CareerDay 2026 as a Catalyst for the Career Future

10 July 2026

Networking with companies, insights from alumni, and a look at their own professional futures: The fourth CareerDay provided doctoral students and postdocs at HI ERN with valuable orientation for their paths after completing their doctorates.

How can you successfully start your career after completing your PhD in a job market that is currently changing significantly? At HI ERN’s fourth CareerDay, doctoral students and postdocs from the institute received answers to exactly these questions and valuable insights for their own career paths in academia, industry, or entrepreneurship.

During the career networking session, participants could exchange personal experiences and gain direct insights into career opportunities at companies from various industries. Among the participating companies were BASF from Ludwigshafen, Siemens Energy, Grünecker Intellectual Property Law, Bosch from Bamberg, Schaeffler from Herzogenaurach, and the startup Sciprios.

One particularly nice aspect was that the speakers also included three familiar faces from the institute’s own history. For example, Dr. Mario Löffler and Dr. Konrad Ehelebe, who both completed their doctorates in Prof. Dr. Karl Mayrhofer’s Electrocatalysis Department, attended and spoke about the different paths they took afterward. While Dr. Mario Löffler now works as a patent attorney at Grünecker Intellectual Property Law, Dr. Konrad Ehelebe is currently employed as a Development Engineer for Electrolysis at Siemens Energy. Dr. Dina Zakgeym also provided insights into her career path. She completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Chemical Hydrogen Storage under the supervision of Prof. Peter Wasserscheid and now works as a laboratory manager at BASF. These are three excellent examples of just how diverse career prospects can be after completing a Ph.D. at HI ERN and how closely connected the institute’s alumni network remains, even years after graduation. The alumni network also funds CareerDay, for which we are deeply grateful.

Diverse Career Paths in the Lecture Sessions

The following presentation sessions provided further insights into various career perspectives. Dr. Leonie Voss from the Innovation Management department at Forschungszentrum Jülich explained how the research center supports early-career researchers with their own startup ideas. Our institute director, Prof. Peter Wasserscheid, concluded with a presentation on entrepreneurship.

This year's CareerDay touched on a particularly timely topic. In economically challenging times and a changing job market, it is more important than ever to start one’s professional future well-prepared. This is exactly where CareerDay steps in, supporting HI ERN doctoral students in getting the most out of their doctoral studies and ensuring they are optimally prepared for their entry into professional life, whether in academia, industry, or as self-employed professionals.

A Successful Conclusion at the Summer Party

Following the presentations, the day was rounded off with HI ERN’s summer party. With perfect summer weather and a fantastic buffet, participants took the opportunity to chat with each other, resulting in an all-around enjoyable gathering whose athletic highlight was an in-house beer pong tournament.