Officer for equal opportunities for women in science and the arts

Welcome to the website of the Women’s Representatives of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology!

At the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology, the proportion of women decreases with increasing qualification level. While the proportion of female students is 70 percent, the proportion of female professors is just over a third (FAU – Planning, Management Information Systems, Statistics Department; 01.12.2021).

The women’s representatives are continuously working on increasing the proportion of women particularly in these departments and those qualification levels in which women are underrepresented. Further information about the range of task of the women’s representatives, the funding opportunities for female scholars and contact persons could find below.

 

ARIADNEphil und ARIADNEmed: Passing the Torch for Strong Women in Science

On October 14, the starting signal was given for FAUmentoring ARIADNE for 44 young female scholars from the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology , as well as from the Faculty of Medicine. Simultaneously, the 42 mentees of the 2023/24 cohort from both program lines were bid farewell in the “Orangerie”. The women’s representatives of both faculties, Prof. Dr. Simone Schmitz-Spanke (med) and Dr. habil. Katharina Gerund (phil), encouraged the researchers to confidently pursue their career-path. Networks are a key success factor in science. FAUmentoring ARIADNE aims to continue growing as a platform. A networking event for mentees, mentors, and alumnae is scheduled for November 19.

The ARIADNE networks are becoming more diverse. An increasing number of international female scientists are taking advantage of the mentoring offer. The ARIADNE team is developing English-language formats and workshop topics for this purpose.

Diversity was also the focus of the evening’s content. The highlight was the guest lecture by Dr. Nadine Metzger (Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine, FAU) on the topic “Man, Woman, In Between. Medical Conceptions of Gender from the pre-modern era until today.” The lecture offered opportunities for reflection across the disciplines. At the subsequent reception, mentees, mentors, and guests were able to continue their interdisciplinary exchange in a relaxed atmosphere.

The next application phase for ARIADNEphil will begin at the end of 2025.

The promotion of gender equality and the realization of gender mainstreaming are central cross-sectional tasks at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (see also Equality Concept 2023-2027 for the academic sector).

The tasks, rights, and duties of the Women’s Representatives are anchored in the Bavarian University-Innovation Law (BayHIG, see Art. 22). FAU’s basic regulations complement the BayHIG and assign the Women’s Representatives a central and formally secured role in monitoring and implementing equal opportunity practices in the university’s bodies and committees (see § 21 and § 22).

The specific tasks of the women’s representatives include:

  • Quality assurance in appointment procedures and audit the candidate’s equality and diversity competences
  • Voting right in department councils
  • Monitoring headhunting of suitable female candidates for professorships
  • Enforcement of target agreements for gender equality
  • Consulting regarding career and problems
  • Consulting concerning matters of sexual harassment
  • Consultation of new female professors
  • Establishing gender specific courses and research projects
  • Establishing and Controlling of Mentor Programs for young female scientists
  • Support of the development and continues improving of the FAU Family Service

Dr. Katharina Gerund

Women's representative of the faculty

Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology

Dr. Cleophea Ferrari

Deputy women’s representative of the faculty

Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology

The faculty’s women’s representatives are supported by the deputy women’s representatives of the departments and an advisor.

Anna Isenmann, M.A.

Advisor to the women's representatives of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology

Office of Equality and Diversity

The women’s representatives are working towards the equality of women and men. They are contact persons for women scientists, female teachers and students of the Faculty and are committed to their concerns. The aim is to increase the proportion of women at all levels of science.

Department of Classical World and Asian Cultures

Dr. Cleophea Ferrari
Katharina Oft (M.A.)

Department of English, American, and Romance Studies

Dr. Miriam Zapf (geb. Pechtl)
Alina Aulbur (M.A.)

Department of Didactics

Dr. Katja Feigenspan (Akad.ORätin)
Pia Reimann (M.A.)

Department Digital Humanities and Social Studies

Dr. Sabine Lang

Department of German and Comparative Studies

PD Dr. Aura Heydenreich (Akad. ORat)
Dr. Karin Rädle

Department of History

Dr. Hanna Schäfer
Dr. Cornelia Scherer

Department of Islamic-Religious Studies

Imane El Guennouni (M.A.)
Elham Mazloum

Department of Media Studies and Art History

Dr. Sarah Lynch
Prof. Dr. Bettina Brandl-Risi

Department of Education

Stephanie Leupert (M.A.)
Petra Ackerlauer (M.A.)

Department of Psychology

Christine Heinisch (Ph.D.)
Isabelle May (M.A.)
Dipl.-Psych. Marlis Gerdes

Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy

Joanna Katharina Kiefer (M.A.)
Katharina Nicolai (M.A.)
Christianna Bunt (M.A.)

Department of Sport Science

Dr. Sabine Mayer
Dr. Jana Semrau

School of Theology

Christine Schulte am Hülse (Mag. theol.)
Dr. Dr. Barbara Beyer

Further women’s representatives of FAU

The fourth target agreements 2023-2027 were passed on September 31, 2022 by FAU’s management.

The target agreements of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology set the following goals:

  • to increase the proportion of women with W2 and W3 professorships from currently 36% (as of 12/2020) to 40% in 2027,
  •  increase the proportion of women in permanent positions at grade 15 from currently 28% (as of 1/2022) to at least 39%, which means that, out of the five positions to be filled until 2027, at least three will be filled by women.
  • to improve the development opportunities for female researchers and lecturers with the goal of a professorship by advancing adequate measures,
  • to prevent the dropout of qualified women among the non-tenured-faculty and especially in the post-doc phase through supportive measures,
  • to support the advancement f women, especially in the post-doc phase, with the aim to increase the proportion of female professors,
  • in addition to research performance and innovation, to support a culture of watching and listening to each other, and to promote an appreciative and respectful working and research climate, which is gender and diversity sensitive and based on respect for the dignity of every individual.

Currently, the following funding opportunities are available for female scholars at the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, an Theology:

For further information please contact: phil-fb@fau.de

The Office of Equality and Diversity, together with the Women’s Representative of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology supports guest lectures by high-profile female academics from Germany and abroad as a measure of the target agreements. The interdisciplinary lectures are not only rewarding from a scientific point of view, the outstanding careers of the female guest lecturers are also intended to serve as inspiration for an academic career for female students and staff.

Information about applying for funding can be found in the Guidelines and on the page of the Office of Equality and Diversity.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact the advisor to the women’s representatives (phil-fb@fau.de).

Please note: The Role Model funding program will be discontinued in January 2025.

The PostDoc+ Research Grant is an innovative career program for female scholars at postdoctoral level and above.

It offers you the opportunity to strengthen your academic independence and visibility and advance your career:

  • During the funding period, you submit an application to an external sponsor for a third-party funded project of your own choice and on a topic relevant to your field of research.
  • The funding covers pay for a substitute lecturer to take over your teaching and administrative tasks for 6 months (max. 100 % position at pay grade TV-L E13) so that you may focus on your research and the grant application.
  • It also includes individual career coaching (up to € 2,000). You set the agenda in consultation with the coach for 6 sessions (90 minutes each).
  • You can apply for material and travel expenses (up to € 1,000).
  • You have access to the Graduate Center’s ProFund program and benefit from the advice and support of the Office for Research and Early-Career Researchers throughout the entire process of preparing and submitting your application for third-party funding.

Detailed information about the application procedure and the application documents for the PostDoc+ ResearchGrant funding program can be found here.

Universities are also places where sexual harassment and discrimination occur. This issue is still a taboo in this context because the general image of Universities cast them as innovative organizations that can act as role models.

Therefore, FAU’s Office of Equality and Diversity launched the #FAUrespect_Campaign against sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse of power to provide information, to raise awareness and to make it clear that FAU promotes a zero tolerance stance against harassment and discrimination in any form.

The women’s representatives of the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology as well as Harriet Ziegler (harriet.ziegler@fau.de) from the office of Equality and Diversity offer confidential advice and support to anyone who has experienced or observed discrimination or (sexual) harassment.

For more info on the topic and FAU’s policy on preventing and dealing with cases of discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment, please visit: https://www.gender-und-diversity.fau.de/english/sexual-harrassment/

Gender and diversity research are cross-sectional topics in every academic subject culture; their consideration and integration into teaching is considered a quality feature and is explicitly recommended by the German Research Foundation. (DFG 2024)

In order to promote a gender- and diversity-sensitive teaching and learning culture at the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology, the departments are requested to offer courses that cover gender-specific topics as part of the target agreements 2023-2027, which aim at increasing the proportion of women in academia.

In the cross-faculty overview, provided by the IZGDD, you will find the gender-related course offer.

 

Note: To improve readability, the term “women’s representative” is used below. The title of the “Advisor to the Officers for equal opportunities for women in science and the arts” has also been shortened.