, but the discussions remained remarkably open, respectful, and solution-oriented.
A key question for the GPN has always been: How can we make sure that postdocs and the science managers who support them are not just the subjects of discussions about the academic system, but active stakeholders in these? We aim to bring their ideas and perspectives into the conversation and make sure that decisions about structural and cultural change are not made without them.
This was also the starting point for this Theme Week as a whole. We wanted to bring together topics that we see as particularly important for the future of postdocs in the German research system: the lack of data, which we also heard about from Dr. Nicholas Russell in his keynote; the lack of a comprehensive definition of the postdoc that we need to tackle. Secondly, the ongoing efforts to improve staff structures in German academia; and, finally, intersectoral mobility – including the possibility of moving between academia and other sectors, ideally in a circular manner, throughout a career.
Coming back to the title of our Theme Week, we see all of these topics as essential to shaping sustainable career paths for postdocs in the German research ecosystem. Through the working sessions, the cross-symposium World Café, and the public panel discussion, we did more than talk about challenges. We exchanged experiences, questioned established assumptions, and began developing ideas for possible ways forward.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who took part – for sharing your expertise and experiences, for asking difficult questions, for challenging perspectives and, above all, for engaging with one another in such a constructive and open setting.
And a huge thank you to everyone behind the scenes who made these three days possible: our organising teams, speakers, moderators, and, of course, the Volkswagen Foundation for hosting and supporting the event.
The results of the Theme Week will be published in due course in a bilingual report, alongside other formats that will make the discussions and outcomes accessible to a broader audience. We hope these outputs will help carry the conversation forward and contribute to meaningful change towards more transparent, sustainable, and diverse career paths in research.
For now, we’re taking away a shared willingness to shape what comes next.
Further information about the entire event can be found on our Theme Week 2026 page.
Grant reference number of the Volkswagen Foundation: project no. 0203200-00
