After last year’s online event, we were delighted to host the event again in person at our faculty’s great venue TUtheSky on November 11th.
We had the honor to have prestigious special guests this year: Our rector Sabine Seidler, Brigitte Ratzer (head of the department for gender competence), our current dean Marko Mihovilovic and our former dean Herbert Danninger.
Furthermore, we were also happy to have visitors from other departments of TU: TU Career Center (Julia Stift), Human Resources Development (Stefanie Madsen), PR (Herbert Kreuzeder) and Fundraising (Claudia Bochinz).
Also, as for the first time the Annual Meeting was open for all genders, we were able to welcome roughly 80 faculty members.
After a few welcoming words by our chair Bettina Mihalyi, also Sabine Seidler and Marko Mihovilovic shared some opening remarks on the great and sustainable impact FemChem has already had on the scientific environment at the faculty: the appointment of a third female full professor and three more female tenure track positions within only this year.
Afterwards, the program started with a short presentation about two new initiatives FemChem has been taking over the past year: “Friends of FemChem” as an opportunity for all genders to join the network, and a new gender competence seminar created specifically for FemChem members, which allows for the official recognition via ECTS.
Subsequently, the special events, hosted this past year, were presented: The Scientific Workshop 2021 and the successful participation of our running team in the Österreichischer Frauenlauf.
This was followed by the reports of all four teams on the recent and future advances and projects. A few examples are the transition to MS Teams, new hard- and soft skill courses, as well as the collaboration with other female networks (“WoChem” and “STEM fatale”) of other Austrian universities.
The Diversity and Identity team furthermore presented the plan for a new, professional add-on to the previous study, which will deal with the question how parenthood affects the progression of academic careers at the faculty.
Lastly, Stefanie Madsen shared the Human Resources Development’s programs and courses which could serve as a fundamental support for many young talents at the faculty.
After the official program, there was the possibility for casual networking, where connections and ideas were exchanged, accompanied by snacks and coffee.
