As part of the funding, the identification, approach and recruitment of potential female candidates for professorships at HNU will be strengthened by a position in the area of "Active Sourcing and Recruiting" and a structured gender equality controlling system will be established. These measures tie in with ongoing projects developed in the Women Professors Program III (2020-2024), in particular the Women.do.science program to promote female academic staff.
With the BayernMentoring program for female students and activities such as Girls' Day for schoolgirls, HNU has built up a closed concept from schoolgirl to professor in recent years, which is now being consolidated and expanded through the renewed funding in the Women Professors Program. The aim is to counteract the phenomenon of the 'leaky pipeline' and to support women both in their entry into science and in their scientific careers up to professorship.
"We are already well on the way to achieving gender equality at HNU, with 28% of professors being female. Our goal is to continue to promote equality between women and men. I am very pleased that we were able to directly convince with our equality concept," said HNU President Prof. Dr. Uta M. Feser.
Prof. Dr. Claudia Kocian-Dirr, who is responsible for equal opportunities for women in science and the arts, is also delighted with the successful application: "The positive assessment of our equal opportunities concept forms the basis for further measures to promote women in science. This confirmation spurs us on to continue our successful work and we are now entering the next phase full of energy."
The Joint Science Conference (GWK) adopted the Female Professors Program 2030 in November 2022. The aim of the funding program is to dynamically increase the number of female professors, to promote (junior) female scientists and artists on their way to a lifetime professorship and to retain them in science, as well as to anchor gender equality even more firmly in the structure of universities. This will sustainably strengthen the necessary structural and cultural change towards more gender equality at universities. The federal and state governments are providing a total of 320 million euros over a period of eight years for the Women Professors Program 2030.
