The coordination and further development of early-career activities and the support of the cluster's research structures are important tasks and topics in the Cluster of Excellence SimTech. For this purpose, Managing Director Dr. Jenny Kopsch-Xhema has now found the right addition to the team in Katharina Fuchs. She took over the associated tasks with a focus on the doctoral students of the Cluster of Excellence at the beginning of March and succeeds interim coordinator Almut Meyer zu Schwabedissen, with whom she will continue to work closely, and the long-standing coordinator of the Graduate School Barbara Teutsch.
"Especially young scientists are of great importance for an institution like the Cluster of Excellence SimTech and the University of Stuttgart in general, because scientific progress essentially depends on the fresh impulses and the dedicated work of young scientists:inside. Their support is thus one of our main tasks and at the same time a strategic investment in the future. The goal of the Cluster of Excellence is therefore to recruit and support prospective and current doctoral students, post-docs, post-doctoral researchers, junior research group leaders and tenure-track professors who are doing excellent work in their field of research and are passionate about it. With Katharina Fuchs, we were able to recruit a person for the Graduate Academy who brings a fresh impulse and knows about the needs, requirements and necessities of PhD students. In addition, Ms. Fuchs will be a valuable support in research coordination due to her competencies", Dr. Jenny Kopsch-Xhema explains the relevance of the position.
Katharina Fuchs studied history at the University of Stuttgart and then completed her master's degree in both Stuttgart and Dublin. Since 2020, Katharina Fuchs has been working on her PhD in Stuttgart at the Chair of History of Science and Technology on the topic of "Social Network Structures of Students at the TH and later the University of Stuttgart". As a doctoral candidate at the Institute of History, she combines questions from the humanities with the methods of empirical social research. Katharina Fuchs knows university structures and in particular the University of Stuttgart and has thus been able to gain deep insights into all the topics that will also occupy her in the future as a speaker at the Graduate Academy.
"I am very much looking forward to my task as an officer in the management team with a focus on the Graduate Academy and research coordination. It is a great opportunity and task, as I am a doctoral student myself and know the university structures," explains Katharina Fuchs.
Her tasks will include coordinating the graduate school and thus, among other things, implementing measures to promote young scientists with a focus on doctoral students, advising and supporting the cluster's governing bodies with regard to the area of young scientists and research coordination, and helping to collaborate with national and international cooperation partners.
"I am of the opinion that a cluster of excellence is entitled to demand excellent doctoral students, who in turn are entitled to expect training par excellence. Thus, I see it as important that the research-specific focus is complemented by a pool of extensive, interdisciplinary training opportunities, individualized workshops, and coaching services. A graduate school is excellent when its members also want to define themselves by this in their self-image and see themselves as part of it," says Katharina Fuchs on understanding her new role.
A warm welcome!