Portraits, Videos & Podcasts

Portraits on the Reconciling of Doctorate and Family

Family friendliness is one facet of equal opportunities, which the TU Dresden and we at the faculty are committed to. Students, doctoral candidates and postdocs with children have to master special challenges in their everyday lives. On this page, we would like to gradually introduce people who report on their everyday personal experiences that they make or have made with the reconciling of studies/additional scientific qualification.

Sarah Müller-Sägebrecht, PhD student at the Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

I started my doctorate in 2017 as a mother of a 1-year-old son. At that time, I frequently used our faculty's parent-child room. 2 years later, I had another son and took one year of parental leave. Especially the flexible working hours and my husband, who is doing his doctorate himself, make my everyday life easier. Learn more

Here is a photo of Janis Neufeld. He smiles.

Janis Neufeld, Postdoc at the Chair of Business Administration, esp. Industrial Management

During the course of my doctorate and time as a postdoc at the faculty, my wife and I have had four children. So our everyday life is full of life, and without the support of grandparents and also the occasional career setbacks, it would certainly not be possible. But in my experience, working at the chair in particular offers very good conditions for reconciling work and family life. Learn more

Christian Leßmann, Professor of Economics, esp. International Economics

I became a father in the fourth year of my doctorate. Looking back, it's just great that as a scientist you can divide your time so freely. If something happened at daycare or your daughter was sick, you can take good care of her and simply work from home. For me, with West German roots, it's just unbelievably great how childcare is organized in Dresden. Learn more

Dr. Uta Schwarz, Faculty Administrator for Quality Management and Public Relations

I had my daughter and my son while I was doing my doctorate and took 12 months of parental leave each. Thanks to the great support from my chair at the time, my husband and the local grandparents, the re-entry and the doctorate with children always worked out great. Even though it was challenging from time to time and of course the work rhythm changed. Learn more

Video "Go Your Way - As a Female Scientist in Computer Science"

The DFG-funded Research Training Group "Role-based Software Infrastructures (RoSI)" at the Faculty of Computer Science has set itself the goal of contributing to the success of the TU Dresden's equal opportunities concept through its own equal opportunities activities. In a video clip, three female (business) computer scientists explain their personal motivation for a scientific career at the TU Dresden: Christiane Kuhn is a doctoral student in the Research Training Group RoSI, Anke Lehmann is a postdoc at the Faculty of Computer Science, Susanne Strahringer is a professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics and Principle Investigator in the Research Training Group.

FUN*cast: Careers in Academia

Is it worth pursuing a career in academia? And who can offer support along the path to a professorship after graduation? Women are still underrepresented in STEM+ scientific fields, especially in high academic positions.

In the podcast FUN*cast: Careers in Academia, Kachina from the FrauenUmweltNetzwerk (FUN) goes in search of clues together with Angela Böhm and Barabara Könczöl from the Graduate Academy (GA).

To the Podcast