New episode of the podcast series on multiple competition in the higher education system is now online

Listeners learn a great deal about the strategies postdocs use to navigate multiple forms of competition and remain capable of taking action. At the same time, it becomes clear how they themselves perceive their role as participants in this competitive landscape. The episode also paints a vivid picture of the not always positive consequences of multiple forms of competition—such as stress, exhaustion, and uncertainty—which have empirically identifiable effects on their career decisions.

Julian Hamann is professor of higher education research at Humboldt University in Berlin. Kathia Serrano Velarde is a professor of political sociology at Heidelberg University. Both led the subproject “How to become competitive: Academic socialization at the postdoc stage” during the first funding phase of the DFG Research Group “Multiple Competition in Higher Education.” In the second funding phase, they and their teams are focusing on the topic of “Internationality in Competition: Foreignness and Translation in Postdoc Careers”.

About the podcast series

At the start of the first funding phase of the DFG Research Group “Multiple Competition in the Higher Education System”, it was clear that the findings of the several research projects should reach an audience beyond a narrow circle of experts. To this end, broader media coverage was also planned as part of the DFG’s funding. The DFG Research Group quickly decided to produce a multi-part podcast series featuring experts following the completion of the research. The experienced science journalist Dr. Jan-Martin Wiarda could be recruited as the host. In individual podcast episodes, he speaks with researchers from the DFG research group and other experts on the topic of “multiple competition in the higher education system.” His guests comment on the research findings, contextualize them, and pose further thought-provoking questions about the findings that extend beyond the narrower disciplinary context. Each individual podcast episode is dedicated to a specific topic.

All episodes are available to listen to on the Podigee platform, where you can also subscribe to the series. You can also find them on the DFG research group’s website.