Joint professorial appointments

Joint professorial appointments are used at Forschungszentrum Jülich to fill the positions of institute heads (W3 appointments) and sometimes the positions of department heads and group leaders (W2 and W1 appointments). Such joint appointments closely link the personnel and strategy of Forschungszentrum Jülich and its partner universities. Roughly 150 Jülich scientists are appointed in such joint processes. There are various models for joint professorial appointments at Forschungszentrum Jülich.

Current vacancies

Director at the Institute of Energy and Climate Research (IEK-8) (PDF)

Information on the Helmholtz Association's programme for the funding of first-time professorial appointments of highly talented female scientists (W2/W3)

Advantages of joint professorial appointments

As a professor, you are typically employed as a civil servant at the respective faculty or university. You are involved in teaching to a reduced extent and can support early-career scientists, for example as they complete their doctoral degrees. At the same time, you are head of a subinstitute, department, or team at Jülich, which provides you with extensive opportunities to conduct in-depth research. Joint professorial appointments combine the best of both worlds and are an integral part of the science system in Germany.

You can gain insights into the everyday work of the head of an institute in this video:

Note: You can also watch the video with German or English subtitles. To do so, please select the appropriate language in the settings under "Subtitles.

Support and development opportunities

With a joint professorial appointment, you are responsible for a subinstitute or department. Often, our joint professorships involve taking on prominent roles on national and international committees or the coordination of large-scale projects and alliances with numerous other partner institutions.

A joint professorial appointment therefore also offers you many other personal development opportunities. To assist you in fulfilling these various responsibilities, we offer you tailored support services. These include individual coaching opportunities, qualification courses for important leadership and management skills, and – in the case of international appointees – intensive German-language training courses. You can also take part in comprehensive personal development programmes offered by Forschungszentrum Jülich or the Helmholtz Leadership Academy.

Dual career support

Forschungszentrum Jülich's dual career support service is aimed at applicants for leadership positions in science as well as their spouses or partners. With this service, we would like to support dual career couples in combining family and partnership with a career. The dual career support service particularly welcomes professors appointed in joint processes and it works closely with the dual career offices of our partner universities.