MPIA-Alumni Events

The 1st MPIA Alumni Day took place at the House of Astronomy (HdA) on the MPIA campus on 28th April 2023.

We were delighted to welcome almost 60 participants from all over Germany and Switzerland to the HdA Lecture Hall. Among the participants were about 20 Alumni, joined by 25 PhD/Postdocs und 15 staff members.

With this event, we wanted to present different career paths beyond science because most of the former MPIA PhD and Postdocs work in industry (above 50%). Our aim was to connect the participants and to give them security in a general way by showing them all kind of different job opportunities they may have never thought of in the first place.

Therefore, the program included five excellent talks with very different focal points. The topics ranged from data science, software development over company start-up grant support until the work and life of a patent attorney giving detailed insight in the life and work beyond academia. 

The different CVs of the speakers were very interesting and really impressive. They opened up different job perspectives and working possibilities regarding a career outside academia. For example, it was surprising to learn that many former astronomers work for a German based multinational building materials company.

At the end of each talk, there was also enough time for questions by the audience. Apart from that, there was the possibility to pass questions to the organizers and speakers in advance as well. In addition, both lunch and coffee breaks offered much time and opportunity for individual discussions with the Alumni and for further personal and/or professional exchange.

Finally, we would like to thank everyone who made this event possible. We are already looking forward to the 2nd MPIA Alumni Day. Stay tuned.

SPEAKER: Viki Joergens, Lucia Klarmann, Jan Rybizki, Markus Schmalzl, Yuan Wang