The aim of a new mentoring programme at the university is to support young female academics on their path. Annett Thiele, Vice President for Early Career Researchers and Gender equality, explains the background to the programme.
Why is the career step to professorship still difficult for female academics?
For many female academics, the phase of qualifying for a professorship coincides with the phase of starting a family or the time when young children need to be looked after. Both areas - career development and personal life planning - take up a lot of time and attention. In addition, there is often the uncertainty associated with temporary positions and high mobility requirements in the doctoral and postdoctoral phase. If there is a lack of encouragement from their personal environment and academic supervisors during this time, women in particular often find it difficult to decide in favour of the uncertain path to professorship - especially as the chance of achieving such a position is still relatively low statistically.
What does the University of Oldenburg do to support female academics on their path?
The university has long regarded the promotion of young academics in general and the promotion of female academics as a strategic task. That is why it is trying to continuously improve the conditions for studying and doing a doctorate with children, for example, by offering a family service. But it's not just about structures. It is important to create a culture in which female academics are encouraged to achieve their ambitious career goals. This starts with sensitising lecturers and superiors to a gender and diversity-friendly management culture, is expressed in the recruitment policy and, last but not least, in personnel development offers that specifically address female academics in the qualification phase or on the way to a management position.
This also includes the new mentoring programme "Progressio". Who exactly is it aimed at?
"Progressio" is one of two lines of the university's new Helene Lange Mentoring Programme. It is aimed at female academics who already have their sights firmly set on a professorship, are perhaps about to take up their first academic appointment or have just taken up their first position as a professor, i.e. experienced postdocs, junior research group leaders, junior professors and tenure-track professors. It is important for me to emphasise that we want to address all female academics who see themselves as women, including all trans*, inter* and non-binary people. The aim of mentoring is to encourage highly qualified women in science to consistently pursue their career goals.
To what extent is an individual mentoring relationship helpful here?
It can provide precisely what many young female academics have often lacked up to now: mentors can provide personal and moral support, but also pass on their experience of the academic system and the written and unwritten rules of the academic world. They have a wealth of personal experience, but also informal knowledge about success factors and stumbling blocks in the science sector, which they can pass on to their mentees in confidential discussions. Freedom from hierarchy is very important: mentors and mentees are not dependent on each other; this is an essential prerequisite for mutual openness.
Who do you want to recruit as mentors?
Our idea is that the mentees themselves choose a mentor who has already reached the goal they are aiming for - and who fits in with their specific concerns. If someone does not yet have a clear idea of who might be suitable at the beginning of the programme, the preparation workshop can be used to prepare the selection. Of course, the programme coordinator Dr Susanne Elpers and I support the mentees in making contact with the desired person and recruiting them as a mentor. However, we are also happy to hear from professors or managers at the university who are interested in taking on a mentor group. Depending on the interest of the mentees, leaders from other sectors may also be considered.
What do you hope to gain from the programme?
We hope that "Progressio" will enable female academics who have the professional and personal skills to realise their desire to become a professor. This would be an important contribution to counteracting the so-called "leaky pipeline", i.e. the phenomenon that the proportion of women at higher career levels in science continues to fall.
Should the programme be offered on a permanent basis?
Two rounds are currently planned, in 2020 and 2022. Our mentoring programme is funded by the Female Professors Programme, a funding programme of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the third phase of which runs until 2022. How the programme will continue after that has yet to be finalised.
Shouldn't targeted support for young female scientists start earlier?
Indeed it should. This is why the university will also be offering a mentoring programme for female academics in an earlier career phase from next year. This programme, entitled "Potentials. Career orientation and planning for female academics*" is designed to help female doctoral and postdoctoral researchers find their academic appointment shortly after completing their doctorate. This can be a goal in academia, but just as easily one in the non-university sector. In this case, too, the focus is on strengthening the participants in making their personal decision and then pursuing this goal accordingly.
Interview: Ute Kehse
