3rd quarter

• As part of the WiMINToring mentoring program for young female scientists, the individual career coaching sessions for the participants took place in July and August 2021. On September 15 and 16, 2021, the mentees took part in the workshop on "Understanding procrastination and turning it into productivity". The second round is slowly coming to an end and the final event including the final evaluation will take place on November 29, 2021.

• On July 7, 2021, the women's network "Women&Science TU Clausthal" was able to hold a face-to-face event for the first time since its foundation. The women, some of whom only knew each other from video conferences, spent a fun barbecue evening together in the open air. In addition to getting to know each other personally, this evening also included a short program with various exercises to boost self-confidence. Finally, the women's network's Discord server was inaugurated.

• The Gender Equality Plan is an instrument of university development and at the same time a part of personnel policy. It is therefore regularly integrated into the university's development and strategic planning. According to Sections 15 and 16 of the Lower Saxony Equal Opportunities Act (NGG) of 09.12.2010, every department with at least 50 employees must draw up an equality plan. The equality plan is valid for 3 years, at the end of which a new plan must be drawn up. The equality plan for the period 2022 - 2024 is currently being drawn up. This equality plan will also fulfill the new EU requirements for a Gender Equality Plan (GEP). On September 7, 2021, a special meeting of the Gender Equality Commission took place to shape the content of the new equality plan. The Gender Equality Plan must be adopted by the Senate in agreement with the Executive Board.

• On July 2, 2021, the Goslar District Sports Association organized a women's sports day in cooperation with the equal opportunities offices of Clausthal University of Technology, the district of Goslar and the mountain and university town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld. The event took place on the outdoor sports grounds of Clausthal University of Technology and ran from 13:30 to 19:00. Around 50 women from Clausthal University of Technology and the entire region took part in a wide range of sports and health activities. The press release can be found here.

• The kick-off of the 3rd round of the Gender Equitable University Dialogue Initiative took place on July 20, 2021 under the topic "Unconsious Bias in Appointment Procedures". The project was funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture, which is also a partner in the dialog initiative together with the Lower Saxony State University Conference and the State Conference of Equal Opportunities Officers of Lower Saxony's universities.

• On August 24, 2021, the MWK announced the possibility of applying for funds for individual projects promoting gender equality up to a maximum of 30,000 euros. Clausthal University of Technology prepared the corresponding application for projects to "increase the proportion and representation of women at all academic qualification levels at universities in Lower Saxony" and sent it to the MWK on time. Measures to empower the "Women&Science TU Clausthal" network were applied for.

• The state program Niedersachsen Technikum has successfully started in the new round for the winter semester 2021/22 at Clausthal University of Technology. On September 8, 2021, four new participants were welcomed at our university. The technicians will attend selected courses at TU Clausthal one day a week in order to make an informed decision about their future. On the remaining days, they will learn about everyday working life and independent project work in various STEM professions at one of the partner companies. In addition, the participants have a varied program of group meetings, workshops, company excursions and leisure activities at their disposal.

The press release can be found here.

• The Equal Opportunities Office is also making preparations for this year's taster course for schoolgirls, which will take place from October 17 to 22, 2021. Various advertising measures are being carried out for the activities aimed at schoolgirls, including information events on the orientation offers of the Equal Opportunities Office in regional schools and participation in careers fairs. The taster course for schoolgirls was conceived in 1995 by the Equal Opportunities Office at Clausthal University of Technology. The aim of this measure is to provide schoolgirls with a practical decision-making tool to help them make an informed decision for or against studying at our university.

• In June 2020, the Executive Board of Clausthal University of Technology approved the guidelines for awarding doctoral scholarships. Three doctoral scholarships have already been awarded in 2021. The guideline is now being revised (among other things, the award criteria will be specified and expanded and two award dates per year will be set) and submitted to the Presidential Board for approval. Prof. Turek has been appointed as a new member of the selection committee representing the Equal Opportunities Commission for the awarding of doctoral scholarships.

• After the operational workshop, the diversity audit moved on to the implementation phase of the measures for achieving the first milestone. Various topics such as Positioning TU Clausthal for gender-equitable language, determining possible measures for structural accessibility, committee activities and the involvement of (international) students in university politics are currently being worked on and the first results will be presented and discussed at the next workshop on November 8, 2021.

The next planned activity is a collegial exchange between all participating universities on 15 October 2021 as part of an online meeting organized by the Stifterverband.

• Our vacation care program Children's Summer University took place this year from 23 to 27 August 2021 in Präsenz. A total of 13 children aged 6-10 years took part. The children were once again offered a varied program. They started on Monday with blacksmithing with Jan Braun from the Technical Administration, experimented with Petra Lassen from the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry in the SuperLab, were allowed to take apart old equipment in the Institute of Processing under the supervision of Jasmine Hoff with "Schreddi", had a magic forest reading in the forest and made a film about the Upper Harz Water Regal with Angela Binder from the Institute of Mining. The video can be found here.

The press release can be found here.

The Children's Summer University team would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved for their great support.

• The baby welcome, which has been held at TU Clausthal since 2013, took place on September 17, 2021 on the new outdoor area of the Uni-Luchse. New members of the TU families who were born in the last two years were welcomed. In 2020, the baby welcome had to be canceled due to Corona. Prof. Schenk-Mathes welcomed a total of 18 children of students and employees. As always, there was a bag full of presents with a new edition of the Clausthal Bear. The afternoon was also dedicated to the new outdoor area, which was opened by Mr. von Frieling, Deputy Managing Director of Studentenwerk OstNiedersachsen. The press release can be found under the link.

• The sponsorship award for outstanding student or academic achievements during the family phase was also presented by Prof. Schenk-Mathes on September 17, 2021 as part of the baby welcome ceremony. The two years 2020 and 2021 were also taken into account here. For 2020, a total of 2,000 euros was distributed to the four nominees, as this year was particularly challenging for families. This year, the prize of 1000 euros will be split between two winners.