Written by Vrabcová Tina & Bastlová Daša

Report on mentoring exchange of specialists of education and mentoring of Biology Center, Czech Academy of Sciences, České Budějovice

Networking is a very important part of the most successful projects. The past three years showed us that even the constraints of the Covid-19 pandemic can’t stop us from implementing our plans. Thanks to the online environment, we have been able to continue networking, working and discussing even in times of total lockdown. But there is certainly no doubt that there is nothing like a face-to-face meeting, a personal touch, sharing experiences in person and undoubtedly the added value of building personal contacts on a large European scale. This was one reason why we decided to plan a series of in-person meetings in June 2022 focused on an exchange of mentoring experiences between the coordinators of the mentoring programme at the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences and coordinators from several universities in Germany. Thanks to eument-net membership and on the advice of the former chair of eument-net, Katerina Cidlinska, all these meetings became possible!

Our journey to explore mentoring experiences started in Dusseldorf, at Heinrich Heine University. Ekaterina Masetkina invited us to the anniversary ceremony of the SelmaMeyerMentoring programme and opening of Selma-Meyer-Straße on the campus. During this ceremony, we had a chance to hear many inspiring stories and to speak with the mentors and mentees. We also had a very interesting conversation with a mentor of the SelmaMeyerMentoring programme, Marcus Holzheimer, who helps to prepare participants of mentoring programmes for their future career. During our visit, we moreover had a very insightful discussion with gender equality officers Anja Vervoorts and Claudia Balan about the German science system and problems of gender (in-)equality that German women scientists face. Later, we had an opportunity to discuss mentoring experiences and programmes with the mentoring coordinator Kati Korst, who travelled from RWTH Aachen University specially to meet us and to talk about the advantages of the mentoring programmes.

The next day, we took a train straight to Cologne where mentoring coordinator Phuong Glaser and head of mentoring Kathrin Pieper had arranged a meeting with us and the members of the HR department. We shared our experiences from mentoring programmes and learned about the different types of mentoring offered by the University of Cologne. Thanks to Phuong, we had a chance to attend an event relating to gender equality and the glass ceiling in academia.

One week later, we continued our “mentoring trip” to Greifswald. This time, our two colleagues from the grants office of the Biology Centre CAS accompanied us. We received a very warm welcome from Annette Ehmler from Greifswald University with whom we learned more about the university’s interesting history first. Later, we obtained comprehensive information about mentoring programme(s) and the Mentothek and were really impressed. Our colleagues from the grants office shared differences and similarities between the two institutions in many aspects of grant support for scientists.

After two fruitful days in Greifswald, we continued on to Kiel. Our plan was to meet and discuss the Via_mento programme with Ruth Kamn and gender equality activities with Iris Werner. Despite the very strict Covid situation in Kiel, both were eager to share their experiences with us and we learnt a lot from them.

And how can we summarize our June 2022? Sharing, discussing and gaining new knowledge helped us to understand the similarities between the problems at different institutions and in two countries. We have to point out that personal visits and experiences served as a huge inspiration for us and encouraged us, giving us the feeling that our work does indeed make a difference. We are very grateful for this feeling! We would like to thank all colleagues from Germany again for finding time to meet with us and share their knowledge. Many thanks for the impressive work they do!

Foto Copyright HHU Dusseldorf: left to right: Bastlová Daša (CZ), Dr. Dorothea Uhle (D), Marcus Holzheimer (D) and Vrabcová Tina (CZ) during the anniversary ceremony of the SelmaMeyerMentoring programme in Dusseldorf

 

 

On 7th December 2022 a member of eument-net, Annette Ehmler, is going to share the best practice to increase the visibility of women scientist (mentees and alumnae) at the University of Greifswald (Germany).

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University of Greifswald, situated in the North-Eastern part of Germany, is a fairly small institution of higher education with approx. 10,000 students. Female students, PhDs and postdoctoral researches have the opportunity to participate in various mentoring programmes of KarriereWegeMentoring. For the tenth anniversary of the mentoring-programmes in 2021, KarriereWegeMentoring established a variety of events and activities. Some of them – like the Mentothek or the advent calendar –  focussed on mentees and alumnae and aroused a nationwide interest. Both activities also contributed to more visibility of mentoring and the participants involved. Annette Ehmler will present both activities: What was the idea about – how were they realised and what tips can she give to those, who plan similiar activities?

We invite you cordially to the Online Expert Exchange on December 7th, 2022 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. All eument-net members are invited via e-mail. If you are not a member but you would like to take part, please feel free to apply eument.netATgmail.com until December 5th in order to get the link for the event.

Final program announced here.

Brochure here.

Book of abstracts here. 

EUMENT-NET and Department of Political Science University of Naples Federico II invite you to the international conference dedicated to the topic of unconscious bias in transforming academia and the strategies how to tackle them.

Part of the conference will focus on mentoring as a succesful tool to support gender equality and diversity in academia.

International Conference

16-17 September 2019

Naples, Italy

 

Inequality vs inclusiveness in changing academic governance:

policies, resistances, opportunities 

 

Organized by

EUMENT-NET

&

Department of Political Science University of Naples Federico II

 

In the last decades, profound transformations have been re-shaping academia and the research environment. Recent reforms in funding structures, research assessment exercises, and accountability procedures are redesigning the practices in academic work, redefining research schedules and determining relevant effects on scientific career paths. The academic practices emerging in these contexts produce new inequalities while strengthening old ones. Changing rules in recruitment and career development of researchers in some instances reduce and in others intensify the pre-existing gender gaps, having ambivalent impacts on different researchers’ cohorts, on minorities, on universities of different sizes, and different regional contexts.

European policies are orienting research and innovation processes towards the development of more responsible and inclusive research practices, able to respond to the challenges of contemporary society. Gender Equality plans and mentoring programs in scientific institutions are part of these practices, fostering diversity in academia. Implemented in different national and cultural contexts, they offer a variety of models to tackle inequalities in academia, develop intergenerational exchange and encourage diversity.

This conference, organized by the University of Naples Federico II and EUMENT-NET (European network of mentoring programs in academia), aims to encourage the debate about the impact of current transformations on academic landscapes in terms of gender and diversity, and about the achievements of equality action plans and related practices among:

• academics and researchers from different research fields,
• decision-makers in academia and government bodies,
• practitioners from academic and research institutions (project managers and persons in charge of the implementation of gender equality plans/projects, mentoring programs, etc., and other HR development professionals).

Keynote speakers:

• Marieke van den Brink, Professor of Gender & Diversity at the Radboud University Nijmegen; prof. van den Brink will speak about the gendered processes inside academic institutions
• Marcela Linková, Head of the Centre for Gender and Science at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Chair of the ERAC Standing Working Group on Gender in Research and Innovation; Dr. Linková will speak about the approach of European Commission to gender equality in academia
• Annalisa Murgia, Associate Professor of Sociology at the Department of Social and Political Science of the University of Milan; coordinater of the European FP7 project GARCIA – ‘Gendering the Academy and Research: Combating career Instability and Asymmetries’

Main conference topics:

• New forms of techno-scientific governance and their impact in terms of gender and diversity in academia
• Excellence and bias effects in academic recruitment and career progression
• The contribution of gender studies and STS feminist studies to fostering gender equality in academia
• The contribution of HR professionals to fostering gender equality in academia
• Gender equality action plans in academic and research institutions
• Mentoring programs as a tool for supporting and developing diversity in academia
• Cultural change in the research institutions through mentoring programs
• Mentoring programs benefits for mentees, mentors and institutions

For practitioners, there will be organized expert exchange sessions.

The International Conference will be hosted by the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, from the 16th – 17th of September 2019.

On the 18th of September 2019, the General Assembly of the EUMENT-NET will be held. This meeting is also open to those (non-members) interested in EUMENT-NET´s agenda (e.g.) mentoring programs coordinators or people thinking about setting up a mentoring program at their institution. We will discuss the plan for 2020 and the possibilities of future cooperation among our members. It is a good opportunity for non-members to gain useful contacts and information, and to explore a possible interest in membership. There is no need to register for this day.

KEY DATE:

Registration deadline: 31^st of August 2019.

You can register here. 

 

Conferences fees:

•     Standard fee: 180 €
•         Special fee: 140 €

We offer special fee to:

• EUMENT-NET membership applicants (attendance of the General Assembly of the EUMENT-NET on the 18th of September 2019 is expected)
• Students
• Applicants for special reduced fee (explanation needed; aimed especially at people without institutional affiliation or from institutions in Eastern or Southern Europe)

 

Organizing committee:

EUMENT-NET committee: Katerina Cidlinska, Dagmar Höppel, Ulrike Kéré, Ekaterina Masetkina, Olivia Och, Evelyn Rusdea.

Local committee: Maria Carmela Agodi, Carlo De Luca, Adele Lauria, Vincenzo Lapiccirella, Emanuele Madonia, Ilenia Picardi, Caterina Rinaldi, Mariacristina Sciannamblo.

 

Scientific committee:

Maria Carmela Agodi (Università di Napoli Federico II), Katerina Cidlinska (Czech Academy of Sciences, EUMENT-NET), Fabio Corbisiero (Università di Napoli Federico II, AIS Studi di Genere), Ilenia Picardi (Università di Napoli Federico II), Harald Rohracher (Linköping University, RN24 Science and Technology, European Sociological Association – ESA), Assunta Viteritti (Università di Roma La Sapienza, STS Italia), Ann Elise Widding Isaksen (University of Bergen, RN33 Women’s and Gender Studies – European Sociological Association – ESA).

 

Conference venue:
Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche
Via Rodinò 22 a /Largo San Marcellino
Napoli

Homepage

 

In case of any questions, please contact:

With the patronage of:

 

RN24 – Science and Technology

RN33 – Women’s and Gender Studies

 

      Mind, Gender and Language PhD, UNINA

Call in PDF: Call_for_Conference_Naples_2019

For the accomodation near the conference venue we recommend the hotels in the PDF document here: hotels-1

 

On 6 and 7 February took place a short-term visit of Katerina Cidlinska, the coordinator of the Czech mentoring program for early career researchers, at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf thanks to the inivitation from Ekaterina Masetkina, the coordinator of SelmaMeyerMentoring.

The visit consisted of many meetings with university officers, coordinator of mentoring program for early career physicians and representatives of students and of the workshop for SelmaMeyerMentoring mentees dedicated to the communication skills

These two days were very fruitful! Kateřina thanks Ekaterina for the chance to draw inspiration for the mentoring program she coordinates. „Her“ mentees can look forward for few innovations and improvements. It was also interesting to see how other coordinators approach their role and to reflect own work on this basis.

Katerina strongly recommends such a short-term visit to other coordinators! Let´s visit each other :-). Here you can see which program could be the best fit for yours.

Our next General Assembly will take place on 18th of September 2019 in Naples.

The General Assembly will follow the international conference organized by University of Naples Federico II (Mentoring Program GENOVATE@UNINA) and eument-net.

Detailed information will be available here soon.

eument-net will have a panel at the 10th European Conference on Gender Equality in Higher Education which will take place 20-22 August 2018 in Dublin.

Panel: Mentoring Programmes – a Part of Cultural and Institutional Change in Academia and Research

Presenters: Katerina Cidlinska, Ekaterina Masetkina & Dagmar Höppel
Abstract: GEHE_2018_eument-net_fin

Monday 20th August 2018
Parallel Session 1, 14.30 – 16.30, Conference Centre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin, Room 3051.  (Swift Theatre)