Womens’ representative, gender and diversity

The Women’s Representatives of the Department of Physics serve as contact persons for everyone in the Physics Department for questions regarding gender and diversity. The realization of equal opportunities for all university members is a central cross-sectional task at FAU. It is a priority in all committees and commissions as well as at all planning and decision-making levels. Since 2012, FAU has expanded its equal opportunity and family policy to include the strategy of diversity management. No one may be discriminated against on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, social status, age or disability. Gender equity, protection against discrimination and family friendliness are guiding principles of FAU in terms of equal opportunities.  Further details on the duties of the Women’s Representative can be found at https://www.gender-und-diversity.fau.de/files/2020/05/fb-fau_profil-des-amtes_final-web.pdf.

 

In addition to our role as general contact persons on the topic of gender & diversity and the tasks of the Women’s Representative in committee work and in the appointment committees, our goal is also to organize events together with the network PHYDINE ( https://www.studon.fau.de/studon/goto.php?target=crs_2509407), which create a forum in the Department of Physics to exchange ideas on the topic of gender & diversity in everyday life.  Currently, this includes e.g. regularly organized round tables on various topics as well as the DIPHER-22 conference, which took place at the end of October 2022.

Upcoming events:

tba.

Past events:

Round table with Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Annette Scheunpflug, 14th June 2023

On 14th June 2023, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Annette Scheunpflug, professor for general education at Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg, was the keynote speaker of the physics colloquium. Her talk focused on gender differences in natural sciences in German schools. In her talk, Annete Scheunpflug described these gender differences in detail. Furthermore, she discussed possible consequences for science education and for the study entry phase. The event was very well-visited; lots of students willing to become teachers, researchers from physics education as well as researchers from physics appreciated the clear presentation and the enriching discussion.
After her talk in the physics colloquium, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Annete Scheunpflug was cordially welcomed by the women’s representatives of the Physics Department for the round table series “Women in Science”. Prof. Scheunpflug and her group of the chair for general educational science at Oto-Friedrich-University Bamberg conduct research on international and intercultural comparative educational sciences with a focus on cosmopolitan education/global learning, among other fields. Furthermore, Prof. Scheunpflug supports universities in sub-Saharan African countries in teaching and research and therefore was able to report firsthand on the main topic of the round table discussion: adapting to the German academic system. The conversation with the atending students, PhD students, scientists and professors soon led to the topic of challenges and opportunities of diverse groups in academia. Especially possibilities for successful integration of people from the most different countries and cultures was discussed by the group. Here, Prof. Scheunpflug gave ideas and examples from her own, very diverse research group on the topic. By the end of the exchange, our guest gave the advice to young female scientists, that mentoring programs can be a very enriching and valuable help for finding their own career paths in and outside academia. The participants discussed the offers especially at FAU (Adriadne program) and shared their experiences.

Dipher-2022

The Physics Department of the FAU offers a wide range of diverse research topics: soft matter physics, physics of the universe, and physics of light and matter interaction. But the diversity of research is also reflected in the diversity of the people working and studying in the Physics Department. DIPHER 2022 connected both aspects of diversity and combined talks on physics and on gender and diversity alongside workshops and panel discussions. The invited talks covered a broad introduction to the various research topics as well as some aspects on the speaker‘s  individual experience on gender and diversity. We invited persons of all academic levels – from undergraduate students to professors – to participate in the various sessions of the conference. The overall goal of DIPHER 2022 was to raise awareness for aspects of gender and diversity in our everyday work and study life and to provide a platform for discussions and exchange across all academic levels.

DIPHER 2022 was organized by the Physics Department of the FAU, the  Physics Diversity Network PHYDINE and the Max-Planck-Institute for the Science of Light (MPI). Further contributors were the TRR QuCoLiMa (Quantum Cooperativity of Light and Matter), the former Cluster Engineering of Advanced Materials, the Forschungsgruppe eRO-Step and the Elite Graduate Programme Physics Advanced.

More information about the conference as well as the detailed programme can be found under the following link www.dipher-22.de

Round Table with Laura Corner (University of Liverpool), 19^th May 2022

In the summer semester of 2022, the women’s representatives of the Physics Department welcomed Dr. Laura Corner (University of Liverpool) at the round table “Women in Science”. Dr Corner is a researcher in the field of laser development for accelerator sciences and visited the group of Prof. Dr. Hommelhoff during this time. Nevertheless, she found some time at snacks and drinks to discuss “Challenges and Opportunities in International Research” with professors, group leaders, PhD students and bachelor and maser students alike. In the beginning, she covered her career in sciences and the different fields she had worked in alongside the related challenges she had to face. When discussing her recent research activities, the Brexit became the center of the discussion. Dr. Corner very openly reported about obstacles she encountered as one of the few women working in science, but she encouraged the younger participants to pursue their careers. The conclusion of the discussion emphasized the importance of networking between young scientists and that round table discussions would contribute to this.