Women and Leadership in Academia

In a recent series about “Women Shaping Knowledge” (Frau* SCHAFFT Wissen), the University of Freiburg portrayed diverse women of different career levels and disciplines. Participating women named good leadership as a key challenge in their development as academics – both as a driver for their own careers and as a role, they needed to define for themselves when they move up the career ladder. Notwithstanding other hurdles, being a woman in academia – at the very least statistically – continues to be one of the main obstacles to ascend to higher (and permanent) positions. Yet as more women overcome it, the endeavor to become genuine and supportive leaders to students, young researchers, employees – and yes – one’s colleagues continues to require creativity, courage and persistence.

The University of Freiburg would like to propose an interactive panel discussion to address female leadership in an academic context: the multitude of challenges faced by women of all backgrounds who seek out leadership and the type of resources that help to turn the journey from strenuous to inspirational. Seeking changes beyond the leadership of individual women, we hope this session will spark a broader conversation about structural as well as cultural changes that would make universities and academia a more attractive and equal working place for women and men alike.

Language: English

• Prof. Dr. Kerstin Krieglstein, Rector, University of Freiburg
• Eva Rüskamp, Project Lead, International Research Marketing, University of Freiburg”
• Dr. Viviane Timmerman, Head of Computational Modelling Group, University Medical Center Freiburg
• Laura Mahoney, Excellence Cluster livMatS, Freiburg

Room: Dartmouth