Equal Opportunities
Everything you need to know about Equal Opportunities at MPI-SP
The Equal Opportunities Office (EOO) at the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy (MPI-SP) was first appointed in Spring 2022. Since then, we have conducted a comprehensive Diversity Survey accompanied by joint meetings on different levels in order to formulate the Institute’s first Equal Opportunities Plan, which summarises the goals and measures MPI-SP intends to pursue in the period of 2024 until 2026. This webpage gives you an overview of our ongoing diversity, equal opportunities, gender equality, and inclusion efforts at the Institute. We invite you to come along for the ride!
Equal Opportunities Office
MPI-SP’s particular concern is to ensure equal opportunities and anti-discrimination through the conscious promotion and inclusive design of personnel and social diversity at the institute (diversity management). Part of this is our Equal Opportunity Office (the official German term for this office is Gleichstellungsbeauftragte or Gender Equality Officer) which was appointed by the Institute’s management in March 2022 and which is currently made up of Alina Schmidt (Equal Opportunity Officer) and Irmgard Kühn (Deputy Equal Opportunity Officer).
The tasks of the Equal Opportunities Office are diverse in nature, they include, for example, monitoring recruitment procedures, involvement in the development of processes at the institute, drawing up the Equal Opportunities Plan and conducting MPI-SP’s Diversity Survey. The Equal Opportunities Office is generally the point of contact for various topics related to diversity, equal opportunities, gender equality and inclusion. In addition to the supervisor or any person with support and management function as well as the Central Gender Equality Officer, Ulla Weber, the EOO is also one of the points of contact for cases of non-scientific misconduct, such as sexualized harassment or other forms of discrimination.
Equal Opportunities Plan
The Equal Opportunities Plan (EOP) is the central document of MPI-SP’s strategy concerning diversity, equal opportunities, gender equality, as well as inclusion, and therefore fulfils a number of functions: it describes how the plan came into being, illustrates the status quo of the covered time period, works as a reporting and monitoring tool and records the goals and measures the Institute has set itself to implement with regard to its diversity, equal opportunities, gender equality and inclusion efforts.
Just to name a few of the goals and measures the Institute has committed itself to in the EOP of 2024-2026:
- to increase the number of female, non-binary, and international employees
- to lay the groundwork for future EO work at MPI-SP, e.g., by developing an institute-specific code of conduct, a diversity commitment statement and a hiring guideline
- to conduct an institute-wide anonymous survey every three years, which gathers feedback of both the goals measures taken up to then as well as ideas, thoughts and wishes for future goals and measures in preparation for the next EOP
Women’s Lunch and Zulip stream
In 2022, Junior Research Group Leader Clara Schneidewind and Equal Opportunities Officer Alina Schmidt came up with the idea to introduce a joint lunch for all women working at MPI-SP as a chance to get to know each other better to exchange ideas, share experiences and empower each other.
In order to organise the Women’s Lunch as well as to provide the women at MPI-SP with a space to exchange ideas amongst each other, we also created the Women@MPI-SP Zulip stream. All women of MPI-SP are welcome!
Pronoun-inclusive culture
MPI-SP promotes a pronoun-inclusive culture. Just like writing and pronouncing someone’s name correctly, using a person’s correct pronoun is a basic gesture of respect towards them. Sharing pronouns is not limited to people who may use pronouns that go beyond “he” or “she” – on the contrary: anyone who shares their pronouns, especially those who identify themselves as “cis” (meaning that their gender identity now corresponds to the one that was presumed for them at birth), thereby indicate that they are aware of the benefits of a pronoun-inclusive culture and show openness, respect and understanding.
Max Planck Society Core Values
At MPI-SP, the Max Planck Society Core Values apply. This code of conduct sets out the basic values of the Society and is aimed at all staff, scientists, and directors, as well as guests, visitors and partners.
In the medium-run, the Institute will introduce an institute-specific code of conduct as written down in the EOP. This document will then complement the more general Max Planck Society Core Values of the MPG.
Family Office
Our Family Office is headed by Magdalena Rooch with Irmgard Kühn as her deputy. To find out more about in what way the Family Office can support you and which offers are available for families, please check out their webpage.