(02/22/20) Under the umbrella of Research in Germany, German universities and funding organisations successfully promoted Germany as a place to research at the MIT European Career Fair in Cambridge, MA.

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For nearly 20 years, the European Club at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has organized the MIT European Career Fair (ECF). This transregional career event enables Germany and other European countries – this year's prominent participants included the Netherlands, Denmark, France, and Switzerland – to present themselves to early career researchers as an attractive option for their next career step in academia or industry.

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Once again at this year’s ECF, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), under the umbrella of the "Research in Germany" initiative, organized a major joint presentation by German universities, the four major non-university research institutions and the funding organizations at the ECF.

Together with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) and the DAAD, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) hosted a booth to provide information about relevant funding programmes for early career researchers and academic career paths in Germany. This attracted a great deal of interest among the three regular target groups – German researchers in the USA, individuals from third countries, and American researchers. Among the last group, there is a growing realization that the world of research and development has become multipolar and that there are at least two other major research regions in the world outside North America – namely Asia and Europe – and that experience and professional networks in at least two of these regions have become essential to top-tier researchers. On Saturday 22 February, this was one of the key messages at the career fair venue on campus at MIT. In addition to the presence of different countries, exhibits by a number of major companies such as Audi, Volkswagen, and Bayer showed that Europe overall and Germany in particular has an internationally very competitive and open economy which welcomes the best international talent.

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On the morning after ECF, the German Academic International Network (GAIN) took advantage of the presence of representatives of universities and funding bodies to hold an information event on academic career opportunities in Germany, to which it had invited early career researchers from the Greater Boston area. Following a brief welcome from the Consulate General in Boston, the director of the DAAD office in New York, Benedikt Brisch, introduced attendees to the German research landscape before the details of funding programmes and career routes were discussed at various round tables. As in previous years, the DFG's information offering on the numerous funding programmes for early career researchers was received with great interest, which Dana Cowlishaw and Stefan Altevogt from the DFG's New York office were able to satisfy with additional explanations.