Our guiding principle
TUD Dresden University of Technology aims to become "a gender-equitable university where equal opportunities and chances are available to all persons in every status group" (Equality Concept TUD Dresden 2025, Equality Concept TUD Dresden 2018). The areas of activity and specific measures are set out in TU Dresden's Equality Concept from 2018.
A review in 2016 showed that many of the goals of the 2014 Equality Concept had not yet been fully achieved, including in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and School of Science. There is still an unbalanced gender ratio in these two areas, with a significantly higher proportion of male academic staff (Equality Concept TU Dresden 2017). In order to counteract this situation, suitable measures were developed within the faculty to achieve the goals set out in the Equality Concept.
Against this background, the Women's Environmental Network* (FUN*) was initiated at the Faculty of Environmental Sciences with the aim of supporting female students in STEM subjects and providing them with a platform. This network has been expanded to cover the entire field and now also includes the School of Science. The aim is to enable them to build up a professional network during their studies and at the start of their careers. Networks offer the opportunity to exchange information, get to know stakeholders and a wide range of professional fields and can therefore help to advance your career.
FUN* aims to provide a space to discuss the difficulties that women face in everyday university life (both in their studies and at work), to seek solutions together and to find or develop possible courses of action. In addition, the programs aim to promote the soft and hard skills of the participants. Another aspect is the promotion and further training of specialist knowledge, especially in the STEM field, where women are still underrepresented in science.
In order to achieve these goals, a regular get-together is organized as part of the FUN*, which enables the exchange of information between stakeholders from the various departments, professionals in possible career fields, students and employees of TU Dresden. Workshops, lectures and excursions are also part of the events that are intended to promote gender equality work in the STEM field at TU Dresden.