Continuation of the TMS UiB career program: help and guidance for young research leaders
How do we perceive the role of research group leader after we have received the TMS Starting Grant?
That was one of the questions young research leaders at UiB discussed at the end of September when they attended the fifth meeting under the auspices of the TMS-UiB career program, a program for researchers who have been awarded a TMS Starting Grant. The program started as a pilot project in 2019 and after a positive evaluation, a new agreement between TMS and UiB was signed in the spring of 2023, where both institutions pledged to finance the program with NOK 1.5 million each until 2026. All TMS Starting Grant scholarship winners are automatically included in the program for the duration of their scholarship.
The program offers various arenas for networking across disciplines in addition to counseling by a hand-picked UiB mentor for each TMS Starting Grant winner. The mentoring scheme was mentioned as a very helpful measure by several fellows. The program also benefits from previous grantees who can now share experiences from their respective research careers.
The TMS-UiB career program is led by UiB’s rector Margareth Hagen, who also participated in a session during this year’s gathering where she provided information on various political processes relevant to UiB and asked the young researchers to get involved in university democracy, hearings and processes that have an impact on their future.
At the end of the seminar the participants concluded that it is very important to clearly communicate ones own expectations to the research team and that investing more time in hiring processes will help to build the best research team.
– We are delighted that the career program, which has recently been evaluated with good results, will now continue for three new years, says Anne Marie Haga, acting CEO of the Trond Mohn foundation.
The program has great value for the candidates and at the same time contributes to the further development of the Starting Grant program, which the foundation and UiB have collaborated on since 2007. It is very rewarding to be able to take part in this journey further, she concludes.
Front page photo: Eivind Senneset, UiB
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