Review: 11.02.2026: Workshop and networking event on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science

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© Maren M. Weissig

"Who am I and what brought me here?" - An inspiring workshop on the influence of origin and diversity on scientific careers

On Wednesday, February 11, 2026, on the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, around 30 participants accepted the invitation to explore the interactions between science, technology and society. The day of action launched by the United Nations emphasizes the need to make gender inequalities and intersectional discrimination in science visible and reduce them.

With this in mind, the workshop offered space to reflect on how gender, social diversity and the associated privileges or disadvantages influence scientific careers and one's own scientific point of view. The participants took a close look at the biographical, social and structural conditions that have shaped their professional careers. In the subsequent input, technical application examples were used to highlight stereotyping, discrimination and risks, which illustrated the importance of gender and diversity aspects for socially sustainable and socially just technology development. This gave the participants the opportunity to link individual experiences with social inequalities and to reflect on the resulting perspectives and their formative influences on science and research. Most attendees stayed beyond the end of the workshop and took the opportunity to discuss topics in greater depth, make contacts and exchange ideas across disciplines over cake provided by the "Dresden Network for Students in Doctoral Studies and Research".

The positive response that was noticeable during the event and was clearly reflected in the subsequent survey shows how important and urgently spaces for reflection, exchange and networking are needed in order to address and make visible gender-specific and intersectional inequalities at different levels of the academic system. One participant commented on this: "Unfortunately, there is currently no such reflection in my field of research. This should be anchored as a research culture". The International Day of Women and Girls in Science once again underlined the need to promote equal opportunities and diversity as fundamental prerequisites for sustainable, socially relevant and socially just science.

The workshop was organized by the SustainING. Socially and environmentally just engineering sciences in cooperation with the "Dresden Network for Students in Doctoral Studies and Research". The FrauenUmweltNetzwerk* presented five inspiring female Dresden scientists from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering on their Instagram channel. Unit Diversity Management drew attention to the contributions of women to computer science development in the interactive exhibition "Faces of Computer Science".

Impressionen der Veranstaltung

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