#IAmHanna

Since 2007, the German Act on Temporary Employment Contracts in Science has made the working conditions and career prospects of mid-level academics precarious: the majority of scientists move onerously from one temporary job to the next, and those who fail to secure a permanent position after twelve years of doing this drop out for good.

After a video intended to praise the supposed benefits of this law by using the example of a fictitious biologist named »Hanna« is released by the Ministry of Education and Research in 2021, Amrei Bahr, Kristin Eichhorn and Sebastian Kubon launch #IAmHanna. Within a few hours, countless scientists vent their anger using the hashtag. They describe the effects the precariousness exerts on their lives, talk about the work overload and about depression. The media picks up the issue and shortly thereafter, »Hanna« is even talked about in the Federal Parliament.

In this book, the initiators explain the consequences of the Act on Temporary Employment Contracts in Science for researchers and students, but also for Germany as a site for research and for our society as a whole. They sum up the personal testimonials under #IAmHanna and present their demands for better working conditions in research and teaching.

»In a book that is as precise as it is polemic, the initiators of #IchBinHanna explain what makes an academic career in Germany so difficult.« Johan Schloemann, Süddeutsche Zeitung

»[The] criticism is well founded, all the suggestions are reasonable and should be taken into consideration when the law is amended as has been previously announced.« Gerald Wagner, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

»#IAmHanna undoubtedly achieves something that trade unionists and non-professorial teaching staff initiatives have been trying to do for years with mostly rather limited success: namely, to evoke broad public outrage and tangible pressure for political action.« Christiane Fuchs, Forum Wissenschaft