Frauen.Machen.Wis­senschaft: Sup­port for young fe­male sci­ent­ists

Under the leadership of programme coordinator Dr. habil. Felicitas Meifert-Menhard and Women's Officer Prof. Dr. Claudia Kocian-Dirr, the structured programme is aimed at all female academic staff at HNU and is intended to accompany them in critical phases of career planning: e.g. in the planning and implementation of a doctoral project, in the transition from free enterprise to academia or when applying for HAW professorships. The qualification offer includes, among other things, information events on career planning, individual counselling, a wide range of workshops and trainings, as well as the opportunity to network with experienced female mentors. In this way, Frauen.Machen.Wissenschaft aims to support young female scientists at HNU and open up paths to science for this talent pool, which can lead to a professorship.

The goal is to inspire more qualified women to pursue an academic career and ultimately to gain more competent female professors who can pass on their knowledge to students. This targeted promotion of young female academics at the university is intended to increase the proportion of women in professorships in particular- "Equal opportunities are a central concern of HNU," says HNU President Prof. Dr. Uta M. Feser. By participating in events of the programme, the WiMas can acquire the certificate "Frauen.Machen.Wissenschaft" (Women.Doing Science), which also makes their further qualification visible to the outside world.

About the programme for female professors

The Female Professors Programme, established in 2008, aims to promote gender equality in science and counteract the under-representation of women, especially at higher qualification levels ('leaky pipeline'). To this end, the Federal Government and the Länder provide funding for the start-up financing of first-time female scientists and for measures to increase equal opportunities. HNU already applied successfully in the first funding phase of the programme and used the funding to appoint three female scientists to new professorships. HNU was also successful in the selection for the third funding phase of the female professors programme. As a result, the university will receive around 280,000 euros in funding for the funding period until 2022, which will be used for new appointments and additional gender equality measures.