Establishing, Conducting and Evaluating Gender Awareness Trainings for Members of Hiring and Tenure Committees at the School of Social Sciences & Technology and for Faculty Recruitment Chairs at TUM

Description:  Recruitment and promotion in universities is known to be important moment where gender bias can impact decision making and as a result the composition of and power distribution in academic institutions. Scientific research indicates that unconscious gender bias shapes perceptions of candidate suitability and plays a significant role in shaping selection decisions within a position in academia  

Instead of assuming that individuals and groups can move beyond their gender bias unassisted, a more constructive method is to acknowledging the existence of gender bias and training individuals and groups in how to identify and address gender bias when it arises. This requires becoming familiar with the different shapes gender bias can take in specific decision-making contexts and to learn effective methods to overcome bias in order to accomplish a specific task in a gender equitable manner. In the context of recruitment and promotion in academia, this means that members of the committees in charge of these processes need to be familiarized with how gender bias is often enacted in peer review for recruitment and promotion as well as trained in how to prevent and counteract bias. To this end, gender awareness trainings for recruitment and promotion committees at universities are an important tool. 

Project Team: Cansu Güner, (PI) Ruth Müller

Period: 2022-2026