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ePaper created 2014-12-22, 09:34:33 | version 1.34.00
09 2014 “QUALIFIED AND DEDICATED STAFF ARE A SCIENTIFIC ORGANISATION’S MOST VALUABLE ASSET.” Jürgen Mlynek 9 May 2014 5th anniversary of the German Center for Neuro degenerative Diseases (DZNE) 10 June 2014 Establishment of the Helmholtz Institute in Münster as an excellence centre for battery research 27 June 2014 Eight outstanding scientists receive Helmholtz International Fellow Award 11 April 2014 A signal for qualified research staff: presentation of the first Helmholtz DKB Apprenticeship Award 23 April 2014 50th anniversary of the German Cancer Research Center: Chancellor Merkel is guest of honour in Heidelberg 29 Aug 2014 DESY lays foun- dation stone for unique infection research centre 12 March 2014 Rainer Waser from the Forschungs zentrum Jülich wins Leibniz Prize 2014 the Helmholtz Association is playing a major role, are also being expanded. In 2013 alone, the federal and state govern- ments invested 77 million euros in these centres, which are expected to be completed by 2015. People are our most valuable asset One of the Helmholtz Association’s strategic focuses is talent management – after all, suitable staff are a scientif- ic organisation’s most valuable asset. With the help of various initiatives, including several that support young scientists, Helmholtz is continually developing staff poten- tial. The Helmholtz Academy for Leadership, which was founded in 2007 and teaches management methods for the effective use of internal resources, is being further expanded. The academy’s core curriculum covers strategy development, structure and process organisation, as well as staff management. The recruitment initiative launched in 2011 to acquire outstanding scientists is also making a significant contribution to attracting the most suitable staff to the association. One of the initiative’s goals is to achieve a quota of at least 30 per cent women and so far this target has been exceeded. Overall, the Helmholtz Association provides an annual budget of 24 million euros to the recruitment initiative. In order to increase the share of women in top positions, Helmholtz is also implementing the W2/W3 programme for outstanding female scientists. Resources from the Initiative and Networking Fund make it possible to finance at least five new W2/W3 positions a year. Talent management also targets the youngest mem- bers of society: the Little Scientist’s House foundation now supports more than 230 local partners with its structures and offerings – reaching 26,500 day care centres, after school centres and primary schools throughout Germany. In addition, each year the school labs at Helmholtz centres and cooperating universities, now totalling 30, attract 65,000 school pupils, hundreds of university students and more than 2,000 teacher trainees. The right political framework The Academic Freedom Act, passed in December 2012, grants research organisations more latitude when making budgetary and personnel decisions, taking stakes in firms and carrying out construction projects. It thus expands the organi- sations’ capacity to act and eliminates red tape. In addition, in the period under review, the Helmholtz Association worked together with the boards of its member centres to introduce variable remuneration elements based on target agreements. The personnel committees of the centres’ supervisory boards will now adapt the target agreements to the individual centres while keeping the association’s overall goals in mind. In the current legislative period, an additional nine billion euros has been earmarked for science and education, with three billion of this sum going to research. The five-year Joint Initiative for Research and Innovation is being continued in its third phase, albeit with only a three per cent increase in annual funding for non-university research organisations as compared to the previous five per cent. This is because the German government will have to shoulder these increases without the help of the federal states. When the governing grand coalition finally fulfils its pledge to lift the ban on collaborations within the research system, it will become much easier to implement new collaborative models between university and non-university research organisations. It will mean, for instance, that federal funds can be permanently allocated to underfinanced universities and bolster efforts to ensure an adequate reservoir of young scientists. The aim of this brief report has been to illustrate that the Helmholtz Association is in a state of constant change. Just as the world is changing all around us and new challenges are constantly emerging, so too is the Helmholtz Associa- tion changing. For us, this change is a constant incentive. Any organisation that sets itself the goal of solving major social problems requires a great deal of patience as it moves towards success. I am convinced that the Helmholtz Association will continue to meet the high expectations that have been placed upon it.