She was elected by the female workforce of FVB for a four-year term. Silke Paul succeeds Marta Alirangues, who was the first FVB Central Gender Equality Officer, from January 2021 to August 2022, and who stepped down early because of a career change.
Silke Paul is an experienced gender equality expert. The qualified educationalist and sociologist joins us from RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, where she had been Gender Equality Commissioner and Head of Equality and Family since 2017. From 2005 to 2017, she served as Women’s Officer and Deputy Head of the Office for the Advancement of Women and Equality at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. From 2009 to 2012, she was the elected full-time Central Gender Equality Officer of the Senate and Head of the Women’s Office at that university.
Silke Paul will support and bring together the Equal Opportunities Officers from the institutes and the Joint Administration of FVB, teaming up with them to promote the strategic development of issues such as achieving gender equality and striking a good work-life balance in science.
“The Forschungsverbund Berlin already has established gender equality structures and plans in place. At the same time, FVB is integrated into the Leibniz Association and its gender equality goals. Consequently, there are a wide range of players as well as existing strategies and actions. The big challenge will be to use synergy effects in collaboration with all stakeholders and to further develop FVB as a unit in the direction of effective gender equality that is embraced in practice,” explained Silke Paul.
