Consulting, Training and Coaching
Who we are
Our focus
We advise and support institutions and individuals from science, research and politics in Germany and abroad in the strategic development of careers, research priorities, institutional foci and projects.
Since its foundation in 2008, Scholz CTC GmbH has worked with more than 150 higher education and research institutions in Germany and internationally: universities, research councils, foundations, science policy institutions and ministries.
Our methods
Our consulting, training and coaching is based on the evidence base of current research results, our own studies and more than 25 years of experience in research, research management and human resources management.
Our values
Our values include respect for the persons and institutions with whom we work and a consistent commitment to the freedom of research and scholarship as an element of universal human rights and as an essential feature of a democratic society. We see ourselves as a company that works together with its customers to pursue a needs-oriented development process.
Who we address
Leaders in politics, science, and research
We advise you on strategic issues within the scope of our focus areas.
Research and higher education institutions
We support you with strategy and process consulting in the areas of research and research funding, career development and leadership, evaluation and assessment as well as by facilitating events and mediating conflicts.
Individuals and groups
We offer training, advice and coaching on academic careers and qualifications, peer review and application procedures.
What we do
Consulting
We support you in our focus areas through evidence-based development, implementation and evaluation of strategies, programmes and processes, through design and facilitation of events as well as through mediation of conflicts.
Core topics
- Careers in research, higher education, university medicine
- Research qualification and leadership
- Assessment of scientific achievements, evaluation, selection procedures
- Third-party funding for research and higher education
- Research priorities and international positioning
- Human resources management and development
- Equity and diversity
Training
We offer tailor-made workshops and training courses for different stages of academic careers (R1 to R4 according to the European Framework for Research Careers):
Workshop topics
- Career development in research
- (Career-) Strategic use of research funding
- Designing the individual research profile
- Basics of third-party funding
- Supervision of doctoral candidates
- Preparation for mid-term and tenure evaluations
- Participation in scientific committees
Coaching
With our coaching, we support you in different phases of your academic career (R1 to R4) and guide you through academic review and selection procedures.
Coaching topics
- Career options in academia and beyond
- Research funding
- Preparing for applications and appointment procedures
- Dealing with crises and conflicts
- Responsibilities as a supervisor / team leader
- Feedback on applications in excellence competitions and collaborative programmes
- Supporting individuals and teams in preparing for reviews
Team
Dr Beate Scholz
Founder and Managing Director
- Strategy and policy consulting on scientific careers, development of research priorities, science and research funding, peer review and research merit evaluation, equity and diversity
- Evaluation and assessment of individual and collaborative funding applications as part of review committees
- Coaching for review and selection procedures in excellence programmes
- Training and career advice on the development of research careers
- Invited expert at national and international (research) organisations
- Design and facilitation of national and international conferences and workshops
- Research activities on doctorates worldwide, career paths, intellectual risk taking
Dr Beate Scholz is director of Scholz CTC GmbH. She works internationally as strategy consultant, trainer, career advisor, expert and reviewer in higher education and research institutions as well as in scientific organisations. Before establishing her company in 2008, she worked for twelve years at Germany’s central research funding organisation, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft where she built up and headed the DFG’s Research Career Strategy unit for 8 years. Beate Scholz has been working as a consultant and expert for scientific organisations in Germany and abroad for more than 20 years, including for the European Commission. She has successfully acquired funding, both independently and in collaboration with others, e.g. from the European Commission's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Programme and the VolkswagenStiftung. Her academic work focuses primarily on the topics of value-based doctoral education, intellectual risk taking, career tracking of researchers, and individualising peer review and merit assessment. She earned her doctorate in Modern Italian History at the University of Trier. Before, she obtained a Masters’ degree in History (major) with minors in Political Sciences and Macroeconomics. She also gained international research and study experience in England, Italy, and Austria.
Dr Matthias Scholz
Managing Director
- Strategy consulting for institutional realignments
- Coaching for individuals in leadership positions in research and research management
- Coaching for individuals in application processes and advice for institutions on appointment and selection processes
- Review coaching for individuals and consortia
- Training and coaching to prepare for interim and tenure evaluations
- Training to supervise doctoral candidates
- Design and facilitation of conferences and workshops
- Development of HR strategies and introduction of HR tools
- Advice and mediation in management or organizational conflicts
Dr Matthias Scholz has been director of Scholz CTC GmbH since 2020. He previously worked for a major German bank and then for more than twenty years at a large social and healthcare provider with a total of approximately 35,000 employees. There, he held leading positions in human resources management and development and was head of human resources for more than 12 years. Additionally, for around 10 years, he has been serving as an expert for the accreditation and reaccreditation of degree programmes in Catholic Theology for the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Canonical Degree Programmes in Germany (AKAST). He studied Catholic Theology and History and received his doctorate from the University of Münster with a thesis on Modern Church History. He taught courses in human resources management at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences. He is a trained coach and mediator and is licensed to provide personality development coaching in connection with the LINC Personality Profiler, a personality analysis tool developed by LINC GmbH, a spin-off of the University of Lüneburg
Dr. Elija Bleher
Part-time collaborator
- Trainings with focus on researchers’ career development, acquisition of third-party funding and development of a research profile
- Career counselling of researchers
Dr Bärbel Elija Bleher holds a doctorate in biology and has several years of research experience abroad in South and East Africa. She has been conducting workshops and coaching sessions on a part-time basis for Scholz CTC GmbH for more than 10 years. In her full-time job, she is head of IFU Graduate Program for early-career researchers at the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, Atmospheric Environmental Research of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Nicole Stirnberg M.A.
Scientific assistant
- Customer support (content-related)
- Appointment management and event preparation (content-related)
- Research and editorial work on publications
Inga Wollenschein
Office manager
- Customer support and event preparation (organizational)
- Travel planning
Ursula Dederichs
Office manager
- Preparation of quotations
- Invoicing
Publications
Christian Peters, David Bogle, Maresi Nerad, Conor O’Carroll and Beate Scholz: To best preserve US science, Europe should focus help on junior scholars, in: Times Higher Education, 10 June 2025.
Maresi Nerad, David Bogle, Ulrike Kohl, Conor O’Carroll, Christian Peters and Beate Scholz (editors): Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education, UCL Press, London 2022.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800080188Beate Scholz; Matthias Scholz: Prävention sexualisierter Gewalt in Wissenschaft und Forschung. Strategien und Umsetzungsschritte, in: Personal in Hochschule und Wissenschaft entwickeln, 3/2021, S. 23-37.
