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14. Gender Forum

Save the Date: 9 December 2026

The GenderForum is a networking event for everyone at our university who is committed to gender equality. The GenderForum provides a space to address fundamental issues of equality (in the academic environment). The Jenny Gusyk Awards will also be presented. The event will be followed by a get-together with drinks and snacks. All interested members of our university are warmly welcome.

The 2026 GenderForum will take place on December 9, 2026, from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. in a hybrid format in the conference room of the New Seminar Building.

*** The event will be interpreted into German Sign Language. ***

We look forward to seeing you there!

Jenny Gusyk Preise 2026

Noch bis zum 15. September 2026 können Personen oder interne Projekte für eine der drei Preiskategorien „Gleichstellung“, „Familienbewusste Führung & Leitung“ oder „Nachwuchs“ vorgeschlagen werden.
Weitere Informationen zu den Kategorien und zum Bewerbungsverfahren finden Sie hier.

Review

13th GenderForum | 2025

At the 13th GenderForum, Kathrin Zippel shed light on the political attacks against gender, queer, race, and anti-discrimination research in the U.S. in her presentation titled “Science and Diversity Under Pressure?” She demonstrated how programs focused on diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism—as well as research fields labeled as “woke”—are being systematically undermined through legislative initiatives and interventions in research funding. Zippel also asked to what extent similar patterns are already visible in Germany and called for strategically strengthening equality, diversity, and academic freedom.

12th GenderForum | 2024

The 12th GenderForum centered around the keynote by Teresa Bücker entitled “Temporal Justice: A Question of Power and Freedom – Also in Academia”. Bücker highlighted how unequal access to time shapes societal power structures and has a particular impact on academia. She emphasized that a lack of time is not merely an individual issue, but a structural one that requires solutions at the societal level. A new politics of time, she argued, could help make academia more equitable, inclusive, and free.

11. GenderForum | 2023

The 11th GenderForum shed light on intersectional perspectives. Gabi Rosenstreich (Berlin) gave a presentation titled "Intersectional Gender Equality Work - An Introduction." Following that, various intersectionality-oriented practical examples from the University of Cologne were presented (Susanne Groth: Doctoral positions for female scientists with disabilities, Phuong Glaser: International Female Scholars Mentoring, Silke Hackenesch and Liane Bächler: Maternity Network in Science).

10. GenderForum | 2022

At the 10th GenderForum, the focus was on academic freedom. Professor Dr. Andrea Geier, Director of the Center for Postcolonial and Gender Studies (CePoG) at the University of Trier, presented the dispute over academic freedom in her keynote speech, elaborating on the dynamics of debate, thematic clusters, and the understanding of freedom.

9. GenderForum | 2021

The focus of the 9th GenderForum was on the topic of family-friendliness at universities under pandemic conditions, which CHE Managing Director Prof. Dr. Frank Ziegele introduced and presented the results of the CHE study "The path to a family-oriented university - lessons learned from the Corona pandemic". Challenges of the last few months were highlighted and recommendations for action for the university were derived from them, e.g. in the areas of culture, making offers more flexible, study and working conditions, university management and personnel development.

8. GenderForum | 2020

The 8th Gender Forum took place completely online for the first time, due to the current situation. This year's keynote speech was held by Prof.in Ute Klammer, Managing Director of the Institute for Work and Qualification and Professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen. With her talk"Equality Policy at Universities. What do professors know and how do they act?" she gave an overview of principles and developments within equality policy at universities in general.

7. GenderForum | 2019

For the 7th time, interested parties and actors from the field of equal opportunities accepted the invitation to the GenderForum.
This year's keynote speech was held by René_ Rain Hornstein on the topic of current challenges for gender equality, which will be faced by universities in connection with the introduction of the 3rd gender option. Special attention was paid to the specific perspective on trans*emancipatory higher education policy.

6. GenderForum | 2018

The originally planned keynote lecture had to be cancelled due to illness and instead four high chairs were placed in front of the audience, inviting an open discussion on the topic of anti-feminism in the university context. People from various areas of the university took part in this discussion, which provided exciting insights and a lively debate.

5. GenderForum | 2017

The keynote lecture "Unconscious Bias - Recognizing and Changing Unconscious Prejudices" by Jessica Gedamu, Director for Organizational Development and Corporate Clients at the European Academy for Women in Business and Politics (EAF Berlin) inspired the large audience of over 75 visitors* to reflect and discuss attitudes and attitudes towards groups of people, especially in the context of recruitment processes.

4. GenderForum | 2016

The keynote speech was held by Prof.' Dr. h.c. Jutta Allmendinger, President of the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and Professor of Educational Sociology and Labour Market Research at the HU Berlin, on the topic of "Excellence and (Gender) Justice". She named current problems at the universities, e.g. in the areas of personnel recruitment and compatibility, reported on her own experiences and gave valuable suggestions for changes and changes in perspective.

Contact

Talina Nachtrab (she/her)
Department for Equal Opportunities

E-Mail: t.nachtrab@verw.uni-koeln.de
Tel.: +49 221/470 90788