{"id":1432,"date":"2026-04-28T10:48:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/?p=1432"},"modified":"2026-08-07T10:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:39:37","slug":"career-paths-beyond-research-at-universities-an-interview-with-dr-klaus-wiehl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/2026\/04\/28\/career-paths-beyond-research-at-universities-an-interview-with-dr-klaus-wiehl\/","title":{"rendered":"Career Paths Beyond Research at Universities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In this episode, Dr. Klaus Wiehl<\/a> from Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin talks about career paths beyond research at universities and his work in the European University Alliance Una Europa<\/em>. He shares how his transition from a doctorate into a coordinating role came about and what his work looks like in practice. The conversation also covers different career options beyond research, transferable skills from a doctorate, and challenges that can arise when moving into non-research roles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audio <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Highlights<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n

„When you’re working as a sort of medium between administration and science, which is the role that I have, you have to talk different languages and you have to interpret what people are saying and find the middle ground in between what people want and do. So you have to use the skills that you have usually as an academic to learn a new language or learn new languages and cultures and try to adapt to these. Because also in my field, you’re not only talking about different academic cultures within one institution, but also about different academic cultures in international settings, which complicate things, obviously.“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

„(…) So between administration and science management, there’s always something going on that’s worth looking into.“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– from our interview with Dr. Klaus Wiehl <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

SUMMARY<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

English:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode, Dr. Klaus Wiehl, a project lead at Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin with a doctoral degree in German Literature, talks about career paths at universities for people with doctoral degrees beyond traditional academic research. He shares his own journey from academia to a non-research role at FUB with the university alliance Una Europa, focusing on management and project coordination instead of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Wiehl points out that universities now offer various non-research job options, such as grant managers and positions in administration and science communication. He notes that while many strive to become professors, the changing academic environment is creating new opportunities at universities, and non-research roles can be attractive as they allow for broader use of academic skills, but they can also come with limited job security just like the ones in research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Wiehl discusses how research and non-research roles differ, and how transitioning to a non-research position often requires taking on more responsibilities and focusing on supporting others. He emphasizes the need for strong communication and intercultural skills in science management, especially in international settings, and also advises prospective doctoral candidates who are interested in administrative work to gain experience in budget management and project proposals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversation also touches on the importance of keeping an open mind about career possibilities beyond academia, especially for those in the humanities who might need clearer direction. Dr. Wiehl highlights that networking with people outside academia can be beneficial. He shares personal insights about his current job and concludes by emphasizing the value of idealism in one\u2019s career while also recognizing the need for a work-life-balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[see the full transcript of this episode here<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

German:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In dieser Folge spricht Dr. Klaus Wiehl, Projektleiter an der Freien Universit\u00e4t Berlin und promovierter Germanist, \u00fcber Karrierewege f\u00fcr Promovierte an Universit\u00e4ten abseits der klassischen akademischen Forschung. Er schildert seinen eigenen Werdegang von der Wissenschaft hin zu einer nicht-wissenschaftlichen T\u00e4tigkeit an der FUB im Rahmen der Hochschulallianz \u201eUna Europa\u201c, bei der der Schwerpunkt auf Management und Projektkoordination statt auf Forschung liegt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Wiehl weist darauf hin, dass Universit\u00e4ten mittlerweile vielf\u00e4ltige T\u00e4tigkeitsfelder au\u00dferhalb der Forschung anbieten, etwa im F\u00f6rdermittelmanagement, in der Verwaltung oder in der Wissenschaftskommunikation. Er merkt an, dass zwar viele eine Professur anstreben, das sich wandelnde akademische Umfeld jedoch neue Chancen er\u00f6ffnet; so k\u00f6nnen nicht-wissenschaftliche Positionen attraktiv sein, da sie eine breitere Anwendung akademischer Kompetenzen erm\u00f6glichen, auch wenn sie \u2013 \u00e4hnlich wie Stellen in der Forschung \u2013 oft mit einer begrenzten Arbeitsplatzsicherheit einhergehen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Wiehl er\u00f6rtert die Unterschiede zwischen Forschungs- und Nicht-Forschungst\u00e4tigkeiten und erkl\u00e4rt, dass der Wechsel in eine nicht-wissenschaftliche Position h\u00e4ufig mit einer gr\u00f6\u00dferen Menge an Verantwortungen und einem Fokus auf die Unterst\u00fctzung anderer verbunden ist. Er betont die Bedeutung ausgepr\u00e4gter Kommunikations- und interkultureller Kompetenzen im Wissenschaftsmanagement, insbesondere im internationalen Kontext, und r\u00e4t angehenden Promovierenden mit Interesse an administrativen Aufgaben, Erfahrungen in der Budgetverwaltung und bei der Antragstellung f\u00fcr Projekte zu sammeln.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Das Gespr\u00e4ch thematisiert zudem, wie wichtig es ist, offen f\u00fcr Karrierem\u00f6glichkeiten au\u00dferhalb der akademischen Welt zu bleiben \u2013 insbesondere f\u00fcr Geisteswissenschaftler:innen, die wom\u00f6glich eine klarere Orientierung ben\u00f6tigen. Dr. Wiehl hebt hervor, dass die Vernetzung mit Personen au\u00dferhalb des akademischen Betriebs von Vorteil sein kann. Er gew\u00e4hrt pers\u00f6nliche Einblicke in seine aktuelle T\u00e4tigkeit und betont abschlie\u00dfend, wie wertvoll Idealismus im Berufsleben ist, man dabei die Notwendigkeit von Balance zwischen Arbeit und Privatleben nicht aus den Augen verlieren sollte.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this episode, Dr. Klaus Wiehl from Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin talks about career paths beyond research at universities and his work in the European University Alliance Una Europa. He shares how his transition from a doctorate into a coordinating role came about and what his work looks like in practice. The conversation also covers different … \u201eCareer Paths Beyond Research at Universities\u201c<\/span> weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8307,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1432"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1736,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1432\/revisions\/1736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.fu-berlin.de\/drs_podcast\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}