The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts has relaunched the Margarete von Wrangell Junior Professor Programme to provide even better support for young female scientists. Junior and tenure-track female professors can employ a female scientist who has just completed her doctorate for three years in order to make a name for herself in her field of research. Junior Professor Ann-Christin Haag from the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy at Ulm University Hospital was selected for this programme.
Junior Professor Ann-Christin Haag conducts research in the field of "trauma research in the digital age" on the development of children and adolescents after potentially traumatic experiences. She investigates risk and resilience factors that influence the lives of children and adolescents after stressful events, such as experiences of abuse or accidental injuries. She is particularly interested in new research methods, such as the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence. "I am extremely pleased to have been accepted into the Margarete von Wrangell Junior Professorship Programme and am proud to be one of the few candidates to receive this funding," says Ann-Christin Haag.
The programme enables the junior professor to employ Dr Dunja Tutus, who recently completed her doctorate. The psychologist will receive a full-time position for three years in order to gain further qualifications, for example for a junior or tenure-track professorship or a junior research group leadership position. As part of the funding, Dunja Tutus will be working on the development and evaluation of prediction models based on machine learning. Such models should help to better understand why certain children and young people develop psychological stress after stressful life events, and why others are resilient. This will enable particularly vulnerable children and young people to be identified in good time and receive personalized interventions at an early stage in order to prevent chronic psychological stress.
Both scientists are part of the University Hospital for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy under the direction of Medical Director Professor Jörg Fegert.
The Margarete von Wrangell Junior Professorship Programme
The programme is named after Germany's first female full professor, Margarete von Wrangell. The chemist was appointed Professor of Plant Nutrition at the Agricultural College (now the University of Hohenheim) in 1923.
A total budget of 14.18 million euros will be available for the Margarete von Wrangell Programme, which is funded by the state of Baden-Württemberg and the European Social Fund, following its reorientation in 2023. A total of around 50 grants are available throughout the state.
Although women now hold the majority of degrees and 44 per cent of doctorates, the proportion of women in permanent W2 and W3 professorships is still only 23 per cent. Too many outstanding women leave the academic system in the post-doc phase. Structured positions with transparent selection procedures and more reliable prospects as well as special funding programmes should counteract this brain drain of qualified women: In the case of W1 professorships (junior and tenure-track professorships), the proportion of women nationwide, as in Baden-Württemberg, is 48 per cent.
Text and media contact: Daniela Stang