Future Career Program: Innovation 2021 - Testimonials
How does an innovative idea come about? Can you use entrepreneurship in science? What is "Design Thinking" and can I use it for my research and career planning? A group of 14 doctoral and post-doctoral students investigated exactly these questions in the Future Career Program: Innovation, which took place in English for the first time between May and July 2021. Read here their experience:
Dr. Ghada Yassin, Postdoc at the Institute of Resource Ecology @HZDR, shares her experience:
"The FCP workshop was very interesting. I learned the efficient keys for design thinking and the effective strategies to improve my productivity and make it sustainable. I also learned how to make my business idea unique considering the insights and the aspects of economic exploitations, e.g. the ways to transfer the results to the market and how to protect my idea considering licensing and intellectual property. One of the most effective part is arranging a pitch talk with the target audience, where I could achieve a powerful communication. It gave me the insights how to convince the audience focusing on the concerns and how to deal with objections and make benefits of it. I recommend this event for the scientists who have their own ideas and are planning to pursue their careers as leaders for the future in both academia and industry. This event gave me keys in designing my novel ideas in an effective way and getting the best of it."
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Dr. Veronika Körösi (HZDR - TU Dresden Postdoc Center) interviewed Jorge Ferreira, PhD student @TU Dresden. Have a look at his learning output due to attending this workshop:
What did you learn? What skills did you learn?
I learn how to think, plan, design and develop new ideas in different areas of life or projects, such as in research, business Startup. I learn how to apply into an entrepreneurial thinking and acting.
How can you transfer what you have learned into future steps? Are the next steps clear?
As a Ph.D. student in the TUD and with a biology/medical background in the training and workshop acquired by Future Career Program: Innovation I will be ready to execute any project in business administration, leadership, communication, and project management.
Who would you recommend this event format to? To which target group exactly?
I will recommend this event to all doctoral candidates, postdocs and junior research groups in academia. However, the target group should be mainly doctoral candidates close to completing their degrees or postdocs.
How did you perceive the event? Were you able to achieve your goal / expectation with the help of this event / bring it a little closer?
The event was tremendous and remarkable because I could achieve all my goals and expectations. Even the event was made on-line the knowledge and learning was carried out with a higher level of professionalism.
What did you like in this program most?
The communication and interaction between the group of selected participants and all organizers involved.
What helped you most?
The interdisciplinary selected participants discussion, presentation and communication during all Future Career program modules.
Anything else you would like to tell us?
It will be nice if the selected participants group could receive a monthly newsletter with new programs or new workshops events. I strongly believe many participants will subscribe and join.
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Some more impressions about the FCP: Innovation:
"The FCP innovation course was a great initiative from the postdoc center. I would recommend it to all those who would like to identify, explore and build on their transferable skills. A lot of emphasis in the course was given to thinking non-conservatively, teamwork and not being afraid of sharing/accepting feedback. The design thinking course for me still remains the highlight of the entire workshop but in general all the modules were sufficiently balanced in content to keep the participants curious and involved. The entire cohort was friendly and enthusiastic about the program. I cannot imagine how much more impactful such a program would conducted via an in-person model. Hopefully, the next round of FCP: Innovation workshop can be conducted that way (at least in parts, if not all). A big congratulations to Veronika and the organizing team."
Postdoc at the Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research @HZDR
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“In this program, techniques are taught for creatively generating, further develop and finally presenting new ideas. Besides the theoretical background of those methods, the number of practical exercises in groups helped me a lot to benefit from them. The program is perfectly suited for innovative researchers and soon-to-be entrepreneurs, who efficiently want to lead a team or research group on paths never taken before.”
PhD student in computational Fluid Dynamics @HZDR
If you are interested in this program, you should keep an eye on the next FCP: Innovation in 2022 or write us an e-mail: .