FACULTY OF

PROCESS- AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Dr. Jungebloud initially trained as a laboratory assistant, later studied Biology in Braunschweig and received her doctorate in 2007 on the subject of "Investigation of the gene expression in Aspergillus niger using real-time PCR". After working as a laboratory assistant and expert at the State Office of Criminal Investigations (LKA), she is now a Research Assistant at the OVGU Magdeburg. Motto: Believe in yourself!

Career

I chose to study Biology because as a child I was interested in nature, plants and animals. That is why I was enthusiastic about the biology lessons at school.
I only developed my interest in Molecular Biology during my studies. I then decided to focus on this field because the prospects of finding a job as a molecular biologist were good.
My current research topic is the protein analysis of Physarum polycephalum using mass spectrometry.

Motivation

My day-to-day work is very diverse. On one hand, I have a lot of administrative things to do. In addition, I am also a safety officer and in this role I have various tasks. I do tutorials and lab rotations as well as exams for students and work in the laboratory on my research topic. Furthermore, I am the contact person for technical employees and students as well as doctoral candidates. What I enjoy most is working with the students and the variety of topics.

Requirements

When you work at the university you interact with students a lot. So, you should enjoy working with people. On one hand it is important to be able to adapt to new topics over and over again and on the other hand there is also a lot of routine work, such as lab rotations and tutorials, where you have to stay enthusiastic about the same topic.

Advice

I think flexible working hours for women with families and the children's university with supervision during the holidays are very useful tools.

If problems arise with male bosses and colleagues, I can recommend the women's representative and the conflict officer. The Ladies Night and the exchange of experiences with older employees can also be helpful.

You shouldn't be afraid of hurdles and just continue on the path you set out on and not let yourself be dissuaded.

Women should dare to be more self-confident, especially towards men. And the wish to be a mother shouldn't be put on the backburner, but should be integrated into everyday working life and you should stand behind it with self-confidence.

Challenges

I've always been brave and just kept going. Whether it was my Abitur or my studies, many people advised me against it. But I did it anyway and was successful in doing so.

If I had been a man, I would probably have had more time for research and I would have maybe achieved more. The parental leave and illness-related absences I had to take while my son was in kindergarten took a lot of time and nerves and I always had a guilty conscience. After my parental leave, I was not allowed to continue working on the same topic as before and had to look for a new one. There was also quite a bit of trouble with my boss due to having to stay home with my sick child sometimes and remaining leave I had from before my parental leave.

Women must of course have the courage to apply for leadership positions and always work towards them. But there is also a lack of support, as childcare has to be well organized. For example, I was only got my child accepted for a spot in childcare two weeks before I returned to work, even though I had applied for it a year earlier. The men are also in demand here, they should be more involved in childcare and household duties.

In general, we need more acceptance for employees with families and working in home office. In my opinion, young women, but also young men, should be encouraged to pursue a scientific discipline.