Dr. Mehmet Berat Taskin (center) is being mentored by Prof. Dr. Volker Bucher (right) at Furtwangen University's Institute of Microsystems Technology and by Ralf Staud (left) at the manufacturer of endoscopy systems, KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG, under the mentorship of Ralf Staud (left).
Partnership between HFU and KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG for the qualification of early career professors
Recruiting qualified professors is an increasing challenge for universities of applied sciences. Competition for highly qualified specialists has intensified significantly in recent years − both in business and academia. In addition, people who wish to qualify for a UAS professorship must have at least three years of professional experience outside a university.
With the FH Personal programme, the federal and state governments are specifically promoting new ways of qualifying early career professors. Furtwangen University is part of this federal and state programme with its “HFU ProProf” project. In the tandem programme, academics are given the opportunity to work in parallel at the university and in a company after completing their doctorate. HFU was able to win the manufacturer of endoscopy devices, KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG, for the first tandem. Qualified applicants are often rare, especially in technical disciplines − this is where the programme comes in and creates new opportunities for early career academics. By closely interlinking theory and practice, postdocs can build up the professional experience required for a HAW professorship in a targeted manner and develop their academic profile at the same time. With the tandem model, the university is breaking new ground in the post-doc phase.
With Dr. Mehmet Berat Taskin, the first of an anticipated four tandem positions at HFU has now been successfully filled. Dr. Mehmet Berat Taskin completed his doctoral studies with the title “Functional Electrospun Fibers for Extracellular Matrix Mimicry” at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center at Aarhus University (Denmark). He later took up two postdoctoral positions, first at the Department for Functional Materials in Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Würzburg and then at the Leibniz Institute for Polymer Research in Dresden. His research interests focus on the fabrication and characterisation of functional biomaterial interfaces using in particular biodegradable and/or biocompatible polymers. He has published more than 25 scientific papers and filed one patent.
The joint research of HFU and KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG is the project to replace PFAS-containing parts in medical devices and surfaces with biocompatible and sustainable alternatives.