YIN Meets the new President of KIT Jan Hesthaven

It was an honor and a great privilege to welcome the President of KIT Jan Hesthaven at the YIN Strategy Meeting 2025! The Young Investigators were inspired by his words and look forward to KIT’s future under his presidency.

The discussion focused on topics like early independence, transparent career paths and reliability. Especially, internationally well-known instruments to attract talents and guide scientific careers like the tenure-track system and graduate schools still need some optimizing in the German science system. The tenure-track system aims to attract and retain talented researchers by providing early career independence, transparent career paths, and reliable long-term prospects. It also encourages a competitive and dynamic research environment, fostering innovation and academic excellence.

Closely related is the question of alternative qualification for full professorship like third-party funded junior research groups and how they fit into this scheme. While being highly prestigious and competitive, such funding schemes stand for scientific excellence but are not necessarily compatible with a universities research strategy. This boils down to the question of hiring for talent or topic.