BGHS.NEWS

"No 'laundry list'" - paths to a professorship



Career paths in academia are highly individualised and many paths can lead to a professorship, but there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Or as Karolina Barglowski puts it: "You will not hear like a 'laundry list', do A, B, C and you become a professor." Of course, the conditions of the academic system provide the framework for career paths, but everyone has to find their own path. At the online event "BGHS Alumni's Experiences on the Way to a Professorship" in May, four BGHS alumni reported on their paths and gave valuable tips.

BGHS alumni in conversation with BGHS Coordinator Clara Buitrago:

Gleb Albert, Assistant Professor of Modern General and Eastern European History at the University of Lucerne (Switzerland)

Karolina Barglowski, Associate Professor of Sociology, Social Interventions and Social Politics at the Université du Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

Yaatsil Guevara González, Assistant Professor for Migration and the Americas at the University of Heidelberg (Germany)

Mahshid Mayar, substitute professor of English Studies at the University of Mannheim (Germany) in the winter semester 2023/24, currently postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bonn (Germany)

For the four BGHS alumni, the professorship is a great job, even though three of them do not yet have permanent professorships or positions. "It's a very prestigious job with a variety of tasks, with a lot of autonomy," says Karolina. Whether it is a 'dream job', however, is another matter.

Gleb Albert: "Make stuff that is fun with friends"

Gleb Albert, for example, did not dream of becoming a professor in Germany because he shied away from being an "egg-laying wool-milk sow". In other words, a professor who is not only a researcher and teacher, but also a manager and therefore a kind of 'little boss'. After completing his doctorate at the BGHS, he therefore tried to find a job in an Anglophone country and made several applications in the UK. However, he actually ended up in a postdoc position in Switzerland and, in view of Brexit, is now glad he did. He has made good use of his time in Switzerland:

"I did something that is completely counterintuitive for a professor. I completely changed my topic."

And so he moved from Eastern European history to the history of computing. But that also meant that he had to work on a completely new topic and build up a new network. It was worth it though. With this topic, he was awarded a five-year assistant professorship by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) with the 'icing on the cake' that he was allowed to determine the denomination of the professorship himself. Since September 2023, he has been working as an Assistant Professor of Modern General and Eastern European History at the University of Lucerne.

The professorship is temporary and without tenure track. This means that Gleb will have to live with this uncertainty for some time to come. But the opportunities offered in academia are more important to him:

"For me the really important part of my academic career for the past almost 20 years was actually to make stuff that is fun with friends. This is also what academia is about. And if it wasn't, it would be a very sad place to be honest. [...] There are many great, sympathetic, nice, awesome people who work in the same fields as you. "

And he recommends enjoying this, especially during the doctoral phase. He himself made the most important and best friendships during this time. You shouldn't focus exclusively on your doctoral thesis, he says, but rather take a broader view. "It's good for your career, it's fun and helps you to stay sane."

 

Karolina Barglowski: "Stay who you are and see how far you get"

Karolina says that during her studies and doctorate, which she says she was lucky to have done at the BGHS, she didn't think about becoming a professor at all. Over time, however, it became clear that an academic career suited her.

"What is more important is if the job fits what you expect from a job. If you don't want to commute or move a lot, then it's probably not a good job for you, you know? You need to be honest with yourself. What kind of person are you and what kind of life do you want to lead?"

And because the academic career suits her, the uncertainty of the career path did not play a major role for her.

"The most important thing is if you can handle many years of insecurity. If you're a person who is okay with that, go for it. If you start to shake and to feel very bad because your contract is ending in five months and you think like I cannot handle this state of being for some more years I would think maybe it's not the right job."

She herself successfully applied for a junior professorship after her doctorate and a few years later for her current position as Associate Professor in Sociology, Social Interventions and Social Politics at the Université du Luxembourg.

From Karolina's point of view, it is important during the doctoral phase to do research, attend conferences and familiarise yourself with the system. This also includes learning how to speak to whom.

"This is nothing natural, this is something that you learn. This is something that you learn while attending conferences, while maybe also observing how others do stuff. This is the time in life where you will have time to read. It will be good when you once become a professor that you have a solid foundation of readings in your past and in your back you can draw on."

She provides encouragement by pointing out that you don't have to have the perfect career plan from the outset, but that you need to create coherence in your career path.

"Pursuing an academic career is also about constantly creating consistency where there is no natural consistency. Everything that you have done needs by you to be brought into a coherent narrative."

The support of other women has helped her along the way. She recommends: "Stay who you are and see how far you get." And then she has another piece of advice especially for women: "Take care to have a partner who sees your job as important as his job!"

 

Yaatsil Guevara González: "Navigate the system"

Photo: Yaatsil Guevara

For Yaatsil, who comes from Mexico, the fact that she was able to complete her doctorate in a research assistant position played an important role. This meant that she was not isolated, but part of a project team and learnt a lot about academic life and the system in Germany. "That gave me the possibility to navigate in different contexts at university."

Originally, she wanted to return to Mexico after her doctorate. "But life course is very, very different," she says. She had a daughter and initially stayed in Bielefeld. However, it was important for her path to a professorship that she moved to a postdoctoral position at the University of Mainz, because such changes are expected in Germany - unlike in Mexico.

"In Mexico, it would actually be the opposite. That people would ask: 'why is she actually changing a lot of jobs. This is not a good sign. Maybe she's not that good."

During her time in Mainz, she not only met many new people, but also expanded her scientific expertise. From her point of view, this led to her application for the junior professorship at University of Heidelberg being successful. She accepts that her professorship does not have a tenure track, and says:

"For me this uncertain path doesn't play a huge role. Maybe because in Mexico, it's very normal not to know if you hold your position for the next few years."

Yaatsil believes it is important not only to have successfully completed a doctorate, but also to show what other experience you have gained. From her own experience, she recommends building up an interdisciplinary network, organising workshops, attending international summer or winter schools, etc. In her opinion, the smaller events are particularly helpful, as they give you more detailed feedback on your own work and allow you to build up more intensive contacts. She also reports on her positive experience at Linie 4, the public lecture series organised by the BGHS together with the VHS Bielefeld, which gave her the opportunity to gain experience in science communication.

"That was great because you're not isolated in this academic bubble because as a professor you also have the responsibility to encourage the knowledge transfer in other types of audiences."

 

Mahshid Mayar: "Situations of precarity"

A doctoral scholarship from the BGHS enabled Mahshid to focus her doctoral project on both American Studies, from which she originally came, and History. The interdisciplinary orientation paid off, as she was offered a postdoctoral position in American Studies at Bielefeld University immediately after completing her doctorate. There, she initially pursued a project on computer games, which she found exciting. However, shortly before her position in Bielefeld ended, she was advised by experienced colleagues to pursue a more conventional project in American Studies. At this point, she had been at Bielefeld University for about ten years, she first became familiar with the conditions of the German Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act (WissZeitVG) and realised that her employment opportunities in fixed-term positions were not infinite. She then moved to the University of Cologne, substituted for a professor at the University of Mannheim for a semester and used this time to submit an application to the German Research Foundation (DFG) for her own research project. She was successful and has been carrying out this project at the University of Bonn since February 2024.

In comparison with the other three alumni, Mahshid emphasises the difficulties of the academic career path. For example, she found commuting from Berlin to Mannheim during her time as a substitute professor stressful. As a result, she had few opportunities to get to know her colleagues. The uncertainty of her academic career also presented her with challenges. In addition to the requirements of the WissZeitVG, there are other obstacles for internationals that have to do with their legal status. For example, you cannot apply for German citizenship if you receive social benefits, such as unemployment benefit.

"And that meant for me something existential. [...] That was about what it meant for me having brought my husband to a different country. And all sorts of questions [...] like: what might happen to us actually? And what does it mean for a migrant knowingly to put themselves in a situation of precarity more than academia itself is precarious?"

Mahshid strongly advises international doctoral researchers: "Make sure to learn German if you want to have even five per cent of a chance to get a tenured position." You might get a postdoc position without knowing German, but not a tenured position. You need to know German to be able to take part in committee meetings. And you are often asked questions in German during job interviews.

"It's difficult but the earlier and the faster you start the better for you. This is an investment in your career and also for your life."

And in view of the uncertainty of an academic career, she has a second piece of advice: "Have serious well-thought-out alternatives in mind."

 

Conclusion: stay flexible

The stories of the four BGHS alumni make it clear that you have to deal with the realities of an academic career if you choose this path. One thing in particular obviously helps: remaining flexible. Along the way, it may be necessary to change the field of research and the place of work, perhaps even the country. And a willingness to engage in interdisciplinary work and international exchange is also important. This is no guarantee that an academic career will work out, but it increases your chances enormously. Karolina describes it like this:

"There is this narrative: 'it's so improbable and it's so contingent' and this creates the image as if the people who become professors are there by accident. But I would say most of the professors I know are not by accident where they are."