4th quarter

On November 17, 2023, the ceremonial closing event of the third round of the WiMINToringmentoring program for young female scientists took place at Clausthal University of Technology. On the same day, before the closing event, the final evaluation of the entire program was carried out with the mentees and mentors. The results once again confirmed that the program was a complete success. The highlight of the closing event was a very personal review of the program by the mentees and a joint reflection on further development in the mentoring tandems.

Since 2019, this was the third run of the program, which is offered every two years. The program is part of the personnel development concept for early career researchers and for all academic staff in the area of equal opportunities at our university.

The WiMINToring mentoring program for female early career researchers is part of a holistic concept for the promotion of early career researchers in the area of gender equality. Further components are

• the women's network "Women&Science TU Clausthal" - as a platform for the further personal and professional development of our female early career researchers and
• the mentoring program "WiMINToring für Masterstudentinnen" (WiMINToring for female Master's students) - where our own experiences from the program for female early career researchers, who now take on the role of a mentor, are passed on to our female students.

The second round of the WiMINToringmentoring program for female Master's students is planned for the 2024 summer semester.

The workshop "Communicating with personality and confidence - reaching people and strengthening your own messages" took place on October 21, 2023 for members of the "Women&Science TU Clausthal" women's network.

The workshop was conducted by Arvid Nienhaus. Together with the trainer, the women from our network worked on the following topics

• Designing targeted communication
• Self-image and perception
• Body language and appearance

Also for the women from the women's network "Women&Science TU Clausthal", the training for a scientific presentation with video-based feedback was organized between October and December 2023.

The following activities were offered as part of this training

• a digital preparation workshop
• two presentations of the own lecture in presence in the Großer Bergmännischer Hörsaal with a video recording
• Individual video analysis and feedback in a one-on-one meeting

These measures were financed by a third-party funding project Empowerment of the "Women&Science TU Clausthal" network, which expired at the end of 2023.

The taster course for schoolgirls is an orientation offer that was conceived in 1996 by the Equal Opportunities Office at Clausthal University of Technology.
It offers schoolgirls an early opportunity to get to know different degree programs at our university as well as student life in order to make an informed decision about their future studies or training.
This year, 14 schoolgirls aged 16 to 20 from Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony-Anhalt took advantage of this offer and spent a week exploring the university and the surrounding area.
We would like to thank the many participants from the institutes and facilities of our university who contributed to the success of this year's taster course.
The press release can be found under the link.
The video of the taster course can be found under the link.
The next taster course for schoolgirls will take place from October 13 - 18, 2024.

On December 12, 2023, the first nationwide meeting of female technicians took place, in which TU Clausthal participated. In addition to the Lower Saxony Technikum, five other German states have similar programs: North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Saxony, Berlin and Hamburg. The plan is to hold the Technikantinnen-Treffen once a year.

On Friday, November 3, 2023 from 9:00 to 12:00, the online workshop on everyday sexism in the workplace took place. The workshop was again conducted by Verena Arps-Roelle from the act & protect® Academy, who has already offered workshops for our students.
This workshop explained different facets of everyday sexism and discrimination in the workplace and provided practical ideas for individual action.

On Saturday, November 25, 2023 at 10:30 a.m., the information event "Don't let yourself be knocked out" took place on the International Day against Violence against Women. Informative contributions came from the Goslar drug counseling center and the Goslar police station. This event was organized by the members of the so-called Rainbow Table Initiative: the Equal Opportunities Office of Clausthal University of Technology, the Equal Opportunities Officers of the mountain and university town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld and the district of Goslar as well as the psychosocial counselling centre of the Studierendenwerk and the queer community in the Oberharz. The information event was open to all interested parties.

On Thursday, November 16, 2023 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., the online workshop "Healthy vision at the VDU workplace" took place. It was aimed at all employees who are exposed to particular visual strain, e.g. when working at a VDU, whose eyesight is deteriorating or who have visual problems or would like to prevent them. This workshop was organized by the workplace ergonomics advisory service.
Due to the high demand, another date was set for November 28, 2023 for those on the waiting list.
These were active workshops with lots of good suggestions and simple exercises that can be integrated into everyday working life.

The award for outstanding academic or student achievements duringthe family phase was established 11 years ago by the Equal Opportunities Office at Clausthal University of Technology to emphasize the great importance of reconciling work or studies and family life at our university and to highlight the commitment in this area. This year, the selection committee honored a graduate of our university, Ms Viktoriya Buchmüller, with this award, which was presented on 27 October 2023 during the academic ceremony in the auditorium.

On 10 November 2023, both of our university's day care centers, "Uni-Luchse" and "Uni-Mäuse", organized a joint campaign and invited the smallest members of TU Clausthal together with their families to a lantern parade .
The press release can be found under the link.

Every year, TU Clausthal's Family Service and Studierendenwerk OstNiedersachsen organize the traditional Christmas baking campaign for members of TU Clausthal in the run-up to Christmas. This year, the baby welcome, which has been taking place at Clausthal University of Technology since 2013, was also held as part of this event. On November 28, 2023, over 100 people came together to bake and make cookies in a Christmas atmosphere. Many children from our large daycare centers Uni-Mäuse and Uni-Luchse as well as the Uni-Nanny were also there with their parents.
As the first item on the program, Prof. Schenk-Mathes, Vice President for Gender Equality and Promotion of Young Scientists, and Kirsten Wiemker, Coordinator of the Family Service, warmly welcomed 13 babies and toddlers of employees and students of Clausthal University of Technology.

On December 16, 2023, the training course "First Aid for Children" took place with pediatric nurse and trained specialist of the Federal Foundation "Early Help" Theresa Förster. 18 participants (employees, students and support staff from our vacation childcare programs) learned how to act correctly in emergencies involving babies and young children. Demand for the limited places was high, so the next course is planned for the 2024 summer semester.

Over the past two years, the expansion of our university's family-friendly infrastructure has been financed from the equal opportunities funds of the DFG research project 2397, in which Prof. Thomas Turek is the spokesperson. As part of this project, office workstations were prepared for family-friendly use and mobile equipment was made available. The basis for the loan is the guideline for equipping existing offices as parent-child offices at Clausthal University of Technology.
The offer is primarily aimed at employees with children up to the age of one who are planning to return to work after maternity leave or after or during parental leave, or who do not yet have a place to look after their children.
In addition, further nappy-changing facilities have been created on campus. A total of eleven buildings were equipped with 16 changing tables in women's and men's toilets or freely accessible areas.
It was found that the need for parent-child offices and advice is significantly greater than expected. This service will therefore be continued and expanded where possible.