Professors for the Future - Recruitment and development of professorial staff at the THGAProf@THGA – talent factory for the professors of tomorrow

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The symposium “SheEngage: Networking and Career Opportunities” on April 08 and 09, 2025 was a huge success! “With ‘SheEngage’, we have succeeded in sending a strong signal for diversity and equal opportunities in technical and scientific professions,” says Judith Heimeier, project coordinator of ProF@THGA, summing up the event.

We would like to thank all the speakers, participants and supporters for their commitment and the inspiring discussions. The positive impulses and networks created will accompany us and many other women on their career path in the long term.

Impressions from the symposium "SheEngage":

Missed the symposium? Here the summary with the most important points:

Summary_SheEngage.pdf pdf, 115 KB

The project “Prof@THGA”

With our “Prof@THGA” project, we are opening doors to new perspectives and exciting career opportunities at the THGA. With a clear focus on innovation and diversity, we are committed to attracting and promoting the best talent.

Our mission? We want to develop new ways of qualifying and recruiting professorial staff and strengthen the next generation of academics in-house. We want to actively shape careers towards University of Applied Sciences (UAS)-professorships and further establish the THGA as an attractive place to work. This also includes improving the compatibility of family and career and increasing diversity among our professors.

Discover how we are actively shaping the future of science and teaching. Become part of a project that not only shapes careers, but also sets new standards - for a university that inspires with diversity and innovation!

Our offers and funding for early career researchers

We create structures!

The funding of additional PhD positions will not only strengthen cooperative doctorates in collaboration with universities; doctorates under the umbrella of the PK NRW graduate school will also be tested. The project creates a superordinate umbrella structure for all PhD candidates at the university, which serves, among other things, to provide interdisciplinary qualifications and networking. It also strengthens the position of PhD students as a whole.

The PhD seminar provides additional support for early career researchers. It provides structured support for PhD students at the THGA during and after their doctorate. As part of this structure, networking events, doctoral-related training and interdisciplinary qualification programs are offered.

To ensure the visibility of the group, two spokespersons are elected to represent the interests of the PhD candidates as an official mouthpiece. The newly elected PhD student spokespersons are Larissa Schoppohl and Myo Thiri Kyaw.

UAS-professorship versus university professorship, what's the difference? What makes working at a UAS and especially at the THGA different? What research and teaching opportunities are there for those considering a professorial career? - Vice President Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Michael Prange provided answers to these and many other questions on the 27^th of September 2024.

In a relaxed atmosphere, he provided information about the special features of working, researching and teaching at the THGA. When asked why he likes working at the THGA, he replied: “Because I can see how our university has steadily developed in recent years and it gives me great pleasure to help shape this development.”

The first fireside evening in this series met with great interest and led to lively discussions.

More fireside evenings will follow!

In a world where technological and scientific innovation is becoming increasingly complex, a diverse perspective is crucial. The ProF@THGA project specifically promotes equal opportunities and diversity in teaching and research in order to create a fair and diverse university environment. Our work package “Promoting equal opportunities and diversity” aims to increase the proportion of women in engineering and among professors. Through their visibility and their position as role models, women help to promote an inclusive and future-oriented engineering culture at the THGA.

1. Women in teaching and career advancement

By awarding teaching assignments, we would like to offer qualified women the opportunity to try their hand at teaching, get to know the THGA and gain insights into the career path “UAS-professorship”. In this way, we create a platform that:

gives women access to teaching,
introduces them to work at universities of applied sciences,
shows perspectives on how a professorship can be achieved as a career goal.

Further information can be found in the flyer “Women into lecture halls”.

2. Voluntary commitment to more gender equality in appointments: THGA follows HRK resolution

The THGA has agreed to the resolution of the “German Rectors’ Conference” to promote gender equality in appointments and has signed the corresponding voluntary commitment. The aim is to reduce structural gender inequalities and ensure fair gender representation in professorships. Five key areas of action have been identified: active recruitment, gender-equitable appointment procedures, fair remuneration structures, institutional anchoring of gender sensitivity and systematic monitoring. In the long term, these measures should contribute to a cultural change and more equality at universities.

A detailed description of the objectives on the path to greater gender equality can be found here.

3. Planned women engineers conference “SheEngage” (08. - 09.04.2025)

A central highlight of our project will be the women engineers' conference “SheEngage: Networking and Career Strategies”, which will take place on April 08 and 09, 2025. This conference is aimed at women in technical and scientific disciplines and aims to:

offer networking opportunities,
demonstrate strategic career approaches,
make women aware of the THGA and an academic career.

This initiative is intended to establish a new format that encourages women to aspire to a professorship at a UAS.

Click here to register.

You can find the program here.

A total of four postdoc positions are available as part of the project, which offer doctoral candidates the opportunity to gain the necessary professional experience outside of academia in cooperation with a company. With the recent filling of these postdoc tandem positions, we have taken another important step towards promoting young academics.

It is particularly pleasing that we were able to achieve gender parity in this context: Of the four positions to be filled, two have been filled by female engineers.

The THGA has set itself the goal of increasing the attractiveness of the UAS-professorship. Various concepts are to be used, e.g. the creation of image videos. A first video has been realized in cooperation with the “Regionalverband Ruhr”, based in Essen. Further image films were produced in 2024. The nationwide UAS professorship campaign also provides information on the general requirements, opportunities and paths to a UAS-professorship.

In order to increase the attractiveness of the professorship, the THGA has developed an onboarding and qualification program for newly appointed professors. This enables newly appointed professors to successfully fulfil their tasks in all required areas after a certain training period and to take responsibility for shaping the future of the THGA.

In order to provide targeted support, a concept is currently being developed in collaboration with the partner BO-I-T for the procurement of third-party funding and the preparation of successful project applications.

The introduction of specialised professorships is also intended to increase the attractiveness of a UAS-professorship. Further objectives are the development of teaching innovations, the initiation of collaborations, the intensification of transfer relationships and the implementation of research projects. At the same time, the university's profile areas, which are linked to the THGA's development goals, will be strengthened.

In the first phase, four specialised professorships have already helped to support the project, including with regard to increasing the proportion of women in research and teaching. The second phase began in the winter semester 2024/25. A total of three professors were selected from the group of applicants, who will now pursue different objectives for a period of four semesters in the areas of teaching innovations, promoting research priorities, increasing the proportion of female teaching staff and intensifying cooperation with industry.

Let us introduce - the three new professors for four semesters:

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Frank
Focus: Collaborative robots (cobots) in manufacturing
Topic content:

Benchmark and needs analysis for SMEs and universities
Establishing collaborations (including with the FH Soest)
Identification of practical use cases and integration of cobots in teaching and internships

“The aim of my professorship is to develop practical applications and teaching modules that teach the use of cobots in final production, taking into account the needs of regional SMEs.”

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Nicole Lefort
Focus: Industrial Heritage Conservation
Topic content:

Development and validation of investigation methods for analyzing the condition of historical industrial facilities
Research into corrosion mechanisms and coating systems (e.g. Zollverein, Henrichshütte)
Application for EFRE and DBU-funded projects

“The professorship gives me the freedom to advance current research topics in a targeted manner and to network them in an international context.”

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sebastian Janßen
Focus: Geodata and remote sensing
Topic content:

Use of photogrammetry, laser scanning and remote sensing to record environmental data
Methods for analyzing urban climate, infrastructure and climate change
Establishing interdisciplinary research networks for sustainable development

“We live in the age of geodata! Whether for economic and administrative decisions or combating climate change: geodata is the basis for sound decision-making almost everywhere. And thanks to innovative methods of remote sensing, photogrammetry and laser scanning, we can collect more and more precise information about environmental changes, the urban climate or our infrastructure and thus make a contribution to sustainable development.”

Outlook:
Over the next four semesters, the three professors will implement their projects and continuously incorporate the results into teaching formats and practical projects. At the same time, the reduction in their teaching loads means that young academics can take over courses - allowing doctoral students and postdocs to gain initial practical experience for possible future professorships.

On the pricture: Prof. Peter Frank | Prof. Nicole Lefort | Prof. Sebastian Janßen

Co-operation partner

The project “ProF@THGA: Professors for the Future. Recruitment and development of professorial staff at the THGA” is funded by the BMBF under the funding code 03FHP110 in the federal-state program ‘FH-Personal’. The project will run from 01.04.2021 to 31.03.2027. The main aim is to fill all professorships in good time and with the best possible staff in the future. Together with seven cooperation partners, this overarching goal, as well as many others, is to be achieved.