Seven years Zukunftskolleg. Seven years of great experiences.

Jennifer Randerath (Department of Psychology) has been a Research Fellow at the Zukunftskolleg since July 2015. She finished her fellowship at the University of Konstanz with her ‘Habilitation’. Today, she is still associated with the Zukunftskolleg, but has left Konstanz to join the academic staff at the Outpatient Unit for Research, Teaching and Practice at the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Vienna, Austria.

Jennifer’s research project at the Zukunftskolleg was entitled “Motor Cognition: Behavioural and Neural Principles as well as Clinical Implications”. To generate key future advancements in the topic of motor cognition, controlled fundamental behavioral and neuroimaging research with healthy adults and patients were combined. This translational neuroscience project was predominantly designed to obtain new insights into the planning mechanisms of object-related actions as well as the development of training approaches for patients with a disorder. The interdisciplinary project was therefore predominantly conducted in the framework of a joint collaboration between the University of Konstanz’s Department of Psychology and the Kliniken Schmieder.

Jennifer Randerath’s project focuses on an important ability in everyday life: interacting with tools and objects. Examples range from reaching, grasping and manipulating tools to more complex everyday activities, such as making coffee. There are many cases each year of limb apraxia, a complex cognitive motor disorder after stroke that typically affects the use of tools. Limb apraxia is a predictor for the performance of daily tasks, and yet many aspects of this disorder are still unstudied, such as underlying mechanisms, predictors for its persistence in chronic phases or suggestions for new training measures.

We talked to Jennifer about her personal experiences at the Zukunftskolleg:

When you think of the Zukunftskolleg, what comes to mind?

When I think of the Zukunftskolleg, I personally think of freedom, independence, interdisciplinarity. With the fond memories a sense of warmth comes up. I’m extremely grateful for the time that I and my group were allowed to spend at the Zukunftskolleg.

You spent seven years here as a postdoctoral researcher. What were your best experiences, and which were the least enjoyable?

I’ll start with what I didn’t like, since that is shorter: although a 5-year Fellowship seems plenty of time to start sophisticated projects and build up a group, the uncertainty following the fixed term of the fellowship is an extremely stressful part of an academic career. In addition, the effects of the pandemic have, of course, been a burden for each individual in my group.

I’m happy to say that I had many great experiences at the Zukunftskolleg. On a macro level, among the best experiences were feeling supported and encouraged while daring to implement transfer projects and watching my group grow, seeing the first masters and then doctoral students graduate. The infrastructure and family-friendly atmosphere at the Zukunftskolleg have been decisive for these and several other successes in my group that we can be proud of.

On a more micro level, perhaps one of my most cheerful moments was on a warm summer’s day when I was walking back to the parking lot with my then 4-year-old daughter. The orchestra was practising on the parking deck. That is something typical that you can witness on dry summer evenings at the University of Konstanz. On our way, we by chance bumped into the Zukunftskolleg’s director. Suddenly, very loudly, the director and my daughter joined in the trumpeting – like you might with an air guitar. Although this might seem farfetched for outsiders reading this, I think this example describes the creative atmosphere at the Zukunftskolleg: with spontaneity and oftentimes in the most unexpected moments.

Your research was very intersectoral from the start, among others through the close cooperation with the Kliniken Schmieder. How important was this cooperation for your research and your career?

This collaboration has been fundamental in several areas, including networking, patient access and student training. I find working with patients inspiring, and students have been very interested in working as assistants and writing their theses in intersectoral fields.

What will you take with you to Vienna from your time at the Zukunftskolleg?

Fond memories, loads of ideas, the awareness that I can build a group in an interdisciplinary field, my ’Habilitation’ and lasting collaborations.

What will you miss?

That’s hard to say, probably the entire Zukunftskolleg package.

If the Zukunftskolleg had to reinvent itself, what would you advise it to do differently?

I would advise maintaining the basic framework and programme, including the length of time of at least five years for fellows to establish a successful group and qualify for professorships. Not only in our case, this timeline has been very important for successfully implementing sophisticated projects and should be seen as a prerequisite for intersectoral work. In addition, the topical calls are an extremely important flagship at the Zukunftskolleg, which show that its office and fellows are keen to contribute to current issues and future trends.

As mentioned before, uncertainty is a lingering burden. If it would be possible to keep the Zukunftskolleg and its core programme as they are, and in addition offer fellows the opportunity to become tenured, then this would be a desirable change.

(How) will you try to stay connected to the Zukunftskolleg as an alumna?

Please keep me in the loop.