179 Letter from Birgit Pikkemaat
My dear young colleagues!
I do not know how I have earned the honor of writing you a letter, because it is inexplicable to me that I have been included at all in this prominent circle of high-ranking research colleagues. I cannot and will not give you any advice, as I believe that, while one becomes more serene and content with age, at least in my case, one still has much to learn from the youth of today. I, therefore, just want to tell you a little bit about my experience and emphasize what was and still is important to me.
I came to science by chance, it was not a planned career. After finishing my studies, my neighbor asked me what my next steps would be and mentioned that his sister was working for a new Canadian tourism professor who was still looking for people. He suggested he could make contact and I could meet them. No sooner said than done. That’s how I got into science, decided to write a PhD, and ended up being part of the tourism faculty in Innsbruck. So, my entry into science was neither planned nor desired, it just happened that way. A lot of things in life turn out that way, if you let them, even without a concrete plan.
That’s also how my entry into my professional life came about. We were all very young, had little scientific experience and learned a lot by doing. Our head of department, Klaus Weiermair, gave us a lot of freedom, always had new ideas, and traveled around the world. He also encouraged us to attend conferences ourselves as a way of getting feedback on our work, and thus to travel a lot, too, which was not a matter of course back then. So, we learned a lot and were quickly able to establish contacts and forge friendships with international colleagues.
When I became pregnant with my son, my PhD was not yet finished, but it was already well advanced. Since I wanted to take a break for my son, I sat at home for nights on end finishing my PhD before his birth. A few years of toddlerdom and work followed during which I learned to appreciate even more the tranquility of the office and the interaction with my colleagues and students. The balancing act between work and family was very challenging, yet I was aware of my privileged position as a scientist with relatively free time management, which I still appreciate to this day. After the birth of my daughter, I started to publish intensively, but at that time a post-doctoral thesis, or as we call it here, a “habilitation” seemed out of reach, but I finalized my tenure track. When my male colleagues completed their post-doctoral theses at the same time, I not only lacked a few years of professional experience due to my maternity leaves, but above all the courage. I was not self-confident enough at that time. That would not happen to me today.
I reflected on this and, seeing that the tourism chair was filled with a service marketing professorship, I took time off from my academic work to gain a foothold in the private sector. I took a leave o