Network in the Helmholtz Association:

HIDA Trainee Network

HIDA Trainees benefit from the exchange with another Helmholtz Center. The HIDA Trainee Network aims to provide new stimuli for collaboration between the centers and to build an interdisciplinary community of data scientists.

Exchange Program for Data Science Talents

The HIDA Trainee Network was established at the initiative of the Helmholtz Centers and is a Helmholtz-wide exchange program for doctoral and post-doctoral researchers whose research has a strong connection to (applied) information or data sciences.

The Helmholtz Information & Data Science Academy (HIDA) financially supports up to three-month long research stays at another Helmholtz Center. Our goal is to spark collaborations between the centers and build an interdisciplinary community of data scientists.

At the start of 2024, HIDA will conduct an interim evaluation of its exchange programs and make adjustments if necessary. The next round of calls for applications is expected to take place in fall 2024. The exact dates will be announced here.

Read more about the experiences of participants

Experience as a HIDA trainee

Numerous exchanges have already taken place across the centres via the trainee network. The trainees have looked beyond the boundaries of their research areas or deepened knowledge in their field - with benefits for their scientific projects and their network.

 

Learn more about the experiences that successful trainees have had with the exchange here:

 

Climate change on our plates

 

Data in the Permafrost

 

Encrypted messages: foray into aeronautics

 

The Benefits

  • For the participants: Gain interdisciplinary experience. Apply your data science skills at another center and bridge domains, learn new skills and expand your research portfolio.
  • For Host Centers: Benefit from fresh ideas and methods from other domains or your own, build collaborations with data science talent nationwide. To become a host, find more information here.
  • For Home Centers: Train your data science talent in new methods and skills from other research domains or your own, build collaborations with other centers.
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centers belong to the Helmholtz Association

Find out about the locations and research areas of the various Helmholtz centers and plan your research stay within this extensive network.

Learn how the HIDA Trainee Network functions!

The Grants

HIDA offers two funding options for trainee network participants:

1. Receive funding for travel and material expenses (up to 2.000 EUR per month): For Helmholtz-internal doctoral and postdoctoral researcher with active employment contracts with one of the centers throughout the duration of research stay. You organize your research stay as a business trip. HIDA will reimburse your Helmholtz Center (Home Center) after the exchange.

2. Receive a research grant to finance your research stay (2.860 EUR per month plus subsidies, please find more details in the HIDA Guidelines for Research Grants). For Helmholtz-associated doctoral researchers and postdocs who are affiliated with a Helmholtz Center but are employed at a university or other partner organization.  You take a leave of absence from your organization and receive the research grant from the receiving Helmholtz Center (Host Center). HIDA will reimburse the Helmholtz Center after the exchange.

PLEASE NOTE: Further information on funding options can be found here. Please contact your supervisor and your contact person at your Helmholtz Center in advance to find out which funding option is suitable for you.

More Facts about the Trainee Network

  • You may also get in touch with the contact persons at the Helmholtz Centers.
  • If you are a supervisor at one of the Helmholtz Centers, find further information here.

Become a host

If you would like to host a visiting scientist for a short research stay in your group, sign up here on our list of Helmholtz hosts!

Call for hosts

Find your Host

You want to apply, but you don't know yet who you could ask to be your host? Click on the button and find some profiles of Helmholtz PIs who would be happy to welcome you in their research groups.

Host Profiles

In the following video get some hints how you could find further Host Supervisors:

How to find a host supervisor at a Helmholtz center

Selection

All applications are reviewed by the HIDA Office for completeness and whether the eligibility of the chosen funding option is correct. It is also checked whether the exchange is between two Helmholtz Centers. Participants are then selected by a selection committee on the basis of the application submitted. The selection committee consists of the HIDA Steering Committee, which is composed of representatives of the Helmholtz research fields and the Helmholtz Information & Data Science Schools, and other experienced researchers from all Helmholtz research areas.

The funding is awarded in particular on the basis of the applicant’s motivation, the quality and originality of the project, and its basic feasibility within the timeframe of the planned research stay. Furthermore, a connection to data or information science and the added value for the research portfolio of the Helmholtz Association must be clearly evident. The funding approval is made in agreement with the centers.

Have you successfully applied to join the Trainee Network? Learn more about the next steps in this document.

S. Egerer

I would definitely recommend participation in the HIDA Trainee Network to other scientists, especially if they want to include external expertise in their work, find new collaborations and gain new ideas.

Sabine Egerer

from the Helmholtz Center Hereon participated in the first round of the HIDA Trainee Network. Read more about her experience.

Final Report and Certificate

After your research stay, applicants are asked to provide HIDA with a report of their activity at the host center. The final report should be submitted to the HIDA Office within 3 months of completing the research stay. Upon receipt of the final report, the HIDA Office will send a certificate of participation in the HIDA Trainee Network, if requested.            

Do you still have questions about the application process or the program? Then please contact us!

Contact

Stefanie Gruber-Sliva
Networks & Mobility Program Manager

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