Equity & Diversity

Promoting ED means backing underrepresented groups, ensuring work-life-balance, raising awareness of unconscious bias and preventing discrimination based on chronic/long-term illness or disability, gender (identity), ethnicity, social background, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or age. 

The Cluster’s strong ED achievements and activities aim to contribute to a future research world that is equitable, inclusive and diverse. Since 2019, we have surpassed our targets of increasing the proportion of female scientists in IntCDC: Currently 39.3% of PhDs (target: 35%), 32.3% of postdocs and 50% of JRGLs are female researchers (target: 30%). In cluster founding period 1, we appointed 66% female new Cluster Professors (target: 50%), and 50% of our incoming/outgoing guest researchers and 56% of our 25 Visiting Professors were female scientists.

Our monitoring shows that female PhDs from IntCDC are successfully moving up the career ladder even before completing their doctorates, taking-up professorships and management positions in fields of science and technology, where women’s underrepresentation is still very strong.

The Cluster-specific equity and diversity measures operate on three levels, [i] nurturing the established inclusive and diverse IntCDC work culture, and [ii] the inclusive and diverse community, plus [iii] – at the request of our researchers – strengthening individualized and subject-specific support programmes within the interdisciplinary context. 

We actively seek and encourage innovative and diverse talents to join our inclusive IntCDC research community and help foster equity and diversity in academia.

• Recruiting workshops on inclusive sourcing and selection
• Inclusive job ads
• Active recruiting
• Active recruiting in a specific network (AdvanceAEC) with short video-tutorial here
• Offers of the university on family support, onboarding for internationals and health issues
  
  
• Individual consulting on inclusive recruiting

We assist scientists during their family and career start-up phase, foster networking and support the talents of tomorrow with individual approaches - for an inclusive and diverse IntCDC research culture.

• Networking for all, online
• Networking for working parents with kids at the StadtPalais
• Networking event for 40 scientists with 50/50 share of female and male networkers
• Video-tutorial on self-presentation in a specific network (AdvanceAEC)
• Flexi funds for supporting researchers with young children
• Organization of childcare for the children of guest professors
• Information on university-wide offers on support for families, e.g. parent-child room, flexible childcare, childcare places, KidsBoxes
• Coaching and mentoring for internationals, individual appointments in IntCDC and at the university
• Mentoring Programs for Doctoral Researchers, PostDocs, Junior Professors and Tenure-Track Professors
• Workshop and coaching program specifically tailored to the needs of female scientists 

We raise awareness of the importance of diversity and equal opportunities for scientific excellence – for an inclusive and diverse research environment.

• Speech of Sean Ahlquist on the topic "Architecture and Orchids: Agency in Spatial Techtonics", on the provision of avenues by which the rarely considered communities of differently-minded persons can be addressed within the technically-oriented field of architectural research
• Video portraits of IntCDC female role models, see Yijie Gong’s portrait below
• IntCDC for Girls‘ Day
• Networking 50/50 (females/males)