GROW Empowerment Program
As part of the action plan, the Graduate Campus has launched the Empowerment Program GROW, designed to support female and/or first-generation* postdoctoral researchers pursuing academic careers. In its inaugural edition, 16 postdocs will benefit from one-to-one mentoring, targeted workshops, and peer exchange opportunities.
*Researchers whose parents do not have a university degree
Call for applications closed and the participants have been selected (call and selection process). Following an overview of the program structure:
Table of contents
Mentoring
Over the course of a year, the selected participants have three one-to-one meetings with a mentor to discuss their personal and professional development. The mentors are experienced academics who have been specifically selected for this target group, and they are matched to the participants’ needs and expectations. The programme coordination team facilitates the initial contact.
- Kick-off Event: 9 September 2025 | 11:30 – 13:00
KUM, Künstlergasse - October 2025 until October 2026: Mentoring sessions take place in individually defined meetings.
Workshops
The selected participants will attend five workshops between October 2025 and February 2026.
|
Appointment Training |
9 & 10 October 2025 9:00 – 12:30 Plus: One-to-one coaching sessions in the afternoons |
| A systematically and purposefully preparation for the application and appointment process by a comprehensive training in the basics and procedures involved in university appointment processes. | |
| Grant Writing Ingo Hebach, UZH Research & Grants Office |
19 & 26 November 2025 9:00 – 16:00 Plus: One-to-one coaching within the next 6 months |
| What makes a competitive research proposal? There are organizations whose sole purpose and mission it is to fund research and innovation. Winning such funds is a key task for researchers and a seal of quality for institutions of higher education. Today, writing, and winning research grants is an integral part of academic positions. Contents: Evaluation criteria, reasons why proposals get rejected, good practice (and beyond), ethics, project budgets, work packages, project partners, impact and more success criteria to place a strong proposal. | |
| Life Balance Tobias Oberli, Fachstelle UND |
12 January 2026 09:00 – 13:00 |
| Balancing the different areas of life, managing work and everyday life, always poses new challenges. This workshop addresses personal values, priorities and plans and considers individual stage of life to create an action plan for optimizing life balance. | |
| Speech, Voice & Confidence Isabelle Paris Coach, voice actress, actress |
29 January 2026 09:00 – 17:00 |
| Performance skills – voice, speech and impact, for an authentic and self-confident appearance. This course is designed to help communicate with clarity, authenticity and confidence by harnessing the power of voice and speech. Combining vocal training, speech techniques and psychological strategies, it helps participants build a strong, persuasive presence in both personal and professional settings. | |
| Career Sponsorship Graduate Campus in cooperation with UZH Equality, Diversity, Inclusion (EDI) |
26 February 2026 08:30 – 11:30 |
| Career sponsorship accelerates careers. What transformative power does career sponsorship have, what does it involve and the right use of it – we provide answers to these and more questions. Keynote and panel event/workshop. | |
Peer-Mentoring
The program provides an opportunity for informal and collaborative discussion on topics and formats that participants choose themselves. The initial meetings for these peer exchange sessions will be supported by organisational resources, as well as input from workshop leaders.
- 27 March 2026 | 08:30 – 10:00
- 24 April 2026 | 08:30 – 10:00
- 22 May 2026 | 08:30 – 10:00