Spotlight on research careers between Germany and the USA

The GAIN conference is the largest platform outside of Europe promoting international research careers in Germany. Every year, it brings researchers together with high-ranking representatives from science, academia, the political sector and industry. It particularly targets postdocs and early career researchers from Germany who currently work on the American continent. The conference is also open to young international talents in the USA. This year’s conference is being held against the backdrop of a dramatic shift as science and academia in the USA are currently subject to enormous pressure.

For three days, the GAIN conference will turn the spotlight onto Germany as a location for conducting research. Organised jointly by the Humboldt Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Research Foundation (DFG), the GAIN conference will offer postdocs thorough advice for planning a career at a university, research institute or a research-based industry in Germany. More than 25 workshops will offer insights into appointment procedures, tenure track careers and employment in international organisations. In addition, some 80 German research facilities and universities will be represented at the traditional “talent fair” where they will present information about career opportunities and job vacancies. Parallel to this, the Humboldt Foundation, DAAD and DFG will inform attendees about their funding programmes for early career researchers.

Research built on a close transatlantic alliance

“Over the last several years, we have been witness to strong trends in the direction of renationalisation throughout the world. It is an error to believe that an individual nation can meet its needs within its own borders! Progress arises through the sharing of experience, expertise and information, through a diversity of perspectives. Hampering the global exchange of knowledge, restricting academic and scientific freedom through national regulation and government paternalism jeopardises not only democracy but also prosperity and humankind’s future viability. In Germany, research is independent and still receives basic funding. Our constitution guarantees scientific freedom. We firmly believe this is rightly so. And we are very glad that in the coming years we will be able to grant more fellowships and research awards to researchers at various levels of their careers through the German government’s Global Minds Initiative – and that, in doing so, it will be possible to build even stronger long-term collaborative networks. The more tightly we can knit these kinds of networks between Germany and the world, the better our own achievements will be and the more stable the world we live in will be”, said the President of the Humboldt Foundation, Robert Schlögl.

“For a quarter of a century now, the GAIN conference has been a successful forum for dialogue on international research careers and Germany’s attractiveness as a location for conducting research. For decades, German universities have developed an extremely close-meshed network of partnership-based relations with American universities – all while competing over individuals with the best talents. With some 75,000 researchers at universities and public research institutes, Germany is today second only to the USA as the most important host country for international scientists and scholars. At the same time, this year’s GAIN conference will be held during a time when American universities and research institutes are faced with special challenges, particularly of the political kind. This makes it all the more important in these times to support our partners in the USA, show our solidarity and work together to maintain our German-American collaborations with universities and expand them wherever possible”, said DAAD President Joybrato Mukherjee.

“Since the start of this year, research in the USA has been repeatedly subjected to new repressions. We all – the science community in Germany and around the world – have been following this development with horror and dismay. We are shocked by the extent to which scientific freedom and academic independence have been curtailed in the country that to date has been considered the gold standard for free thought and scientific excellence. Institutions are being closed, projects are being discontinued, data sets are being damaged, many, many researchers are losing their jobs and foreign researchers and students their residence permits. In light of this, it is a matter of special importance to us to express our solidarity with our colleagues in the USA and support researchers who are no longer able to do their work without restraints. The German science system and the institutions participating in GAIN are standing up around the world for academic freedom, open-mindedness and, it goes without saying, equal opportunity. For this reason, preserving and further strengthening transatlantic relations in science and academia are of special importance for the DFG”, said DFG President Katja Becker.

High-ranking representatives from the political and research sectors to attend 

The conference will be opened on 29 August by Rolf-Dieter Jungk, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, and the presidents of the Humboldt Foundation, the DAAD and DFG. The research ministers from six German states as well as numerous representatives from the German Bundestag, the research sector, industry and non-university research are also expected to attend. The venue of the GAIN conference annually alternates between the east and west coasts of the USA. This year it will be held in Boston. More than 600 people have already registered to attend.

About GAIN

Since 2003, the German Academic International Network has supported and networked German researchers around the world, assisted their return to German universities and research institutes and promoted their interests vis-à-vis political decision-makers. GAIN is a joint initiative of the Humboldt Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the German Research Foundation (DFG). It is supported by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. Associated members are the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Fraunhofer Society), the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, the Leibniz Association, the Max Planck Society, the German Rectors' Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz), German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes) and the German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe). Numerous other partners from research, industry and the political sector are regularly involved in the network’s activities.

Further information:

• GAIN25 will be held at the Marriott Hotel in Boston from 29-31 August. 
• Conference programme: GAIN25 conference programme | GAIN
• The latest news regarding the conference in social media networks: #GoGAIN25

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables more than 2,000 researchers from all over the world to spend time conducting research in Germany. The Foundation maintains an interdisciplinary network of well over 30,000 Humboldtians in more than 140 countries around the world – including 63 Nobel Prize winners.