SFB TRR288

Equal opportunities, international relations and young researchers

Equal opportunities and equality = improved potential for innovations and talent.

Working groups benefit from the abundance of different perspectives, experiences and abilities that each individual contributes. The more diverse a group's constituents are the higher the potential for innovation and unique ideas, which also benefits the quality of research. Certain biases that have built up over a long time can still affect career choices and opportunities especially for young researchers. Therefore, the CRC commits to the following guidelines.

Everyone is unique as a person, which is why it makes no sense to think in terms of stereotypes. We should therefore embrace both differences and commonalities by treating everyone in the same way regardless of e.g. their sex, gender, origin or age.

Goals/Aims

The CRC/TRR288 commits to promote equal opportunities for female and male scientists following the guidelines by the DFG (external link). The measures to achieve equality between men and women in science and to reconcile family and scientific career will help to:

	Embrace diversity within the CRC/TRR288,
	Qualify the young female scientists working in the research network (in addition to their professional qualifications) for their scientific career
	Increase the number of female scientists at the project management level and
	Make the "science" workplace more family-friendly.

Aid and Eligibility

Everyone who is addressed in our goals/aims and contributes scientifically to projects of the CRC/TRR288 with at least 15% of their total monthly work time can be supported through equal opportunity measures.

Tell us what you need!

Equality Programs funded by the CRC

Family Friendliness

For members with family responsibilities, we can provide

childcare during conferences and project related events
assistants during pregnancy, parenthood or care-taking for elderly family members
home office equipment
flexible childcare in addition to regular hours and in emergency situations

Note: Only childcare measures organized by the universities can be funded (such as "Ferienspiele", see links below). The payment must be made directly by the CRC/TRR288.

Qualification of Young Female Scientists

We encourage our female members to take part in the programs provided through our CRC/TRR288 as well as through the equal opportunity offices at the universities of Frankfurt, Karlsruhe and Mainz (see announcements in Events) which include:

career support for female researchers, such as workshops (academic soft skills, networking) and career talks
individual coaching sessions (conflict solutions, career perspectives)
participation in scientific conferences for women
networking meetings

For our female members in Frankfurt and Mainz, there are two mentoring programs within the State of Hesse: Pro.Career.Doc and ProAcademia both for female PhD students and early career Postdocs (up to 2 years after PhD).

For details see mentoringhessen.de.

Gender and Diversity Awareness

For all members, funding is provided to participate in gender and diversity awareness training (see announcements in Events)

Childcare: Useful Links

Ferienbetreuung (KIT)

Ferienspiele (GU)

Ferienbetreuung (UM)

Young Researchers

The CRC/TRR288 goals are to perform excellent research and provide outstanding training to young researchers, ranging from bachelor (B. Sc.), master (M. Sc.) students and doctoral students, to postdocs and young independent group leaders. The measures in the CRC/TRR288 of the systematic support aim to help our early-career researchers

perform excellent international research in condensed matter physics and materials science
obtain a broad knowledge base
further develop their teamwork skills as an essential part of scientific collaborations
achieve early self-reliance
acquire soft skills that complement the specific discipline

International Relations

International cooperation is a key ingredient for the success of our research goals within the CRC/TRR288. In particular, young scientists need to discuss open scientific challenges and recent results with colleagues at leading institutions worldwide. The PIs of this initiative are well connected within this community and will help the younger scientists to build up their own scientific network. The following measures are in place to establish this goal:

The Visiting Scientists Program aims to invite internationally renowned scientists for colloquia and short stays at the different locations of this CRC.
Comprehensive Travel Grants for young researchers will enable them to participate in international conferences and allow short research stays at leading institutions worldwide.
Two international Mercator Fellows are connected with this CRC and all researchers in this consortia will strongly benefit from the exchange with the Mercator Fellows groups in the areas of materials design and theory.

Members of the Committee

Dr. Kristin Kliemt

Representative for the promotion of equal opportunities

GU Frankfurt

Dr. Elena Gati

Representative for early career researchers

MPI-CPfS Dresden

Prof. Cornelius Krellner

Representative / contact person for international relations