Gender Equality

The Gender Equality Committee at the Department of Physics is elected for two years and assists the Gender Equality Officer of the TU Darmstadt, .

Several status groups (students, research associates, professors, administrative and technical staff) are represented by female representatives in the physics department's committee.

The members of the current gender equality committee are:

Name Status Group E-Mail
Prof. Dr. Almudena Arcones Professors
Tanja Kirchner, M.Sc.. Research associates
Corinna Seib-Glaszis Administrative-technical staff
Hannah Müller Students

Gender equality concept

In order to further promote equality at the Department of Physics, an equality concept was adopted by the Department Council on 16 December 2022. This is updated every two years. The department is actively working on implementing important steps towards gender equality, in particular the promotion of women and LGBTIQ* people in the department. The compatibility of career and family should also continue to be made easier. The main starting points of the gender equality concept are

  • In particular, visualising female role models in various academic status groups, from female students, doctoral candidates and postdocs* to female professors and professional physicists.
  • To sensitise people in teaching and research with regard to gender equality within the department
  • Expand the infrastructure at the department to facilitate study and working conditions for women and LGBTIQ* at the Department of Physics at TU Darmstadt

You can download the entire equal opportunities concept for TU members here:

Access restricted section: Log in to see this section.

Events – Mentoring – Networking

Pupils

The Department of Physics takes part in various events that aim to inspire schoolgirls to study at the Department of Physics at TU Darmstadt. Some of these events, GirlsDay and “Schülerinnenschnuppertage”, are aimed in particular at inspiring female and gender-diverse students to study physics. These events introduce female physicists of different status groups, from female students to female professors, and thus make female role models in particular visible.

Students

Networks and mentoring programmes that specifically promote women in science and technology, such as Mentoring Hessen and Femtec, enable women to make career-relevant contacts in their field. The department wants to further promote the participation of our students in these programmes. The department also works towards gender-appropriate language and equal representation of speakers at events that deal more generally with the topic of networking for students, such as the event series “Students meet physicists at work”.

Doctoral students, postdocs and research assistants

Networks and mentoring programmes such as those offered by “Mentoring Hessen” – ProCareer.MINT, ProCareer.Doc, ProAcademia and ProProfessur offer workshops and networking opportunities with potential female mentors and academics from all disciplines. The department advertises these events in a focused manner and in many cases enables participation in conferences and stays abroad by providing funding for the advancement of women. In order to further promote young female academics, the department emphasises the importance of having excellent female academics among the speakers in colloquia and seminars.

Professors

As part of the upcoming appointment procedures, the department is aiming to increase the proportion of women, particularly in permanent professorships. Gender-neutral wording in job advertisements and sensitising the appointment committee to gender equality and gender bias are decisive steps towards this goal.

Administrative Technical Staff

Through qualification and further training programmes, female employees are to be promoted and supported, especially through women's promotion funds in the form of mentoring, workshops and more. The recruitment of female trainees is intended to increase the proportion of women among technical staff. The further training of female skilled workers to become master craftswomen can also be supported financially and organisationally.

Teachers – Gender-neutral language – Awareness courses

Teacher training programme

In order to train future teachers to be able to inspire students with concrete, everyday topics in physics, the gender aspect is also discussed as part of the didactic courses.

Exercise group leaders

New tutor group leaders are trained on the topics of gender and diversity in the mandatory tutor training course.

Professorial Appointments Committee

In order to be able to fill professorships fairly and unbiasedly, the department recommends that all members of the appointment committee carry out a self-test to identify gender bias (bias against certain people due to their gender). This test primarily serves to sensitise the committee members and therefore plays a central role in the gender equality concept. In future, the extent to which candidates are sensitised to issues such as diversity and equality will be taken into greater consideration during the appointment process.

Parent-child room – Funding – Childcare

Childcare

Childcare is managed by the Family Service Centre and can be organised by the department if required, e.g. for conferences or similar.

Funding

Various collaborative research projects provide funding for doctoral students and postdocs. The department uses this funding in particular to expand inclusive infrastructure at the department. In 2010, for example, a parent-child room was made possible by the funding. The department is working to further expand its infrastructure with regard to gender equality and inclusion.

Family and career

The department endeavours to ensure the compatibility of family and career for all employees at the department. The flexible handling of working hours, acceptance and support of employees on parental leave and childcare services are an integral part of the equal opportunities concept. Student assistants can also be employed to support employees who are pregnant or breastfeeding and employees on parental leave.

Studying with children

Students with children can complete their studies part-time. You can find more information on support as a student parent under Studying with a child.

Women's promotion funds

Since 1999, the Technical University of Darmstadt has financially honoured the successful advancement of women in the departments as part of the performance-oriented allocation of funds. These funds can generally be used for the advancement of women of all status groups.

Applications for grants from the Women's Fund can be made at any time by students, postgraduates, postdoctoral researchers, academic staff, professors and administrative/technical staff for a variety of activities related to the advancement of women. Grants may be awarded to attend national and international events, depending on the available funds.

  • Organisation of action days or workshops at the TU Darmstadt (participation in room rental, working materials, …)
  • Participation in mentoring or networking programmes (contribution to participation fees and travel expenses)
  • Participation in expert meetings or conferences (contribution to participation fees and travel expenses). This subsidy can be granted to doctoral candidates, post-doctoral candidates and academic staff on a one-off basis for active participation in specialist conferences or meetings outside the usual framework that are of particular importance for their academic career. This must be clearly stated in the application.
  • Participation in qualification or further training programmes (contribution to participation fees and travel expenses). This subsidy can be granted to administrative-technical staff for one third of the costs incurred for participation in qualification or further training programmes that are closely related to their work in the department. This must be clearly stated in the application.

We will be happy to advise you before you submit your application.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at an early stage.