Alumni activities in the Max Planck Society
Together in Science. Connected for Life. Max Planck Alumni!
Under the motto “Together in Science. Connected for Life”, the Max Planck Alumni Kickoff Event on October 14 and 15, 2026, will bring alumni and alumnae, researchers, and early-career scientists together at the Harnack-Haus. Look forward to inspiring presentations, exciting panel discussions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities. High-profile guests such as Harald Lesch, Ranga Yogeshwar, Sabine Werner, Shannon B. Olsson, Walter Rosenthal, and other renowned figures will provide valuable insights. Together, we will strengthen the global Max Planck alumni network and establish new connections for the science of tomorrow!
With approximately 26,000 employees at 85 Max Planck Institutes and more than 11,000 early-career and visiting researchers each year, the Max Planck Society is an international organization for excellence in research. Year after year, scientists from all over the world come to the Max Planck Society, establish valuable connections, and subsequently bring their experience to research institutions, companies, and organizations around the globe.
Together with our alumni and alumnae, we are building a vibrant, international, and interdisciplinary network that promotes scientific exchange, facilitates new collaborations, and strengthens long-term ties to the Max Planck Society.
Who can join the Max Planck Alumni Network?
The alumni network includes all research staff and visiting scholars, as well as students, doctoral candidates, scholarship recipients, postdocs, and non-research staff.
What does “Alumni and Alumnae” mean?
The Latin terms “Alumni” (masculine) and “Alumnae” (feminine) originally meant “fostered person, fosterling”.
How will our alumni and alumnae organize themselves in the future?
The Max Planck Society is establishing a central, MPG-wide alumni network called Max Planck Alumni that will integrate existing alumni initiatives from the Max Planck Institutes to ensure consistency across the MPG. You can find the alumni representatives responsible for the individual institutes in the list of alumni representatives.
The test phase of the new network began in the first half of 2026, and a rollout is planned starting in October/November 2026. The goal is to provide sustainable, low-barrier access to exchange across institutes, disciplines, and national borders, to connect the global Max Planck community even more closely through a single, centralized tool. Once the test phase has been successfully completed, the link to the tool will be added here. Until then, we kindly ask for your patience!