EURAXESS Smart Talks
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EURAXESS Smart Talks
EURAXESS Germany: Possibilities for all
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In this episode of EURAXESS Smart Talks, we explore the wealth of opportunities available to international researchers in Germany. Our expert guests provide first-hand insights into research mobility, academic support systems, and practical strategies for thriving in Germany’s research ecosystem.
Guests:
- Vitaliy Bondarenko – Senior Scientific Officer, EURAXESS Germany Network Coordinator
- Imme Burkart-Jürgens – Head of the Welcome Centre, University of Greifswald
- Diclehan Ulucan – Doctoral Researcher in Computer Science & Image Processing, University of Greifswald
Whether you're an early-career researcher, an institutional representative, or simply interested in how European research policies shape global academia, this episode provides valuable insights into making scientific collaboration more accessible and impactful.
Tune in and learn how EURAXESS Germany helps researchers advance their careers while contributing to European innovation.
Key Topics Covered:
- Introduction to EURAXESS Germany – The network’s role in supporting researchers
- Navigating Research Mobility – Visa regulations, funding opportunities, and career strategies
- The Welcome Centre Experience – How universities integrate international researchers
- Women in STEM – Challenges and opportunities for female researchers
- Building an Academic Career Abroad – Finding supervisors, scholarships, and networking
And assistance to researchers at any career stage.
SPEAKER_02Eurexis supports the European research area in its ambition to create a single borderless market for research, innovation, and technology across the EU.
SPEAKER_03We support researchers in mobility, careers within and beyond academia, innovation and entrepreneurship.
SPEAKER_02We strive to enhance scientific collaboration between Europe and the world. Hi, welcome to Euroxess Smart Talks. Today we are exploring what Germany has to offer for international researchers. To guide us, we are joined by Vitaly Bandarenka, coordinator of the Euraxis Germany Network, one of the largest networks that comprises 107 support centers across the country. We are also can hear from Imme Burkhardt Jurgens from the University of Greifswald, Euroxis Service Center, who supports researchers in mobility and other issues through their journey to Germany and brilliant researcher Diklinan Ulujan, a doctoral researcher in computer science and image processing at Greifswald, supported by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. So join us today to discover research opportunities, support system, and real life experience in Germany. Hello, our first guest today is Vitaly Bandarenka. Vitaly, you are welcome on the podcast.
SPEAKER_04I would like to start by pointing out that we work on behalf of our ministry, of the Federal Ministry for Education in Research. And our job is to coordinate the German Euro Access Network. Currently we are 107 higher education institutions and research organizations from Germany. And our job is basically to connect the political level represented by our ministry with the practical one uh represented by our institutions. The political level is uh responsible for issuing certain legal regulations and the practical level uh implements them. And uh in this regard we provide our institutions with this information about political decisions, but at the same time we also collect uh their feedback how well those uh regulations are being implemented, uh what is functioning well and where we might need some adjustment. And uh this communication in both way both ways. Um we believe this is um this is um this is happening to a mutual satisfaction of all parties involved. And we can create create a win-win situation for uh all and this is basically our general motto for uh the entire coordination of the German network.
SPEAKER_02This sounds actually very great. I also was exploring how the strategic papers of the government are put into practice, uh, and uh whether they, for example, if they need some adjustments, and it is always like that, you know, because we do not have uh current monitoring of the situation, situation changes, we also change, and uh institutional preferences also probably could uh have changed. Uh so how you usually approach this when you have this feedback from the institutions. Uh what do you do with that? Do you implement it uh uh on a governmental level or you just uh take it into consideration in order to bring like uh all the current information and then uh like communicate it to the policymakers?
SPEAKER_04Um let me provide uh an example just to make it clear. Um, for example, um we have in Germany quite a few researchers coming from third countries to Germany uh without an employment contract. So they are normally coming with a fellowship from their own countries or uh with a fellowship provided by a German uh funding agency, like the German Academic Exchange Service, for example. And um if they don't have an employment contract, they are not allowed or they used to be not allowed to join the statutory health insurance in Germany. Uh so they were required to take out a private one, and the private health insurance uh covers only the basic medical treatment. So basically, this is a great option for those who are uh young, healthy, and single, because just the basic treatment and quite cheap. But if you are a bit older, if you have some uh medical conditions, uh if you are a woman and want to have kids, if you uh have family with you, uh all those things are not included and must be paid separately in a private insurance. The consequence was that we uh used to lose many researchers because uh they were simply not able to afford this uh private medical insurance. And we at the Euraxis um network we gathered this feedback from institutions, we uh uh set up a working group within the our network. This working group um uh produced a position paper describing this uh problem and suggesting a solution. And our job was to connect uh the network with a political level, and at the end of the day, uh we were successful. So from uh March of this year, those researchers have optional access to the statutory health insurance. It means if you are young, you can still take out the private one, but if you are coming with your family or if you have uh medical conditions, you have the option to take the uh statutory one, and this is a huge uh advantage for those researchers. And this is uh one example how we manage to connect this practical and the political level.
SPEAKER_02Excellent services, but uh, how long does it take you to develop all these things?
SPEAKER_04Well, uh, of course, uh in a democracy nothing happens quickly. This is this is normal. Of course, you need uh the first step was to uh set up this working group to uh prepare this position paper, to have contact with the ministry, and our ministry for education and research uh is of course not in charge uh of uh medical treatment, so basically, we need a cooperation with the Ministry for Health and so on and so forth. So, this process uh took some time, but for me, what uh is crucial is the result in the end, because we managed to convince uh the political uh level that this is important to uh provide this option because it uh it might have been forgotten, and we are losing researchers uh because of this reason, and uh we were able to provide even some uh numbers uh and and to calculate. Uh, of course, you need to calculate also the expenses of the ministry, and uh this takes some time, but again, uh crucial for us is to see the results.
SPEAKER_02Yes, definitely. We are not talking here about a couple of researchers, that definitely is the case when uh you had a lot of inquiries about that. So, um, could you maybe describe the Euroxas services that you usually provide in Germany?
SPEAKER_04Uh well I have started with this uh working group uh dealing with health insurance. We have another one. We have another working group dealing uh with uh visa and residence permits. And uh this working group has um provided a handout for uh visa regulations uh for researchers from third countries. Uh issuing visas, this is another big uh topic uh where uh things can be improved, and um we have the contact with the political level, with political actors, and this is why we are uh cooperating uh over our ministry with the German Foreign Office, and the foreign office is responsible for German diplomatic missions abroad, uh, who are in charge for uh issuing visas. And uh the handout we have provided um it is published uh on our website and we offer our institutions uh to use it in their daily uh practice, and uh the advantage of it is that um this handout has been agreed with the German Foreign Office, and uh we hope that we will find a clear uh track for issuing uh issue uh visas because sometimes uh it's uh it's not easy to recognize if if somebody um coming to a diplomatic mission abroad and trying to apply for a visa as a researcher, you need uh a certain package of documents, and uh sometimes it varies uh what kind of documents are required in this country or in that country, and we are trying to find with this handout a clear uh track to uh to be offered to researchers but also to our institutions and to diplomatic admissions abroad.
SPEAKER_03There's a there's a tendency to think of like a middleman in terms between the government and the academic practical side as maybe being a little bit clunky or not as efficient, but it sounds like from what you're saying, both in terms of the health services and the navigating and providing a solution to that disconnect, as well as the visa issue that you guys are really fixing the practical problems, you're really putting the the governmental policies into practice on the academic practical level.
SPEAKER_04Exactly, Jacob. This is why we are called Bridgehead Organization. We are bridging the practical and the political levels and really living up to the name.
SPEAKER_02It is uh also significant that everyone uh uh uh in this ecosystem knows about you that you are bridging the gap, so so everyone are aware. But uh you named it uh uh different um governmental institutions. What uh uh like Minister of Health, Minister, of course, uh is logical uh cooperation partner, is uh uh Minister of Sciences Education. Uh, do you of foreign affairs you also told us that you conducted uh so um on the ministerial level, what are your usual uh partners for corporations?
SPEAKER_04Uh here we work always over our ministry because we are contractors of our ministry, and of course, uh the way is that we reach out to our ministry, we report to them, we make them aware of certain uh certain problems uh um we have discovered as a network. And as I said, this is a mutual win-win, because they are also interested to have this feedback, and our institutions are interested in uh maybe political adjustment and and new regulations because uh they are on the forefront and they know what's going on. This is the situation we have, and uh to uh reply to your comment, Jacob, uh in I mean, um, we as a PHO, the coordinator of the German network, we also provide a unique platform for our institutions. We have two times uh per year we have a big national event, um, and um our Euroxis conferences, and we have one in uh um Bonn. Here we are situated in Bonn, uh Germany, but also one uh at one of the institutions. This is how we proceed with this, and um uh this centralized conference in Bonn uh it is focused on overarching and comprehensive uh topics with regard to political uh and legal development, whereas decentralized uh conferences um being conducted at institutions, they promote institutional best practice and and uh regional uh focal points.
SPEAKER_03On that topic, what what does the cooperation between you and the you as the BHO and your access service centers look like um on a day-to-day basis or in general between the services you provide and they provide?
SPEAKER_04Well, first of all, of course, uh these conferences two times per year, the entire network is coming together and they exchange uh their best practice, they talk to each other, they see wow, there are many people dealing with the same problems like me, and this is very encouraging for uh the entire network. Uh, we have these working groups uh delivering uh these position papers and trying to resolve some issues uh and reaching out to the political level. And of course, we have our portal uh where we publish information for uh researchers, but the portal is also aimed at our institutions to help them with their daily work. This is these are basically the means we use to uh work with our network.
SPEAKER_02Uh I know that like uh this week or previous week you had uh this networking event. How do you usually shape them? Uh what does it look like? Do they have like brainstorm sessions or uh breakout rooms where they can discuss common issues? Uh what does it look like? Just an example.
SPEAKER_04Uh first of all, it is in presence. So we prefer uh to have it not online but in presence, just to uh uh make it possible for people to get to know each other because we are all humans and this personal contact is very important. And indeed, we normally start uh with the newcomer session. So basically, all new people in the network uh they are invited to join this newcomer session, they have the opportunity to introduce themselves to get to know all the other colleagues, and this is how we uh include them into the network. Then we have a um sort of political actor um talking about certain uh upcoming things. Uh let's say uh we had our conference just a week ago in Bonn here, and uh we had uh authority responsible for visa digitalization in Germany, and this would be a great step forward, and we had a representative from this institution explaining how the process is going to be carried out, and uh then we have uh some workshops. Normally we offer four of the workshops and we split the entire audience uh which are around 120 people uh in four different workshops, and then we are reporting from those workshops. Of course, we have a dinner all together after that, and uh then the second day uh we have a best practice from the network, we have best practice from uh maybe other uh partner institutions, and then uh at the end we have the so-called world cafe format. So basically normally also four um um topics we discuss within groups, and uh you have like 15 to 20 minutes per around and you uh change those uh groups and get to know uh what's going on uh around these topics. This is how it's happening. So we offer our events normally uh on two days uh in a lunch to large mode.
SPEAKER_02That's very good, I would say, for your ex SBHOs to hear, you know? Our next guest is Imme Burkert Jurgens. Hello, Imma, how are you?
SPEAKER_01Okay, hello. Um, yes, my name is Imme, and um I'm working in the Welcome Center um of the University of Greifswald. And um yes, how how did it all start? Uh well um by chance um I get to know about this job. And over the years, um I have to say that I started already in 2009, so 15 years now, and um well it's um it's a perfect job for me. So I really love it, and um yes, how to say uh so it's really perfect, so it fits into my interest and into my personality. So I'm I'm very open and I talk a lot and um I like to share my knowledge and give information even if it's not asked for, and uh helping people, so yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And um, yeah, well, so that's how it all came, and I'm still happy with it. I'm very happy with it.
SPEAKER_02So you have mentioned that you started since uh 2009, and probably uh the service center already was there or and you joined, or you like from the very beginning with the services.
SPEAKER_01So um the um the service center started in 2009, and um because the university won a competition, um by the former UXS BHO um Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. So they set up um a competition, and um our university won this competition, which included um uh um a funding for the first three years to start um with the with the uh welcome center, your access service center. And um so I was the person who um yes who set up the whole Welcome Center thing um at our university. Um so it's my baby. So it's not a baby anymore, it's it's grown up. It's in teens. Yeah, and after sorry, and after the three years, um the university took over the funding. So um that's why I'm still here and still working in the Welcome Center.
SPEAKER_03Wow. So you must be very proud to share all the information about your baby.
SPEAKER_02No, everything. You're you're the correct person to to ask the questions.
SPEAKER_03Um I would like to uh um talk about the communication with researchers. Could you tell us a little bit about the best practices that you use to communicate with researchers and integrate with them in the university?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I try to give every single international researcher the feeling that they are welcome. So it's always this welcoming thing. And um and um what I would also um over the years found out so um I really like to support female researchers, especially female researchers coming from countries where where they don't have this equal standing in research. And um yes, to give them um to give them the um or to try to to give them more self-consciousness or something like that, so that um they um know that in in in Germany we it's that they are equal. So it doesn't matter um if you're male or female, um you're you um it's the research that's that counts. So um the best practices. So I made some notes about it. So um yes, so there is one thing, um my information is love, and it's called it's um it's a thing outside university. So it's um we call it a get-together, a regular get-together, very informal. Um, in Germany we've got this um term Stammtisch. So it's a meeting, regular meeting once a month, um in an in a pub where you get German beer and German food. And um so it's this kind of um gathering gathering um with others and um other international just in former speech or something, so we are not rotary or something like that. It's just chatting to each other, have a good time, and to see that you're not alone as an international in carbs fight. And um yes, that is very popular. So I have to admit, it used to be. So um at Corona, I was not allowed to do it, and afterwards I had some for technical reason it was not um possible to restart it, but we will do that next year again. Lucky to have Ima on the other side next year, so yes, and it's it's um it's not just like it's it's not just me, but I have to say that um in Germany, we've got um a very strong New York Cess, very active bridgehead organization, but also our network is very active, and I know most of them, even I I think I know most of the colleagues in the other service tenders, and I can really say for the internationals, please, when you come to Germany um to a university, don't be shy to contact them. They are all very friendly, and um you know um they are always willing to help. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Hello, and thank you for inviting me.
SPEAKER_02Thank you very much uh for joining us, and um, please tell us a little bit about your background.
SPEAKER_00Um, so as you mentioned, I'm actually an electrical electronics engineer, but uh I continue my studies in the field of computer vision, and um I had started in the end of my bachelor's work in this field. Um since I want to stay in academia, I decided to go abroad and um make a different experience. So I came to Germany where I uh currently pursuing my PhD degree.
SPEAKER_02Very nice. It's not very usual for women to go in this field, probably. Why you chose it?
SPEAKER_00Um because unfortunately, the number of um women in my field is uh lower than the number of men, but it's increasing, so it's actually nice. Um in my business years I had uh taken uh a course related to computer vision, and um the fact that we can extract information from one image uh by using just a few tools had uh fascinated me. Uh, before that I had uh uh no experience with such uh applications, and um then I worked on a project in this field and also uh did my bachelor thesis in this field and uh then I just continued working in it and I'm working in uh different fields of computer vision sense.
SPEAKER_02Logical development of your interest through the uh obtaining different stages of uh degrees. Okay, and uh can you specify probably about the what exactly it is what what you are extracting from from images and exactly like what you are doing with them?
SPEAKER_00Uh okay. Uh in my case th thesis, I'm working in the field of intrinsic image decomposition, and intrinsic images are features of images. Uh, for instance, um I'm working to extract the distance between objects in an image, or to find uh about uh the lighting conditions or the reflectance of objects. Uh, by extracting such features, uh we can uh ease uh different applications.
SPEAKER_02Oh, this is something that sounds for me like concerning also this virtual reality, artificial intelligence, everything like this is of hype right now, yes, and very much on the agenda.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it can be used from virtual reality to uh medical imaging applications in various fields.
SPEAKER_02Oh good. Uh, but how did you find out about uh, for example, your access and which service center you uh needed?
SPEAKER_00Uh so uh after I got accepted from uh Professor Makevna, uh he said that there is an international office at the university, and um uh me and my husband we checked the university web page and contacted um the welcome center, and um we asked uh about uh various things um related to our arrival here, and after that we had frequent contact with the ACS.
SPEAKER_02Good. So they supported you in your transition from Turkey to Germany. Uh great, but uh how you uh found the professor, for example, to contact?
SPEAKER_00Uh so um my uh PhD star supervisor, you mean, right? Yeah. Uh um we checked different uh universities in Germany and uh looked uh where they have a computer vision department or a computer science department that's uh working in the fields we're interested in. And then uh we found our professor, Fusamakebna, and sent him an email, uh, told him about our background and what we want to do and what we first do. And afterwards we uh had interviews and everything went well, and uh we came in the answer to Grass.
SPEAKER_02So it was your initiative, it it wasn't like a job offer on the portal.
SPEAKER_00And no, not on a portal. Uh we had seen his webpage and uh it was stating that um he's looking for PhD students, and then we just wrote an email and sent him uh order.
SPEAKER_02And what exactly the support um did you need from the service center?
SPEAKER_00Um so um we came here uh during the pandemic, so um we came here during the pandemic and we needed information about many things. Um, for instance, we uh wanted to know about the vaccination vaccination procedures and also the quarantine, possible current situation. But uh aside from that, of course, we needed information about the banking system, the insurance system, and uh about residence permits and uh what we need to do when we uh uh arrive in Germany or in Grassbad, but uh we need to take care of uh okay.
SPEAKER_02And uh how long did it take you actually to do to go through all these bureaucratic procedures?
SPEAKER_00Um so first we applied for a visa in Turkey, and although there was a pandemic, it actually went very well. Um, it didn't take that much time and uh we received our uh visas and came here. After we arrived, it went actually pretty quick. So um this uh service center gave us a document and uh it was stating what we need to do. Uh, and we just followed the list and uh completed all of the bureaucratic work, and um in a short amount of time uh everything was done. Oh nice! So you're we can present you as a success case. Um so uh certainly it helped that um the uh welcome center gave us uh instructions and told us exactly what we needed to do, and we just followed that. Um, that was great help.
SPEAKER_02But um, as you are now integrated into the community of other researchers in Germany, do you still have any cooperation activities with Service Center?
SPEAKER_00Um actually I do. Um we go to um international conferences and we go to different countries. Sometimes we need information about a possible uh visa application or about things we need to um take into account while going to a country. And apart from that, uh I came here as a scholarship holder, but uh after more than a year, I became a research assistant and I needed to change my residence permit, so I also had help about that.
SPEAKER_02Good. So they are supporting you even throughout your working days now.
SPEAKER_00Yes, exactly. Uh so uh then uh we need help about something, uh sending emails and um asking uh her what uh I need and what I can do, what would be the uh best way to solve uh some issue or um a question.
SPEAKER_02So what would your advice be to researchers that are now looking at the Euro Access network?
SPEAKER_00Uh so I would say certainly uh when you go to a new university or in a new country, uh look uh for the web page uh of um the service center or ask a supervisor or if you know any colleagues, uh your colleagues uh about where to find information uh about your arrival in this country, this university, and uh contact uh the person and uh don't be shy, just ask anything that comes to your mind. Um you're coming from a different country, from a different culture, uh, and um it's very normal that things are different in the country you're arriving at, and uh I don't think there are any wrong questions. You should just openly ask to get the best guidance, even uh asking the simplest thing things is okay, and uh the people at the welcome center and the service center they're um used to international uh students and international researchers. They know that uh people have different backgrounds and they need help on different things, so it's just okay to ask uh any question you have.
SPEAKER_02Uh something anything anything important uh you would like to also to highlight to those who are thinking where to find themselves next.
SPEAKER_00Um I would say uh look for places that really interest you so and uh take initiative so there doesn't have to be a job opening on the website or in the lab or university that you're applying to. You can just send an email to the person in charge and say, Okay, this is me and I'm looking for this, this is my background. Can we talk? Um, at least you would get some feedback, even if there is no position, or you get lucky and there is actually a position, and you somehow find your way to get there. And afterwards, I would also um advise after your arrival, um stay in contact with the welcome center uh for all the questions. So um they don't just support you during your arrival but also uh later. And um, I'm not sure how many people are doing this, but um it's a really nice way to get guidance.
SPEAKER_02Very good. So we covered do's and what about don'ts?
SPEAKER_00Uh so um I would say don't be shy, just uh ask your questions and um to get the best guidance. It's I think the best way if you just openly talk to people um when you um don't know about something, it can also be something related to daily life. You can just um contact the welcome center and say, I have such a problem, I don't know how to deal with this. Could you please help me?
SPEAKER_02Uh may I ask a couple of more questions? Uh, first of all, uh, why Germany? Uh did you intentionally like uh thought that you would like to pursue your PhD career uh PhD uh degree in Germany?
SPEAKER_00Um actually, yes. Um so uh the thing is um I was born in Germany and um my childhood in Germany, but then I was for a long time in Turkey and uh completed all my bachelor's and uh masters there. And since I wanted to continue in academia, um I thought it would be nice to go abroad and uh have a different experience. And um, since I already speak the language and the working environment, uh I like the working environment here, the the discipline that's here, and also um I know um in the field of engineering there's a lot of work going on in Germany. Um I preferred to apply here.
SPEAKER_02Uh good. So actually, um one of my questions was also about the language, so it helps a lot, of course. Uh, to if you are thinking about uh relocation, then you definitely should take into consideration that you will need to learn the language in case you don't uh know uh it yet. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_03Thank you for listening to this episode of Euraxis Smart Talks.
SPEAKER_02We hope you enjoyed this episode and can't wait to share more with you next time.
SPEAKER_03You can follow us and find more episodes on the Euraxis portal or wherever you listen to podcasts.
SPEAKER_02This episode was prepared by audio engineer Pavle Drashkovich, outreach manager Daria Aksonova, production manager Jacob Wiesenfeld, editors Iser Pier, and Miroslav Trajanovich.
SPEAKER_03This episode is published under the Creative Commons C C BY license.
SPEAKER_02Thanks for listening.
