Diversity in the physics workplace – A case study at the Freie Universität Berlin
Project leader: Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann
Research assistant: Andrea Bossmann
Interview survey to study the workplace culture at the department: All researchers at the department are cordially invited to take part in the research project by being interviewed. We would also be happy to welcome the participation of doctoral students.
The working group Erlemann is currently examining the workplace culture at the department of physics (for details see below). For this purpose we are conducting sociological interviews with postdocs/mid-level researchers holding PhDs as well as PhD students. The interviews address the career paths and personal experiences with the aim of a qualitative evaluation of the workplace culture.
The interviews can take place in English or German language. Each interview takes approx. 1 hour. All interviews are confidential and will not be published.
If you are interested in participating or in case you have any questions please feel free to contact Andrea Bossmann (a.bossmann at fu-berlin.de) and/or Prof. Dr. Martina Erlemann (martina.erlemann@fu-berlin.de).
Physics is among those fields in the natural and technical sciences with a particularly low proportion of women, and this as early as in the study entry phase. This low share of women even decreases with each step on the academic career ladder, a phenomenon known as vertical segregation. This pattern of declining representation applies not only to the category of gender but also to other diversity categories such as ethnicity, social background, sexual orientation, and others.
This project aims at exploring the career paths and career strategies of junior researchers at the Department of Physics at Freie Universität Berlin in order to investigate to which extent their experiences in the workplace cultures might be affected by their potential membership in minority groups in physics, including gender minorities, ethnic minorities and first generation academics. The project will address potential obstacles that the early career scientists might have experienced due to their belonging to a minority group and potential challenges that they might have faced during their careers, as well as whether and which opportunities they were afforded.