GDK Portrait
The GDK aims to 1) create an inclusive environment for members of all genders, 2) appreciate diversity as a chance for enrichment among all students and staff; 3) ensure that all professional levels and students are equally represented.
The current role of the Gender and Diversity Commission (GDK) is to:
- Recognize the potential and need for improvements in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles;
- Support D-BAUG in implementing actions that promote gender, diversity, equity and inclusion;
- Highlight examples of good practices at D-BAUG and ETH-wide;
- Cooperate with the ETH Diversity Office.
To this effect, the GDK aims to promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) principles in the domains of:
- Personnel hire and management
- Working modes and models
- Cooperation and exchange within the research and teaching environments
- Transparent procedures and protocols.
The Gender & Diversity Commission in action
Activities and events
- 2025 Mentoring Programme
- 2024 Kangaroos go Science Day, with D-MATH
- 2024 Spotlight Seminar Series
- 2024 Mentoring Programme
- 2023 Hosted the Kangaroos go Science Day, organised with D-MATH
- 2023 Launched GDK Spotlight Seminar Series (with special guests)
- 2023 Launched GDK Spotlight Stories (focus on D-BAUG staff and students)
- 2023 Gender-neutral toilets in HIL
- 2022 GDK comics, based on D-BAUG 2021 survey responses
- 2022 Establishment of a mentoring programme for doctoral candidates
- 2022 Sponsorship of 500WS Zurich "external page Really? What Now?" event for doctoral candidates
- 2021 Webinar “I do it my way” on career paths of five female engineers
- 2021 D-BAUG survey of staff and students
- 2018 Role models of D-BAUG portrayed in Annual Report
- 2017 Pilot mentoring and coaching programme for scientific assistants
- Campaign for gender awareness: GDK flyer handed out in AVETH welcome bags
- Sponsoring of yearly “BauIngenieurinnen Forum”
Reconciliation of studies/work and family
- Working from home (in place before Covid-19)
The GDK is the outcome of a focused workshop which took place in 2014, in response to the ETH Executive Board’s Gender Action Plan (GAP), the goal of which was primarily to increase the number of women pursuing scientific careers.
As a result of the workshop, the following five domains of action were identified:
- Personnel management
- Transparency
- Working modes and models
- Teaching
- Proposals and measures for appointments and permanent positions
Download A catalogue of 22 measures (PDF, 132 KB) was developed for these five domains, which the Departmental Conference approved in the autumn of 2015. A working group was formed to accelerate the implementation of proposed measures. By May 2018, it had successfully implemented 14 of the 22 measures. Five measures are still in progress and three have been postponed. The D-BAUG GAP report 2018 explains the aforementioned phases for the processing of proposals and measures, their implementation and long-term mainstreaming within the Department.
The GDK was established at D-BAUG in early 2019 and it began to consolidate and establish the measures with respect to Gender and Diversity promotion at the Department (Orders of Procedure, German version only).