Gender Equality Award 2025 Goes to Physics

Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg awards the Gender Equality Prize every two years to honour outstanding commitment to equal opportunities in academia. This award honours initiatives that use innovative concepts and targeted measures to promote equality and improve the compatibility of science and family life.

In 2025, the Taskforce for Gender Equality in Physics will receive this award. Founded in 2024, the initiative bundles existing equality measures at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy and develops targeted new projects to empower FLINTA* people (women, lesbians, inter, non-binary, trans and agender people) in the faculty.

The task force is led and supported by lecturers, academic staff and students. The students Romana Ganser and Helena Hollstein, Professor Adriana Pálffy-Buß as well as Katharina Klug and Alina Markova from the Administrative Office of the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat (Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter), who have initiated and implemented several projects, deserve special mention.

"With its outstanding commitment, the task force has created a sustainable structure that opens up new perspectives for students, scientists and all FLINTA* staff in physics. It is a role model for other departments and impressively demonstrates how equality can be actively shaped," says Professor Anja Schlömerkemper, Vice President for Equal Opportunity, Career Planning and Sustainability.

The Taskforce's Projects

The task force is involved in numerous initiatives to promote equal opportunities in physics. These include networking events such as the FLINTA* barbecue and the "Meet your role model" breakfast for female professors, where students gain direct insights into the career paths of female scientists.

The lecture series "Women - Physics - Career Paths" makes female role models visible and promotes dialogue. Another component is the "Rethinking Physics" exhibition, which portrays female physicists at all career levels worldwide and thus inspires young women to take up the subject. With this exhibition, the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat is committed to equal opportunities. Several members of the Equal Opportunities Taskforce are and were involved in the organisation and opening.

Prospective students also benefit from the task force's initiatives. For example, the physics summer school for pupils specifically targets young women. With success: in 2024, the proportion of female participants was over 57 per cent.

In addition to these long-term projects, the task force is also committed to concrete improvements in everyday student life. These include initiatives such as better equipping women's toilets with sanitary products and planning a FLINTA* poster exhibition to make female physicists and their research more visible.

"The initial successes of the task force are reflected in enthusiastic reports from students as well as in the nomination by the physics student council. Role models are being strengthened and networking within the faculty is growing," says the Vice President. All of this requires continuous commitment, as it is mostly done on a voluntary basis and alongside studies or work.