How it started: In March 2011, the interdisciplinary, interinstitutional consortium of the MolTag Doctoral Program started with recruiting 21 PhD students from Austria and abroad to create a highly productive research platform in the field of drug development, based on funding by the FWF
How it’s going: After two successfull FWF-evaluated interims-evaluations, MolTag is in it’s third funding period and proud of the achievements of it’s alumni. 60 % of the MolTag alumni went on to continue a career in science and research, some of them later changed into positions in the pharmaceutical industry.
Anniversary: On occasion of the 10 year anniversary, MolTag planned a celebration event with attendance of international alumni and guest speakers. Since we strongly intend to have this as an in-person meeting, we unfortunately have to postpone this to a later time.
The Brochure: Over the last couple of months, we asked MolTag alumni (from 2013 to 2020) what they are doing now and what the especially liked about the MolTag program. And certainly, what advise they are having for the students from today.
37 students got in touch, and it is very satisfying to see, how their careers have delopved.
In the interviews it is stressed several times how important the interdisciplinary training atmosphere was, and how much they have benefitted from being exposed to a science and method portfolio from other scientific areas. Moreover, they are mostly still in touch with each other, in both personal and professional communication.
The possibility to visit international conferences and to stay abroad in a collaborators lab for at least 3 months is a further centerpiece of the program, which was used widely through all the years. Unfortunately, the global pandemic took a lot of this away in the years 2020/21, but we hope for better perspectives for 2022.
Certainly, we also asked the MolTag Faculty and SAB members on their experience and advice concerning the MolTag Doctoral Program.
In general, the encounter with the esteemed members of the MolTag Scientific Advisory Board added a great amount of value to the students development during their time in their program.
The core message, which is universal for students in PhD programs:
make full use of the opportunities you have, establish a network of friends and collaborators, and last but not least: prepare for your PostDoc but also enjoy the time while being a PhD student!
We thank all contributors to the MolTag Alumni Brochure! A printed version will be prepared for the time when a MolTag science event can take place again.
Get emerged into the Moltag cosmos and read through the experiences and achievements that have been built by the Moltag community!
