Mid-level faculty representatives

At the Faculty of Psychology

Who are we?

The mid-level faculty members (Mittelbau, MB for short) are a diverse group of student assistants, predoctoral and postdoctoral students, senior scientists, senior and external lecturers, assistant professors (tenure track), and associate professors.

In short, we represent all scientist colleagues who are not regular students or full professors.

Mission statement

Our aim is to represent the interests and to communicate the perspectives of this heterogeneous group at the Faculty of Psychology. We do this in committees and working groups where we work to together with the representatives of students and professors. Representatives of the MB are eligible to vote in committees and are involved in most processes regarding academic self-governance at our Faculty.

Representatives

The MB representatives are eight elected members from the different departments of the Faculty of Psychology. Members are elected for a period of two years during Faculty elections.

Core team

MB tasks are mainly carried out by the core team (i.e., the speakers/first three representatives on the MB list), but all decisions are made together with the full list of MB representatives.

 Ulrich Pomper

 Celine Bencker

 Eva Specker

Organisational information

Current committees/working groups

There is typically one MB meeting per year which all members of the MB are invited to.

Ulrich Pomper and Celine Bencker (alternate members: Eva Specker, Christian Haider, Julia Reiter, Dorothea König, Ulrich Tran, Leopold Roth) are representing the MB at the monthly Faculty conference. You can find the minutes of this conference in the internal area of the website.

Birgit Leidenfrost and Hannah Tschenett (alternate member: Ulrich Pomper) are representing the MB at the studies conference.

Appointing MB members to committees/working groups

Whenever there is a position to be filled in committees/working groups, we initiate a process to inform and include MB members:

  • We advertise the call for participation in a committee/working group to the MB members via email (i.e., all elected and non-elected members of the MB; student assistants and external colleagues might be excluded from this call, depending on the position-to-be-filled).
  • Persons can express their interest to participate and can also communicate their preference for becoming a full or substitute member in the committee/working group.
  • The MB core team drafts a list suggestion, based on the pool of interested persons, keeping in mind their preference for acting as full or substitute member in the committee/working group. Following the guidelines of the Faculty of Psychology/University of Vienna, our decisions are guided by considering diversity in committees/working groups on different levels, including gender diversity, different career stages, potential conflicts of interest and/or dependencies among colleagues. To assure a balanced constellation across the entire committee/working group, we are in contact with student and professor representatives as well.
  • The MB core team discusses with the remaining MB representatives.
  • The list suggestion is communicated to all MB members who are given the opportunity to vote against the suggested list (typically over the time frame of one week).
  • Possible votes against the current list are discussed among the eight MB representatives, followed by a final democratic vote.
  • All MB members are informed about this final decision via email.

Code of conduct

The MB is dedicated to providing a welcoming and supportive environment, providing community support, and empowering our MB members, regardless of a person’s background or identity. All participants in our events and communications are expected to show respect and courtesy to others. This should enable an environment in which diverse individuals can collaborate and interact in mutual respect. We recognize a shared responsibility to create and maintain that environment for the benefit of all.

Further information

Community

Early Career Researchers

We are also linked to the Early Career Researchers (ECRs) of the Faculty of Psychology. The ECRs include all predoctoral and postdoctoral students (up to 6 years after degree completion) at the Faculty.

Several activities might also be interesting to you (ReproducibiliTEA open science journal club, workshops, travel grants), you can find these on their website.

Conflict management

Ombuds team

Together with the ECRs and the faculty management team, we've instantiated an ombudsperson at the Faculty, acting as a contact point in case of potential conflicts related to your work environment.

Find out more information regarding contact information and processes on their website.

Award

Faculty Postdoc Award

Together with the ECRs and the faculty management team, we've also helped to create the Faculty of Psychology Postdoc Award.

Find more information and deadlines on the website.