The collaboration between Leibniz PhD Network, Max Planck PhDnet and Helmholtz Juniors is official – now known as N² or Network of networks. N² will represent the collective interests of more than 16,000 doctoral researchers within the non-university research organizations in Germany.
We will work closer together on following topics:
- Working conditions and equal opportunities for doctoral researchers in non-university organizations and beyond
- Career opportunities for doctoral researchers in Germany
- Science policy in Germany and Europe
N2 board of 2017 including the spokespersons of Leibniz PhD Network Olga Naumov and Martin Schmidt (third and second from the right)
The first idea of N² came in September 2016 at the 1st general assembly of the Leibniz PhD representatives, where the Leibniz PhD Network was founded. Together with former spokespersons of the Max Planck PhDnet (PhDnet) and Helmholtz Juniors (HeJu) we wanted to establish a publicly visible platform to strengthen the communication between the different doctoral networks. The first result of our successful collaboration was the rapid build-up of our own PhD Network: PhDnet and HeJus provided an example for the PhD network’s statutes and structure. Inspired by our achievements since our founding and enthusiastic participation we kick-started our collaboration with an event on the state-of-the-art science communication. In 2017, we became politically active, too – stay excited for new achievements!