Background: Career building in academia is challenging. Pressures are high, opportunities are limited, and often examples that illustrate how the transition from PhD student to independent researcher can be achieved are missing.

For the seminar series of the Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, we are pleased that Dr. Johanna Müller-Elmau (Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), TransNanoAF) shares here path to become junior research group leader at BAM.

Content and Objectives: Dr. Johanna Müller-Elmau will share her story how she became an independent group leader. By doing so, she will also provide insights into her research on ultra-high resolution additive manufacturing. Note, this is not a coaching session but an inspiring example. 

Presenter bio: Dr. Johanna Müller-Elmau is originally from Thüringen/Eichsfeld and studied chemistry in Göttingen and Leipzig between 2007-2014. She then worked as a researcher at iba Heiligenstadt (Institute for Bioprocess and Analytical Measurement Technology) between 2015-2019. Subsequently, she joined Clausthal University of Technology as a PhD candidate 2017-2021. Since 2019 she works at BAM, Berlin with a short stint as a postdoc at Montanuniversität Leoben (Austria). Since 2025 she leads the BMBF junior research group TransNanoAF.