Hertie School leadership adopts Gender Equality Plan

The Hertie School leadership has adopted a new Gender Equality Plan in spring 2022 as part of its overall Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy. The plan outlines measures, activities and policies already in place, as well as those planned a spart of the DEI strategy, with a specific focus in 2022 and 2023 on enhancing gender equality.

The GEP measures cut across the full spectrum of the School’s activities –  from recruitment and promotion to teaching and research, among many others. They forge a link between the goals of the Hertie School’s new President Cornelia Woll: promoting science and fostering diversity.

“It is our aim to promote research that is anchored in a culture of diversity and inclusion.” says Cornelia Woll. “The Gender Equality Plan is a critical element of our social responsibility in educating future leaders and backing up our commitment to diversity and inclusion at the Hertie School.”

The European Commission has made Gender Equality Plans an eligibility criterion for funding from the Horizon Europe Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 2021-2027, an initiative the Hertie School endorses to promote gender equality in research and innovation. 

The School’s GEP focuses on four key areas: gender balance; integration into research; teaching and outreach; measures against gender violence; and worklife balance and organisational culture. 

The GEP is just one aspect of its comprehensive DEI Strategy. The School launched a process to formulate this strategy in 2018, in consultation with stakeholder groups and external experts. In 2019, based on work by its Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, the Hertie School adopted a vision, key strategic objectives and a portfolio of measures to foster and promote equality, diversity and inclusion. In the Academic Year 2020/21, another Task Force focused on institutional and systemic discrimination as well as gaps, shortcomings and barriers in existing procedures and structures.

Fostering diversity at all levels is also a key priority of President Cornelia Woll. Expanding the diversity of the student body and the faculty and putting emphasis on topics dealing with minorities and discrimination in research and the curriculum are core tasks for her presidency.

Read more about work the Hertie School is doing to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion here.