K³ Competence Development Measures

In the annual Trias Workshops, scholars engage in meta-reflection on their situation within the context of major transformational processes. External experts enrich this event with their expertise and experience with transformation processes within the framework of sustainability transformations in science and society. Participants are encouraged to look beyond the conventional boundaries of their daily professional practice to explore new, unfamiliar terrain and discover alternative future perspectives. This enables them to become more aware of their own positions, plan their personal and professional development, and actively shape and leverage current transformation processes for their career advancement. In this process, the integration of the three professional domains of teaching, research, and practice holds special significance. Connecting these central fields of action into a triad ("Trias") of integrative scientific practice reshapes the professional understanding within the context of higher education and opens new perspectives on their professional activities.

In semi-annual Focus Workshops, participants relate their academic practice with contemporary issues in transformative science, such as fostering transdisciplinary research collaborations, evolving standards for academic evaluations, and developing transformative leadership skills. Insights and expertise from external speakers enrich the systems knowledge of the participants and highlight specific opportunities for sustainable scientific practices. The Focus Workshops are open to additional PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers at TH Köln.

In semi-annual Peer Group Meetings, PhD candidates and postdocs act as primary resources for one another. They bring to light questions and uncertainties arising from their individual contexts, present developing ideas for discussion, and acknowledge each other as a network and reservoir of expertise. Within an informal setting, they identify connections and commonalities across disciplinary boundaries and experiment with cultivating an academic culture that promotes transparency and collaboration.

A key element of the K³ Career Development Program is the personalized coaching available for PLan_CV participants through external coaches. Participants have the opportunity to focus on specific themes relevant to their personal learning journey. The coaching sessions create a confidential environment for discussing personal evaluations, career advancement, and challenges. They also encourage reflection on how engaging with transformative scientific practices can foster both professional and personal development.

Separate from regular participation in K³ Workshops, the K³ Certificate offers participants an opportunity to document and explore their individual learning experiences by way of reflective writing. This approach helps them to articulate their implicit knowledge regarding competencies relevant to their career aspirations, creating a self-learning portfolio. This reflective process supports participants in acknowledging their experiences, consciously guiding their own development, and establishing their place within the context of transformative scientific practice. They do so by examining how their self-identified learning situations align with the competence areas of transformative scientific practice (see Image 2). The K³ Certificate recognizes participants' self-directed approach to managing their professional learning and development, as well as their identification of individual focus areas within transformative scientific practice.

Semi-annual Competence Reflection Meetings provide participants with support and opportunities for exchange to work on activities related to the K³ Certificate. These sessions focus on practical methods for identifying individual learning situations, reflecting on these situations in terms of applied or to-be-developed competencies, and formulating brief descriptions of these insights for the K³ Certificate.