BGHS.NEWS
Practitioners in Talk Part 26
::Non-university careers::
Practitioners in Talk – Part 26
Many ways lead out of the BGHS. But where do postdoctoral paths lead? We talk to historians and sociologists who have taken up their career outside the university. Urs Ruf spoke to us about his work at Technologieberatungsstelle NRW beim DGB NRW e.V. (TBS NRW).
Figure 1: Urs Ruf
Mr. Ruf, you did your PhD at the Faculty of Sociology in 1999. If you remember starting your career: How did you find your way into the job?
Urs Ruf: After my doctorate, my job search was not easy. That was in 2000: when the first big internet bubble was heading for its peak and burst a little later. I had an affinity for IT and my theory was: if you can read and write, youʼll find a job in the growing IT sector. Through acquaintances I got in touch with an IT company that had been working as an SAP consultant for a long time and was entering the internet business at that time. I was employed there and then got involved in the IT business. So, after my PhD, I turned around 180 degrees in order to get a job.
How did you come to your current position?
Urs Ruf: By a job advertisement in the newspaper. In 2003, the TBS NRW advertised a position as a technology consultant for works councils at its Bielefeld site. I applied and said: If they donʼt take me, then they havenʼt heard the shot. Because by then I had good IT consulting skills, a social science background, vocational training as a toolmaker, experience working in works councils and was a trade union member. I was actually offered the job and thatʼs how I came to TBS.
You work for the Technologieberatungsstelle NRW beim DGB NRW. Where do you work exactly?
Figure 2: Logo of the TBS NRW
Urs Ruf: The TBS NRW is a registered association supported by the NRW Ministry of Labour and the DGB NRW (DGB: Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund; Confederation of German Trade Unions). We advise workplace interest groups: works councils, staff councils or – in the church sector – employee representatives. One matter on which a works council has a say is the introduction of IT systems that enable the monitoring of workersʼ behaviour and performance. Thatʼs why we are called Technologieberatungsstelle. We support interest groups, for example, in finding out: Where is behavioural and performance monitoring possible with the help of the new technological system? How can behaviour and performance monitoring be technologically or organisationally designed so that the monitoring is not excessive? And how can the employee and employer sides find compromises with each other on this issue? Other matters of workplace co-determination are, for example, working time and health. So we advise at the workplace level, especially on conflicts between the workersʼ and employersʼ sides. In addition, we organise expert conferences on topics such as mental stress at the workplace; or working groups in which representatives from different companies in the same sector come together.
You are heading Technologieberatungsstelle NRW. What are your most important tasks in this job?
Figure 3: Urs Ruf at work
Urs Ruf: I can ask myself that every morning. Above all, it is important that our services address current issues, that we are professionally qualified and that we listen to the needs of our clients. Our employees are the decisive factor: it is important that our people have a good job; that they are well qualified for their work; and that the working atmosphere is good. As a leader, I organise the internal processes that work on these issues. Finally, one of my tasks is to strengthen networking with our providers and partners. These are mainly the Ministry of Labour and the trade unions, but also employersʼ associations or research institutions, to name but a few.
What tips do you have for colleagues from sociology or history who are interested in a career in the occupational field you are in?
Urs Ruf: My first tip is: Get in touch with people who work in counselling! Contact with people provides an opportunity, for example, to find out what is important to me about my professional activity: The contact with people? Or maybe that I make something? My second tip is: If you have a soft spot for being on the road in changing constellations, then counselling can be the right field of activity. You have to like it: every day can start at a different time, lead to different places. And if you think: Now we have a longer project here, then it can be over again tomorrow. Because the clients say: we have changed our priorities. Thirdly, I want to share an experience from shortly after finishing my PhD: I did my PhD on nomads in West Africa and then went to work for an internet company in East Westphalia. I had colleagues there with degrees in biology, theology or physics. So, I would say: If you have learned to familiarise yourself with topics at university, then you can also open up new fields of activity. Provided you allow yourself to say: that was a nice part of my life – and now Iʼm doing something new.
Mr. Ruf, thank you for the conversation!
The interview was conducted by Ulf Ortmann.
You can find the complete interview (in German) here:
Further information on the non-university careers project is available here.
The previous interviews in the series are available here.
Linie 4: Solidarity Among Neighbours
Organising neighbours, overcoming social isolation, building solidarity and fighting injustice together. Such issues are addressed by neighbourhood grassroots groups in Germany, which have recently tried to initiate lively politics from below in their neighbourhoods. Marie-Sophie Borchelt deals with the work of neighbourhood grassroots groups in the public lecture series Linie 4, organised by the BGHS together with the vhs Bielefeld. In her lecture ”Solidarity among neighbours - political action from below”, she explains what grassroots work in the neighbourhood actually is and how it works. First-hand information will be provided by an activist from a neighbourhood grassroots group who will report on how it is possible to motivate neighbours to take political action.
Marie-Sophie Borchelt has been working as a research associate in the Work Unit Politics and Society at Bielefeld University since 2019 and has been doing her doctorate at the BGHS since 2020 on the topic of “Raus aus der Subkultur – Rein in die Gesellschaft: Perspektiven zur Überwindung gesellschaftlicher Marginalität am Beispiel von Stadtteil(Basis)arbeit in außerparlamentarischen linken Kontexten in der Bundesrepublik”. She studied Gender Studies, German as a Foreign Language and German Studies as well as Spanish in Bielefeld.
The lecture will take place on Monday, 30 May 2022 at 6.15 pm in the Murnau-Saal at the vhs Bielefeld, Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German
Here you can find information about Linie 4 and the lectures in the series.
Practitioners in Talk #Part 25
::Non-university careers::
Practitioners in Talk – Part 25
Many ways lead out of the BGHS. But where do postdoctoral paths lead? We talk to historians and sociologists who have taken up their career outside the university. Nicole Zielke spoke to us about her work as project manager and art director at the Theaterwerkstatt Bethel.
Figure 1: Nicole Zielke
Nicole, you did your PhD at the Faculty of Sociology in 2019, and you are now working as project manager and art director at the Theaterwerkstatt Bethel. If you remember starting your career: How did you find your way into the job?
Nicole Zielke: During my studies I did an internship here in the Theaterwerkstatt Bethel. That was in 2008. And I stayed – in a wide variety of employment relationships: from freelance work to third-party funded project positions to my current position, 17 percent of which is permanent. So I worked here while I was studying and doing my doctorate. The activities were very different: for example, I had a job to further develop the Theaterwerkstatt conceptually. Then I had a job to do neighbourhood work with the Theaterwerkstatt especially for people who needed support – in Bethel, in other parts of the city, but also in rural areas. And I had freelance assignments to work as a dramatic advisor on theatre productions or to lead ensembles
How did you come to your current position?
Nicole Zielke: By writing a project application to the Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Soziokultur via the Theaterwerkstatt Bethel. The application was approved and the project aims to evaluate and further develop our artistic work. The method that we have been developing here since 2005 for artistic practice in heterogeneous groups is called “Volxtheater”. In the creation of our plays, experienced and less experienced theatre players cooperate with each other. In this project, we take a close look at this interaction of people with different life experiences, with and without disabilities, and expand our concepts in particular to include theatre work with digital means.
You work for the Theaterwerkstatt Bethel. Where do you work exactly?
Nicole Zielke: The Theaterwerkstatt Bethel is a small socio-cultural centre and free theatre that is basically funded by the von Bodelschwingh Foundation. We are three employees who are employed here. We also have freelancers. And there are fellow actors who do theatre here in their leisure time. These can be theatre productions with children, young people or adults. The players in our ensembles are schoolchildren, seniors, professionals, students, people interested in theatre or people who are cared for on an outpatient or inpatient basis in Bethel or other parts of the city. In addition to theatre productions, we have a number of other areas of work, such as the “Fachdienst Datstellende Künste”. Here we work closely with inpatient and outpatient institutions in Bethel and support clients with a high need for support in expressing themselves through artistic means in order to be able to live more self-determinedly. Second, we organize workshops and conferences on inclusion and diversity. And thirdly, we moderate communication and network processes, such as now for the Rochedale barracks in the east of Bielefeld. The barracks were used by the British Army until 2020, and together with the NRW-wide platform TRANSURBAN we will moderate a process to involve citizens in this urban planning project: What ideas do residents have of the future use of the barracks? And how should the site be designed?
Figure 2a und 2b: Nicole Zielke at work
You are project manager and art director. What are your – maybe: three – most important tasks in this job?
Nicole Zielke: The first is ensemble management. I moderate the theatre productions and keep the ensemble together. Secondly, I acquire the performances, I am in communication with the organizers and I am responsible for the logistics. Thirdly, I have a lot to do with developing the content of the plays. Fourth, I also take part in the plays. These are my tasks as artistic director. At the same time, I’m also in charge of the acquisition of project funds, public relations and the coordination of the network of freelancers. But you asked about the three most important tasks. (laughs)
What tips do you have for colleagues from sociology or history who are interested in a career in the occupational field you are in?
Nicole Zielke: At the time, it was important for me to gain practical experience here in the field of art and cultural activities. To name just one aspect: artistic practice in a large number of changing group constellations can be very stimulating, but also very challenging. I had to clarify that for myself whether I wanted to get involved. And then I had good experiences with career plan talks at the Career Service. That is where I learned about myself: I won’t earn my money with science, but I want to stay in touch with it. To this day, I have teaching assignments at various universities to give seminars on qualitative methods or in the field of aging research.
Nicole, thank you for the conversation!
The interview was conducted by Ulf Ortmann.
You can find the complete interview (in German) here:
Further information on the non-university careers project is available here, The previous interviews in the series are available here.
Linie 4: The Buchenwald Memorial in the Shift of Political Interests
How is history used and instrumentalised for political purposes? Christoph Herkströter addresses this question in the public lecture series Linie 4, organised by the BGHS together with the vhs Bielefeld. In his lecture “Memory as a political tool. The Buchenwald Memorial between GDR Anti-Fascism and the Remembrance of Victims in the FRG”, he will use the example of the Buchenwald Memorial to look at how differently the past can be interpreted and how history and remembrance are claimed in the process. After Buchenwald had been used as a concentration camp during National Socialism and as a Soviet special camp in the post-war period, it was later expanded by the SED leadership into a "National Memorial" to commemorate the anti-fascist resistance fighters. After the fall of communism in 1989/90, the mediation of socialist anti-fascism was abandoned and the focus turned to commemorating the victims. The lecture is not only about the political instrumentalisation of Buchenwald's history, Christoph Herkströter will give an insight into how he researches such a complex topic as a historian.
Christoph Herkströter has been working as a research associate in the Contemporary History Department at Bielefeld University since 2020 and has since been doing his doctorate at the BGHS on the topic of "History Spaces in Transition. The museum mediation of contemporary German history in East and West Germany since 1958". He studied history and German studies in Bielefeld and worked as a research assistant in the “History as a Profession” department from 2015 to 2020. During his studies, he also worked on several exhibitions and brings this practical experience to the lecture.
The lecture will take place on Monday, 16 May 2022 at 6.15 pm in the Murnau-Saal at the vhs Bielefeld, Ravensberger Park 1. The event will be held in German.
Here you can find information about Linie 4 and the lectures in the series.