Projects to support equal opportunity for (early career) women researchers

Women remain significantly underrepresented in senior academic roles. In male-dominated disciplines, the absence of women role models who challenge traditional gender roles is particularly noticeable. When women and non-binary individuals hold leadership positions, it sends a clear message that career advancement is based on merit and not on gender.

In the winter semester of 2023/2024, only 24% of professorships at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences were held by women and non-binary individuals. To provide greater support for early-career women researchers and to increase the proportion of women and non-binary professors, the university is implementing measures at several levels. First, talented early-career women and non-binary researchers are offered doctoral and postdoctoral scholarships, enabling them to advance their academic careers. These scholarships also help the university retain women and non-binary graduates within its own research community.

Faculties can also provide additional material resources to newly appointed women and non-binary professors as they begin their roles. However, in some faculties, the requirement for equal gender representation on professorial appointment committees has led to a disproportionate workload for women professors, given their current underrepresentation. To address this, in STEM subjects with a low percentage of women, women and non-binary professors who take on significant committee responsibilities can request a reduction in their teaching load. This adjustment aims to prevent overburdening them with committee work and ensures that the time they dedicate to these duties does not detract from their research and teaching.

1The question of how companies can recruit women as managers and leaders is pursued in a study by Anja Iseke & Kerstin Pull (2017) (see: www.hs-owl.de/hsnews/news/newdetail/news/geschlechterstereotype-schrecken-frauen-ab.html / (14 Dec 2017).