Özyeğin University (ÖzU) hosted a panel titled “Science, engineering, gender”

On December 5, 2019, ÖzU’s Gender Equality Unit and the PLOTINA Team organized a panel titled “Science, Engineering, Gender,” which focused on the current gender-related issues in positive sciences and engineering. The panelists discussed questions such as gender inequalities in their own fields, what universities could do to overcome these problems and how gender could be integrated into research and development (R&D) processes.

The panel was composed of three parts:

1) “The Twitter Project of Women Scientists”

Elçin Ekşi, ERES Biotechnology & Fatma Akın, Wageningen University, Group of Research, Animal Breeding and Genomics 

The main aim of the Women Scientists Project is to increase the visibility of women scientists. The Project’s Twitter account, which features the biographies and scientific works of women scientists from Turkey, has reached more than 15.000 followers. In this part of the panel, we had the chance to learn how the project started and what the Women Scientists’ most recent works consisted of. 

2) “Gender-based Segregation in Engineering Education”

Dr. İlknur Eruçar, Özyeğin University, Department of Natural and Mathematical Sciences

In this part, we discussed gender-based career choices of ÖzU students and the gender-related segregations they might be experiencing in the courses they take. With the participation of our students, we talked about the ways in which we could carry forward the gender equality agenda and how we could change teaching curricula to this effect.

3) “Sex/Gender in R&D”

Dr. Alper Açık, Özyeğin University, Department of Psychology

In the final section of our panel, we discussed the consequences of the neglect of sex and gender in research and innovation processes and evaluated the possibility of overcoming this problem with regard to examples from different areas.

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Özyeğin University attended the 16th national meeting of the inter-university network against sexual harassment and gender-based violence

Founded in 2012, the Inter-University Network Against Sexual Harassment and Gender-Based Violence (CTS Network) held its 16th national meeting in Ankara on November 22, 2019. Hosted by Atılım University, the meeting once again provided a platform for universities to share their experiences in implementing gender equality plans and actions, and more specifically in creating mechanisms to combat sexual harassment and gender-based violence on their campuses.

Convening at the national level twice a year, the agenda of CTS Network’s 16th meeting focused on the following titles:

• Implementing gender equality policies and gender equality trainings in universities,
• Activities of Women’s Studies Centers and how they could be supported to combat sexual harassment and gender-based violence,
• Creating a pool of gender equality experts and developing content for “training the trainers” programs,
• Developing an internet policy for the CTS Network members’ web sites and social media accounts,
• Improving the trust relationship between students and the CTS Units in universities,
• Evaluating the relationship between confidentiality, trust and disclosure.

Following the meeting, the CTS Network issued a common declaration which reiterated that the Turkish Higher Education Council and all universities ought to align themselves with such nationally binding legal documents as the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). The declaration concluded that CTS Units must be supported by university administrations and the policy documents created by CTS Units must be put into practice and upheld by all members of university governing bodies and communities.  

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Özyeğin University organizes a workshop on the integration of gender into research and teaching processes

In collaboration with the Research Worldwide Institute Istanbul (RWI), ÖzU will feature a workshop for all its academic staff titled “The Integration of Gender into Research and Teaching Processes.” The workshop will take place on December 19, 2019 and host a group of 20 participants from different scientific areas.

The workshop aims to identify the difficulties faced in the integration of a gender-aware perspective into research and teaching processes, to determine the needs and to help develop methods to achieve this goal. The workshop will start with an introductory activity moderated by Dr. Ece Öztan, continue with two separate sessions focusing on research and teaching processes, and it will end with a general assessment session.