News and Events
Open Panel "Feminist Diffractions for Critical Transformations in Science & Technology Studies" on the conference Diffracting the Critical
March 12 2025, 9:00am - 5:30pm, https://sts-hub.de/25/
Speakers:
Annika Richterich (Univ. Maastricht, NL), Renée Ridgway ( Univ. Aarhus, DK), Rafaela Cavalcanti de Alcântara (iTa, ÖAW, AT), Anlam Filiz (Turkish-German Univ. Istanbul, TK), Anna Antonakis (CH), Fabiana Schmid (Univ. Linz), Bidisha Chaudhuri (Univ. Amsterdam, NL), Paula Helm (Univ. Amsterdam, NL), Kian L. Bochmann (Univ. Ediburgh, UK), Emily Yue (Univ. Ediburgh, UK), Lisa Krall (Univ. Köln), Paula Ziethmann (Univ. Augsburg), Svenja Breuer (TUM), Sabina Vassileva (Univ. Prag), Marion Coville (Univ. Poitiers, F), Gabrielle Lavenir (Univ. Poitiers, F), Daniela Schuh (Univ. Vienna)
Panel Abstract:
Feminist Science & Technology Studies (Feminist STS) have grown to a vibrant, constantly evolving and differentiated research field that provides a wealth of insights into how the critical in STS can be developed further. As part of Feminist STS, concepts of situatedness (Haraway 1988) and diffraction (Barad 2003) as research practices embrace the critical. Feminist STS scholars in German contexts pursued these approaches to develop self-reflexive research that investigates social inequalities, capitalist, imperialist and neo-colonial practices in science & technology. We address societal challenges that are engrained in the techno-sciences and that discuss whether and to what end science & technology can be transformed through integrating feminist paradigms into STS research including intersectional, postcolonial, de-colonial, post-humanist and queer research perspectives as well as participatory and/or experimental approaches.
New research assistant: Tamar Grosz
Since January 6, 2025, Tamar Grosz has joined the AG Erlemann/Science Studies as a research assistant in the research project “Women in QuantumTech”. A warm welcome!
Book presentation of the new edited volume by Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann and Dr. Sarah Huch
14.11.2024, 12:30pm - 01:30pm, Room KL 29/135, Rost- und Silberlaube, Freie Universität Berlin, hybrid
Under the title “Gender & Diversity Studies in MINT meets Naturwissenschaftsdidaktik. Synergien und Impulse für eine gender- & diversitätssensible Forschung und Lehre der Naturwissenschaften”, a new edited volume has been published. Editors are Dr. Sarah Huch and Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann, the edited volume was published by “Springer VS Wiesbaden”. The interdisciplinary work combines contributions from physics, biology, medicine, feminist science & technology studies and science didactics. With a variety of impulses, it encourages a gender- and diversity-oriented approach to (own) research and teaching.
On November 14, 2024, the editors Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann and Dr. Sarah Huch will present the volume in the Gender Lunch Talks and invite you to discuss the topics of the book together with the authors of the edited volume.
More information on the contents of the book can be found here. You can take part in the book presentation here (online).
Bonn Fall High Energy Physics Meeting 2024: Embracing Diversity in High Energy Physics
07. - 09.10.2024, Bethe Center for Theoretical Physics, University of Bonn
Andrea Bossmann will give an invited talk at this year's Bonn Fall High Energy Physics (HEP) Meeting/Bethe Forum on diversity in physics. You can find further information here.
Invited Talk and Workshop by Martina Erlemann on „Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Physics“
11.09.2024, Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
On 11 September 2024 Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann held a talk and workshop on „Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Physics“ at the workshop series „The Dark Matter Landscape: From Feeble to Strong Interactions“. The workshop aimed to chart the landscape of dark matter from feeble to strong interactions, covering a range of different dark matter production mechanisms. It was organised by the Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics of Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
Panel Series “Making and Doing Transformations in Feminist Science & Technology Studies
19.07.2024, Vreie Universiteit Amsterdam
As part of the 2024 quadrennial joint meeting of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) ‘Making and doing transformations‘, Prof. Dr Martina Erlemann and Prof. Dr Petra Lucht led lead a panel session series on 19 July 2024 on the topic ‘Making and Doing Transformations in Feminist Science & Technology Studies’. More information can be found here.
Special Session Academia in Context on 2nd BOS.QT day
23.05.2024, 9:00 - 18:30, Magnus-Haus, Berlin
The Berlin School of Optical Sciences and Quantum Technologies (BOS.QT) holds its 2nd full-day workshop on 23 May, 2024 at Magnus-Haus, Berlin. This year's program offers a special session on Academia in Context with talks by Johannes Schöning, University St. Gallen, on Academic Detox, and by Martina Erlemann on Gender & Diversity in the Cultures of Physics. Book of Abstracts can be found here.
Panel at the conference "Leakage. Inaugural Conference of stsing"
20.03.2024, 09:45 - 11:15 am, Technische Universität Dresden
As part of the conference "Leakage. Inaugural Conference of stsing", Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann and Prof. Dr. Petra Lucht will lead a panel on March 20, 2024 on the topic "Between intervention, activism and “sound” social science research. Challenges in Feminist Science & Technology Studies". More information can be found here.
Talk on the topic "Workplace cultures in physics as a game changer for equal opportunities" by Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann
19.03.2024, 09:30 - 10:00 Uhr, Technische Universität Berlin
As part of the "87. Jahrestagung der DPG" and the "DPG-Frühjahrstagung der Sektion Kondensierte Materie (SKM)" at Technische Universität Berlin, Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann will give a talk on "Workplace cultures in physics as a game changer for equal opportunities". The talk will take place in connection with the symposium "Diversity and Equality in Physics" (SYDE). More information can be found here.
Networking Lunch for Postdocs
23. February 2024, 11:30 am - 1pm, Cafeteria 1.1.25, Arnimallee 14
On February 23 there will be a Special Networking Lunch for Postdocs in the cafeteria at Arnimallee 14. This is your chance to share your views on relevant topics and to network with like-minded postdocs from the department!
Brown-Bag Lunch and Networking
19. January 2024, 11:30 am - 1pm, Cafeteria 1.1.25, Arnimallee 14
On January 19, there will be a brown-bag lunch for networking in the cafeteria at Arnimallee 14. Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann will present the first results of the case study currently running and put them up for discussion. This is your chance to share your views on this and other relevant topics and to network with like-minded people from the department!
This event will take place regularly in the future. It is organized by the Gender Equality Officer of the Physics Department and AG Erlemann/Science Studies.
Grete Hermann Network workshop, Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat – Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter
31. July - 02. August 2023, University of Würzburg
The Grete Hermann Network is an international network of female researchers in condensed matter physics at all career levels. Andrea Bossmann is giving the talk "What does gender have to do with physics? - Insights from research on science cultures" at the GHN workshop as invited speaker.
Further information can be found on: https://www.ctqmat.de/en/events/2023-07-31-grete-hermann-network-workshop
International Conference on Women in Physics
10-14 July 2023
At this year's International Conference on Women in Physics, which is taking place on 10-14 July, Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann and Andrea Bossmann will present current research results on the culture of physics. The conference ist hosted every three years by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics. This year's conference is organized by the Gender in Physics Working Group (GIPWG) of the Indian Physics Association (IPA).
More information about the conference can be found on: https://icwip2023.hbcse.tifr.res.in/
Transnational Feminist Dialogues on Decolonizing Science and Technology
Thursday, 09.02.2023, Time: 4 - 6 pm (CET), online event on Webex Meetings, registration: www.mvbz.fu-berlin.de/registration-tfd
The Margherita von Brentano Center for Gender Studies at Freie Universität Berlin is organizing for this winter term 2022/23, the fifth edition of the Transnational Feminist Dialogues, under the title: "Transnational Feminist Dialogues on Science, Technology and Society". Our final session brings together speakers from different disciplinary and regional context to discuss different perspectives on decolonizing Science and Technology and to identify needs for future action and research.
Convened and moderated by Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann and Dr. Tanja Kubes (Research Group of Gender & Science Studies in Physics, FU Berlin)
More information HERE.
Despite manifold efforts of universities to foster diversity, science and technology are still strongly affected by (post)colonial power structures. Indigenous perspectives on technology and science are ignored in STEM knowledge production, as is the fact that minoritized groups are still significantly marginalized in research.
To make science and technology more equitable and diverse, it is time to decolonize existing power structures.
What does it take to decolonize science? Is this even possible? And if so, what structural changes would be needed? What would a decolonized science and technology world look like? Ultimately, what can we all do to advance change?
To discuss these and related pressing issues, the Research Group of Gender & Science Studies in Physics and the Margherita von Brentano Center invite internationally renowned experts to discuss different perspectives on decolonizing Science and Technology and to identify needs for future action and research.
Panelists:
Prof. Dr. Katemari Rosa (Federal University of Bahia, Brazil)
Prof. Dr. Banu Subramaniam (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Prof. Dr. Paola Ricaurte Quijano (Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico)
Guest Talk: Sealing-Wax and String: How Everyday Things Carried Gender into the Physical Laboratory (Donald L. Opitz, DePaul University, USA)
Thursday, November 10, 2022, 6 p.m. s.t., Hörsaal A, Room 1.3.14, FB Physik, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin
How was the ‘sociomaterial’ culture of experimental physics gendered historically? How did the gendering of laboratory materials draw on everyday practices? This talk focuses on everyday and physics laboratory contexts in which practitioners utilized commonplace, domestic tools like sealing-wax and string, precisely during a period in which laboratories and their technologies grew in scale and sophistication. Notoriously a male bastion, the physical laboratory beckons for detailed, gendered analyses. The gender status of ‘things’ in physical laboratories are inextricable from the gendering of the cultures of the experimental sciences more generally. The transit of sociomaterial things across laboratory thresholds provides an opportunity for observing how the gendering of things at times remains durable and at other times is reconfigured. This case study of sealing-wax and string offers critical clues for understanding the wide gender gap that has historically persisted in the physical sciences and engineering.
Donald L. Opitz is Associate Professor at DePaul University (USA). His research engages themes in the areas of women, gender, and science, especially in the British Empire. He is an editor of For Better or For Worse? Collaborative Couples in the Sciences (2012) and Domesticity in the Making of Modern Science (2016). He is a general editor of the forthcoming series, Gender, Colonialism, and Science: A Cross-Cultural Compendium of Primary Sources.
The flyer for the event can be found here as a pdf file.
DIPHER 2022 - Diversity in physics for the diversity of physics
25-27 October 2022, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg
The conference DIPHER 2022 is organized by the Physics Department of the FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, the Physics Diversity Network PHYDINE and the Max-Planck-Institute for the Science of Light (MPI). The conference connects both aspects of diversity and combines talks on physics and on gender and diversity alongside workshops and panel discussions. Among the invited speakers is Prof. Dr Martina Erlemann who will talk on gender & diversity in the cultures of physics. For more details see here.
German Conference on Women in Physics
Nov 25, 2022
The 26th German Conference on Women in Physics will take place from 24-27 November 2022 at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and will bring together physicists for networking and professional exchange on various topics of physics research as well as equal opportunities, work-life balance and career development. The working group Erlemann will be represented at the conference by Andrea Bossmann, who will give the invited Keynote/Gender Highlight Lecture on 25.11.2022.
Further information can be found on the conference website: https://indico.scc.kit.edu/event/2604/
New research assistant: Andrea Bossmann
July 01, 2022
As of July 01, 2022 Andrea Bossmann is part of the AG Erlemann/Science Studies. You can find more information here.
Celebrating Women* in Physics
5 May 2022, Vienna University
To celebrate the International Day of Women* and Girls* in Science, the students of the Vienna Doctoral School in Physics invite to participate in a free one-day event that aims to highlight careers and experiences of women* in physics in Austria with a multifaceted scientific programme. Part of the programme is the Workshop on Science Cultures ("Fachkultur") in Physics led by Martina Erlemann.
For the complete program see here.
Research Group Pitches – Physicists present their scientific work and teams
Jan 26, 2022 | 05:00 PM s.t. - 07:00 PM, online
Different research groups present their teams and key scientific areas. We will also present our work. For more information click here.
New research assistant: Dr. Tanja Kubes
Nov 01, 2021
Since Nov 01, 2021 Dr. Tanja Kubes is part of the AG Erlemann/Science Studies. More information about Tanja Kubes' work and teaching can be found here.