Dear Colleagues
Dear Friends

We would like to kindly invite you with your interest in PhD education in biomedicine and health sciences to participate in the ORPHEUS Workshop "Career development for PhD students: research training for the knowledge society" taking place from 27 - 28 Nov. 2012 at the Center for Molecular Medicine University Cologne (CMMC).
 
Recent evaluation indicate that only a small number of PhD graduates will end up in permanent academic positions, whereas 85-95 % of PhD graduates have to consider careers outside of academia. Thus PhD education must be seen not only as a possible preparation for an academic career, but also the basis for being able to make a valuable contribution to the knowledge society - which will be needed in the future to strengthen European economies.
 
The aim of this workshop is to provide a platform where the participants can discuss the pros and cons of providing non-academic career developmental structures for PhD graduates in graduate programs.
 
The workshop initiated by the Organization of PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in European System (ORPHEUS) is a combined activity with the Faculty of Medicine, the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC) and the Interdisciplinary Program Molecular Medicine (IPMM) of the University of Cologne.
 
The workshop will be introduced by Prof. Dr. Zdravko Lackovic (ORPHEUS-President) and Prof. Dr. Michael Mulvany (ORPHEUS-Vice President). The topic will be further analyzed by the invited guest speakers representing academic organizations and organizations working on the interface between academia and industry. We are very pleased to announce the participation of following guest speakers: 

Dr. Mike Hardman (EMTRAIN)
Prof. Dr. Stefan Herzig (Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Exp. Therapeutics, Univ. of Cologne)
Dr. Stefaan Hermans (DG Research, Innovation, European Commission - EC)
Dr. Birgit Klüsener (German Academic Exchange Service)
Dr. Annette Schmidtmann (German Research Foundation) 
  
The workshop will also integrate a poster session, where participants have the possibility to present their point of view and experiences on a poster. Finally, the round table discussions with the participants of the workshop will aim at the development of a concept paper addressing important points and plans for the implementation of non-research-academic career development structures in graduate programs. The concept paper may serve as a starting point for rethinking of the career perspectives of PhD graduates.
 
We expect fruitful discussion and are looking very much forward to welcoming you.
 

Sincerely yours,

Prof. Mats Paulsson - Dean of Research - Faculty of Medicine -University of Cologne

Prof. Zdravko Lackovic - ORPHEUS-President      

Prof. Michael J. Mulvany - Vice-ORPHEUS President

Prof. Thomas Benzing - Chair-Center for Molecular Medicne Cologne

Dr. Debora Grosskopf-Kroiher - Graduate Program Molecular Medicine

For the program, registration and further information, please click here: http://www.zmmk.uni-koeln.de/content/orpheus_workshop