In July, after five successful cycles, the coordinating office of the Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership at IRI THESys closed its metaphorical doors.
The Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership was a career development and capacity-building programme for postdoctoral researchers at European universities, co-led by four academic centres. Partners at the IRI THESys, Leuphana University Lüneburg, the Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC), and the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions Research (DRIFT) designed the programme in conjunction with the funder, Robert Bosch Stiftung. The Postdoc Academy brought together four interdisciplinary centres for sustainability research. It created a unique space for young leaders in research to learn together, develop their own vision for transformational leadership, and kick off their own ideas for transforming academia. We are proud of and intensely grateful for the now 100 alumni of the programme, a new generation of leaders who will contribute to transformations in many respects.
Not only did the IRI THESys serve as the Postdoc Academy’s organisational home. We are also proud to say that Cecilie Friis, Letícia Santos de Lima, Fanny Frick-Trzebitzky, Tatiana C. González Grandón, and Rossella Alba successfully applied for and completed the programme. Jörg Niewöhner and Bettina König were crucial in designing, advancing, and maintaining the programme. Many colleagues have contributed to the five seminars at IRI THESys, including Tobias Krüger, Tim Moss, Ina Säumel, and Gretchen Bakke. Over the years, Annet Kuntosch, Kathrin Klementz, Wiebke Hampel, Grace Leonnig and Krystin Unverzagt staffed the coordinating office at IRI THESys, with support from student assistants Niels Reisinger and Sophia Kipp.
