Dr. Flore Kunst, Head of research group ›non-Hermitian Topological Phenomena‹ (@Stephan Spangenberg)

„I am very excited to take up the role of gender equality officer at the institute because the equality between men and women, or anyone for that matter, is very important to me”, says Kunst. „Subconscious biases are prevalent everywhere, and I believe that we as an institute have a task to address that as much as possible.”

​​​​​​​Equal opportunities officers are responsible for improving the situation of women, reconciling work and family life for women and men and promoting equal opportunities for young talent. The goal is to monitor the implementation of the Bavarian Act on Gender Equality and to support the implementation of the Gender Equality Plan.

At the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, 38% of all current employees are women. In the scientific sector, 31 % of the employees are female, a relatively high percentage in the field of academic STEM professions, in which women are still underrepresented according to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. With Maria Chekhova, Hanieh Fattahi, Flore Kunst, Birgit Stiller and Katja Zieske, a total of five female research group leaders work at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light.

„My vision for the next few years revolves around getting more role models at the institute, for example in the form of a female director, organizing regular unconscious bias trainings so that everyone becomes more aware of their own prejudices, and having regular round-table meetings with the women at the institute in order to identify the needs of the female employees”, explains Kunst, who has been researching Non-Hermitian Topological phenomena at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light since 2021.

Contact

Flore Kunst
Lise Meitner Research Group
Leader of Independent Research Group Non-Hermitian Topological Phenomena
www.mpl.mpg.de / flore.kunst@mpl.mpg.de