Certificate: Leadership in Academia, Industry & Society

The basic module comprises three elements:

1. Workshop “Leadership - Plan, Act, Reflect”.
Workshop 2026: 3.02.+4.02.2026, 8:30am - 5pm, Lothar-Meyer-Bau (Wilhelmstraße 56), Room 246

2. Implementation of a leadership task, which you will choose together with the trainer in the workshop and implement over the following 2 to 6 months.

3. A follow-up meeting (each with approx 4 hours) to reflect on your leadership task in a collegial feedback session. Each participant briefly presents their leadership task and receives feedback from other participants.
Workshop 2026: 16.03.26,17.03.26, 18.03.26,19.03.26, from 8:30-11:30am, online. The participants will be devided into groups on the first workshop day and allocated to one date/time slot.

If you cannot take the basic module at the beginning of the program (e.g. because you cannot take part in the workshop), you can take it the year after and reflect on the skills acquired so far.

5 workshop days from the Graduate Academy's Researcher Development Program:

1.  At least 2 workshop days from the area of „Leadership“ (i.e. one 2-day or two 1-day workshop(s))

2. At least 3 workshop days from the areas of "Teaching" and/or "Career Development"

Up to 3 hours (180 minutes) per participant. One-on-one coaching sessions offer you the opportunity to reflect on your leadership role, including in the context of other career decisions, with an experienced coach. The Graduate Academy will cover the cost of coaching appointments. You have the choice between different coaches who are referred by the Graduate Academy.

Conditions for participation:

• completed doctorate (the defense/viva has already taken place)
• a position at the University of Tübingen or an institution which is a member of the Tübingen Research Campus for the duration of the certificate program (at least for one further year)
• participants should already have leadership responsibilities or should take over leadership responsibilities in the foreseeable future

Up to 12 participants will be accepted into the program each year. The main language of the program is English (basic workshop, follow-up). Workshops for the Advanced Module are available in both English and German.

The application for the 2026 certificate program is closed.

Should you already have taken part in workshops of the Graduate Academy’s Researcher Development Program, we will acknowledge this for the certificate program. We will also acknowledge 1 workshop day for workshops taken with the Center for Teaching and Learning ("Arbeitsstelle Hochschuldidaktik"). Please get in touch with us.

Duration: The program is designed to be completed in one year. You can also extend it to two years.