PhD Program Dokt!OR

Dokt!OR is a program aiming to provide young OR researchers with helpful information, insights and inspiration. This year’s edition focuses on funding opportunities for early career researchers and entrepreneurship.

The event will take place on 2 September 2025 from 14:30 to 18:00 in Bielefeld University’s main building, right before the get-together event.

The structure of the program is as follows

14:30 – 16:00 Funding opportunities for Young Researchers: Programs and experiences

For young researchers aspiring to pursue an academic career, there are several funding opportunities helping to gain international experience, acquire funding for one’s own position and to establish a junior research group. In this session, a representative from the German Research Foundation (DFG) will give an overview of some relevant programs. Afterwards, we have a panel discussion where successful recipients of funds and grants share their insights and experiences. The panellists are:

  • Dr. Uta Mohring, Eindhoven University of Technology
    Postdoctoral Fellowship (University of Toronto), Walter Benjamin Postdoctoral Fellowship (DFG)
  • J-Prof. Dr. Michael Schaub, RWTH Aachen
    Marie Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship (EU), NRW Return Programme, ERC Starting Grant (EU)
  • Prof. Dr. Marlin Ulmer, OVGU Magdeburg
    Emmy Noether Programme (DFG), Individual Research Grants (DFG)

16:00-16:30 Coffee break

16:30-18.00 ORntrepreurship

A PhD in OR can be a great starting point for entrepreneurial activities. The following four panellists each started successful companies making use of their skills and experiences from conducting academic research projects in OR, and they are happy to share their stories and their lessons learned: