10 years of Fraunhofer TALENTA

Im Rahmen der Porträt-Serie »10 Jahre TALENTA« stellen sich Wissenschaftlerinnen vor, die in verschiedenen Karrierephasen am TALENTA-Förderprogramm am Fraunhofer IIS teilnehmen oder teilgenommen haben. 

TALENTA ist ein umfassendes Karriere- und Entwicklungsprogramm für Wissenschaftlerinnen und weibliche Führungskräfte der Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Grundlage des Förderprogramms ist zum einen die finanzielle Unterstützung bei der Gewinnung und nachhaltigen Entwicklung von Wissenschaftlerinnen und weiblichen Führungskräften. Zum anderen stellt das Programm die individuelle Karriereentwicklung von Wissenschaftlerinnen bei Fraunhofer in den Fokus. 

Es setzt mit den drei Programmlinien TALENTA start, TALENTA speed up und TALENTA excellence auf den unterschiedlichen Ebenen der Karriereentwicklung an und bietet entsprechende Qualifizierungsangebote. Mit der sogenannten »Karrierezeit« erhalten die Wissenschaftlerinnen im Berufsalltag den nötigen Freiraum für ihre eigene Weiterentwicklung in der Fach- und Führungskarriere in der angewandten Forschung.

Eva Hasenberger is an expert on audio solutions for vehicles; she and her team develop algorithms for converting stereo content into surround sound and 3D audio. Fraunhofer’s TALENTA promotional program prepared her to assume supervisory tasks. As a project leader, she is committed to diversity and the promotion of women in STEM fields.

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TALENTA alumna Dr. Birgit Popp and her Human-Machine Interaction group are studying large language models and the transparent design of voice assistance systems that help users make fair decisions. She received support from the TALENTA program, subsequently leading a research group in the Audio and Media Technologies division at Fraunhofer IIS.

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Sensor-controlled sorting for recycling materials: Recognizing valuable material on printed circuit boards is one of the topics that drives Julija Lucic’s research. In the Sorting and Laboratory Systems group at the Development Center X-ray Technology EZRT, her work focuses on sorting systems that use X-ray technology for material differentiation. “Here we use multi-energy X-ray technology to obtain more detailed information about the objects we’re investigating. We mainly sort materials in the areas of recycling, food safety, and mining,” Lucic explains. The TALENTA program has helped her to further develop her strengths.

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TALENTA speed up participant Dr. Astrid Hölzing and her NanoCT Systems group are transferring the latest results from university research and development into materials science and industrial applications. TALENTA offers her a framework to reflect on and evaluate her leadership responsibilities as a group manager.

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“I’ve found my place between research and application,” says Julia Hetzel. She is a medical engineer working on making innovative technologies, in particular new AI methods, usable for medical or biological applications. Instead of pursuing a traditional scientific career and earning a doctorate, she develops software for medical research that is intended to lead to improved diagnosis and treatment.

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