Equal Opportunities

Gender equality and family-friendly policies

Equal opportunity is an essential requirement for motivation, innovation, and the basis for striving towards high-level scientific performance. Therefore, equal opportunity is a foremost concern of the TRR 261 as well as both applicant universities.

The Universities of Tübingen and Bonn have both developed a comprehensive gender equality concept, which includes a broad range of instruments for promotion of female scientists in areas and professional levels, where they are under-represented, as well as general measures to improve family-friendly conditions. This includes female recruitment support, individual coaching, dedicated funding, as well as improvement of child-care opportunities, family-friendly working hours, and dual career support. Equal opportunity goals are set, and rigorous controlling procedures are established to facilitate implementation of the guidelines and to evaluate the success of all equality measures. Both universities consider equal opportunity a cross-sectional task to be supported by centralized and de-centralized measures. Equality Offices and Family Offices are established at both sites and both applicant universities have recently qualified as ‘familiengerechte Hochschule’. To complement the central gender equality instruments, the TRR 261 will apply for funding to provide focused support within its own consortium.

University of Tübingen

University of Bonn

Travel funds to visits female mentors and scientific role models

TRR 261 offers female scientists in the progressed PhD or postdoc phase the opportunity to visit the laboratories of outstanding international female researchers. If required, child care support will be provided during these traveling periods.

Compatibility of family and career

The reconciliation of family and work is another focus of our gender equality strategy. TRR 261 will provide funds to (co)-finance child-care and to promote the scientific career of PIs with young children (provision of home office equipment, personnel to assist in routine laboratory work). Seminars of the TRR 261 will be held at times during opening hours of child-care facilities.