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Family support positions for non-professorial doctors with family responsibilities

Gusyk positions

In order to give doctors the opportunity to combine clinical and scientific work while at the same time being able to better fulfill family obligations in raising children or caring for relatives, the Dean's Office and the Clinical Executive Board fund the so-called "Gusyk" family support positions. These positions can include time off from night and weekend shifts or other forms of support.

We cordially invite you to apply for the 16th round of Gusyk Family Support Positions. The deadline for applications is 30.08.2024.

Prerequisites for applicants are:

  • Medical activity at the University Hospital of Cologne
  • Non-professorial physicians
  • Care of one or more children and/or care of family members
  • At least one first authorship (shared authorship also counts)
  • Max. period: The project/proposal should be completed within one year.
  • The funding can be started from 01.02.2025.

Please submit the following documents with your application:

  • Letter of motivation outlining your current situation in the clinic/research/family commitments
  • Curriculum vitae (with list of publications and third-party funding)
  • Project plan and timetable for the scientific tasks to be completed during the Gusyk funding period 
  • Type of relief (leave of absence or similar) and financing concept (please refer to the funding amount of €40,000 envisaged for a Gusyk position)
  • Completed Excel spreadsheet (you will find this on the right under "Application documents")
  • Written confirmation from the clinic management that the desired measures and the financial concept are approved

When assessing academic performance, systematic delays in the curriculum vitae will be taken into account if indicated and interpreted exclusively to the candidate's advantage. These include, among others:

  • Pregnancy and birth (maternity protection, parental leave)
  • Childcare
  • Care of relatives in need of care
  • Disability or chronic illness 
  • Temporary inability to work 
  • Military or civilian service
  • Part-time work (e.g. due to childcare) and work in non-research facilities/institutions/companies
  • Flight or expulsion
  • Pandemic-related restrictions on scientific research opportunities and performance
  • Other periods of additional/extraordinary burdens

In order to counteract structural exclusions, applicants who are structurally marginalized due to gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, migration experience and/or mental/physical limitations/disabilities receive additional points in the application evaluation process. You have the opportunity to position yourself on the aforementioned discrimination categories in the Excel table. Applicants must indicate how many of these five categories of discrimination they themselves are affected by. It is not necessary to specify which categories these are in particular.

The family support positions are approved for one year. Subsequent reapplication is generally possible.

At the end of the funding period, the applicants undertake to prepare a report (max. 2 pages) in which the work completed is also presented in relation to the work plan for the application.

Please send your application as a coherent PDF file (Annex 2 and 3) with the Excel spreadsheet (Annex 1) to the Vice Dean's Office for Academic Development and Equal Opportunities: Bewerbung-Gusyk@uk-koeln.de. Please only use this e-mail address, otherwise we cannot guarantee that your application will be reviewed.

The selection interviews (digital) with the applicants will take place in October. Notification of the decisions will be made in the week of 11.11.2024.