Early Career Support

One of our central goals is to train and promote excellent young researchers in the field of inequality research. We support our doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in conducting innovative and interdisciplinary research with schemes for academic qualification. At the same time, we encourage early individual career planning with advice, training and mentoring programmes. In doing so, we promote career paths towards the next professional career stage, both within and outside academia.

With a modern research infrastructure and a flexible, family-friendly working environment, we create excellent working conditions for cutting-edge research and the compatibility of research and family. The cluster's support measures complement the offers for researchers from the university-wide services and the departments of the University of Konstanz. 

Interdisciplinarity

We are convinced that the most innovative project ideas emerge at the interfaces between scientific disciplines. That is why we offer various forums for interdisciplinary exchange. At the same time, the young scientists at the Cluster are fully integrated into their respective disciplines. This enables them to build a solid career base in their home discipline, which is necessary for success on the academic labour market.

Working Together

In order to promote the community spirit in the Cluster, a culture of respectful communication and transparency between young researchers and project managers is important to us. We have adopted a Code of Practice to ensure a balance between academic qualifications, career planning and project work. Doctoral candidates and postdocs also appoint two representatives at their plenary meeting who represent the interests of the early career researchers on the extended board. In the event of conflict, a person of trust within the cluster can be contacted for advice and mediation.

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Professional Careers

We support scientific careers by encouraging our young scientists to continue their education and to define professional goals at an early stage. We promote scientific qualification through methods courses, academies and summer schools. Our Methods Hub, which makes methodological tools and data sets for inequality research accessible within the cluster community, provides central methodological support. We provide platforms for decision-making and exchange through offers such as career talks, counselling, workshops, mentoring and intergenerational roundtable formats. The Early Career Researcher (ECR) Support Fund provides individual funding opportunities for the development of one's own scientific personality. These supplement the further training programmes of Academic Staff Development and Research Support, which offer tailor-made programmes for every career phase.  

Financial Support

We offer young researchers additional funding to finance academic projects and career activities via thematic funds. Applications can be submitted for measures such as conference trips, career workshops, stays abroad and the organisation of workshops. To strengthen the international visibility of our research findings, we promote open science and international and multilingual publications. The Graduate School of the Social and Behavioural Sciences (GSBS) and the Konstanz Research School also offer our doctoral students further funding opportunities.

Excellent Academic Achievements

We support ambitious and innovative publications by our early career researchers with the In_equality ECR Excellence Award. We honour outstanding academic achievements in the cluster with two prizes each year for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers.