DEWIS workshops D&I Week available

News - 27 October 2021

DEWIS organized several workshops during the first D&I Week at the TU Delft. The workshops were successful, well attended and we had interesting talks with the participants. We will share a few highlights with you.

Harassment in Dutch Academia

During the first workshop Marijke Naezer talked about her report ‘harassment in Dutch academia’. The study distinguish six different manifestations of harassment: scientific sabotage, sexual harassment, physical and verbal threats, denigration, exclusion, and not facilitating “special needs”. Facilitating (systemic) factors for harassment are hierarchies within and outside of academia, the current competitive and individualistic culture of the academic world, inadequate responses to incidents, and self-silencing among victims. Recommendations are creating awareness, support structures and a culture of care.

How to craft your future by personal leadership

Karen Kragt gave us a little historical perspective of women in science in the Netherlands during her workshop ‘How to craft your future by personal leadership’. She shared the four dimensions of Personal Leadership: Needs, Ability, Guts and Favor Factor. But women can hit the glass ceiling because of traditional criteria. This was made clear by explaining the Vision Thing: Women were tended to have NO vision by their peers. One explanation is that women express their vision differently. Kragt: ‘Men and women are equal, but they are not the same. Climate Crises gives opportunities to women. The new keyword is cooperation. It is a natural trait for women to take care of the planet and the future population. Watch the video recording here.

Picture a scientist

And in the last session during Picture a Scientist panel discussion we talked about the biases, perceptions, code-switching, prejudices and culture. We talked about the importance of embracing discomfort in order for culture change to happen and it will happen more quickly if we ask more questions, so let’s be a scientist. Do you want to look back at a workshop or read more about some of the topics that have been covered? Then go to the D&I Week website: www.tudelft.nl/DIWeek.