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Gender equality work
- In a letter dated November 18, 2020, the Faculty of Mathematics/Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering announced that the Faculty Council confirmed Dipl.-Ing. Holm as part-time Equal Opportunities Officer of Faculty III for a further two years at its meeting on November 10, 2020. In addition, Ms. Losch, M.Sc. was appointed to the office of Deputy Equal Opportunities Officer of Faculty III for two years. Ms. Losch replaced Ms. Dipl.-Ing. Wächter after her many years of service as Equal Opportunities Officer. Ms. Wächter has been active in equal opportunities work at our university since 1996, first as Equal Opportunities Officer for the group of academic staff and then as part-time Equal Opportunities Officer for the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. We would like to thank her most sincerely for her many years of cooperation. The entire team of Equal Opportunities Officers at TU Clausthal can be found here.
- At their last meeting on
July 1, 2020, the member institutions of the DFG unanimously approved the continuation of the "Qualitative Reporting System" as part of the DFG's "Research-Oriented Standards on Gender Equality". In the first reporting cycle 2018 - 2020, our university has already submitted two reports (on the key topics of Easing the burden on female academics in committee work and Recruitment procedures for attracting female academics). The following two topics have been decided as focal points for the current reporting cycle (2020 - 2022): 1. increasing the proportion of women in the postdoc phase and 2. how universities deal with the topic of diversity. These are two qualitative, lean reports (max. 5 pages) on the current status at the university in relation to the specified priority topics. Guidelines and a template for the reports are available on the DFG website are available. A more detailed description of the priority topics and further information can also be found there. The reports are intended to document past activities in the respective areas; they are not intended to define the strategic direction for the future. These reports will be sent to the DFG Head Office by January 31, 2021. The DFG has expressly requested that these reports be acknowledged and approved by the university's committees. - The requirements of the new DFG guidelines for the Grants-in-Aid, Research Units and Priority Programs were presented in DFG-aktuell from June 2020. The DFG has added a section on the relevance of gender and/or diversity to its proposal guidelines, which will apply to the above-mentioned programs from the end of October 2020 and must be taken into account in all (sub)project proposals in the future. On this occasion, the Equal Opportunities Office and the Funding Advisory Service at Clausthal University of Technology organized an online event on the topic of "Gender and Diversity in Research" on 6 October 2020. In the future, applicants to the DFG will have to address the question of whether gender or diversity plays a role in their own research topic. This is about the influence on the scientific questions and methods themselves. The press release can be found here.
- On November 17, 2020, the DFG announced that the existing funding measures for equal opportunities in science will be expanded. Previously, it was possible to apply for corresponding lump sums in the coordinated programs. Now it is also possible to apply for these lump sums as part of the normal funding in kind. In addition, there is a new budget for speakers in coordinated programs if their gender is underrepresented at the management level in their research area (at Clausthal University of Technology, women are). It is important to the Equal Opportunities Office and the funding advisory service at Clausthal University of Technology that the equal opportunities funds are always applied for in full in order to finance the central and decentralized equal opportunities measures.
- The dialog initiative Gender-equitable university culture will be continued under the topic: Gender-equitable appointment management. The State Conference of Gender Equality Officers (lakog) submitted the application after consultation with the LHK Lower Saxony, which was approved by the MWK. The new edition of the dialog initiative is to run until the end of 2022. Since 2007, the state of Lower Saxony has established the Gender Equality Dialogue Initiative, a unique discussion forum in Germany between the Ministry (MWK), the university management (LHK) and the equal opportunities officers of Lower Saxony's universities for the strategic further development of gender equality at Lower Saxony's universities. The last edition of the dialog initiative (2014 - 2019) focused on three areas: Gender-equitable personnel development, leadership culture and participation structure, which were also dealt with intensively at Clausthal University of Technology.
- This year, the taster course for schoolgirls took place in the first week of the Lower Saxony fall vacations from October 11 to 16, 2020. The taster course is intended to give schoolgirls the opportunity to find out whether they are interested in studying or training in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). In compliance with the hygiene concept, only four schoolgirls were able to come to Clausthal. As always, the taster week was filled with lots of great activities. The students were able to attend real lectures and exciting internships at Clausthal University of Technology, accompanied by a varied program to get to know student life and the surrounding area. Many thanks to everyone who supported this program. Further information on the taster study program for schoolgirls can be found here.
Diversity management
- After submitting the self-report, which documents the university's initial situation, the diversity audit began in October 2020 with the first Diversity Forum. Furthermore, Clausthal University of Technology has selected an auditor, Dr. Daniela De Ridder, who will accompany the two-year auditing process at Clausthal University of Technology. The audit is scheduled to run for two years, i.e. until the end of 2022.
- The digitalization of all areas of life is progressing rapidly. This means that the topic of digital accessibility is also becoming increasingly important. Clausthal University of Technology recognized the relevance of this topic at an early stage and initially dealt intensively with the possibilities of making its digital presence accessible. In order to continuously develop this topic, the previous project group tasked with "Implementing accessibility on the TUC website" was transformed into a permanent "Digital accessibility" working group. Meetings will take place every three months. Further information on digital accessibility can be found here.
Family service
- As every year, the award for outstanding student or academic achievements during the family phase was announced in July 2020. By the end of the call for applications on August 15, 2020, 4 applications had been received. The selection committee is currently voting.
- The advice offered by the Family Service is supplemented by various events on work-life balance. Last week, an online event was held for early career researchers who are faced with the challenge of coordinating family and work at the university. We plan to offer this event regularly every year for our early career researchers.
- As an alternative to the traditional Christmas cookie baking event, the Family Service organized a virtual craft activity for students and employees with children. The event took place on Friday, 11.12.2020 and included making a gingerbread house together, reading a Christmas story and making poinsettias. The number of participants was very high and we are delighted that the offer was so well received.