IV.5.1. Programme supporting female researchers at the early stage of their career
In the Gender Equality Plan, adopted by the University of Warsaw and within the IDUB strategy, activities are planned in order to strengthen the positions of women in the early stages of their research careers. One of them is “networking among female doctoral students”, with regular meetings in the form of breakfasts with invited guests and guest speakers. This is a less formal format, which intends to enable the participants to get to know each other, exchange experiences and ideas, share problems, and work together toward solutions. The construction of the “UW Doctoral Women’s Network” is aimed at counteracting the slowing down of women’s research careers, their integration within the university, and mutual support of women in science.
The Action is both broad and open-ended, intending to counteract the phenomenon of “cream skimming”, i.e., singling out and rewarding those with sufficient achievements. It is geared towards strengthening female doctoral candidates and equipping them with knowledge about publication strategies, applying for grants, and travelling abroad, which will be useful for them during the later stages of their research careers.
The UW Doctoral Women’s Network
The UW Doctoral Women’s Network is a series of meetings for women who are in doctoral studies and at doctoral schools at the University of Warsaw.
We encourage all doctoral candidates to attend – we will discuss experiences, support opportunities, past Network meetings, and plans for the current academic year, including meetings with inspirational people.
We discuss the challenges faced by women at the start of their research careers, combining doctoral work with private life, neurodiversity, communication styles, and starting international collaborations.
Organisational contact: jd.kubisa@uw.edu.pl (Dr Julia Kubisa, Faculty of Sociology, UW Equality Team).
Ongoing contact on the Network: (mailing group) networkingdoktorantki@uw.edu.pl and the group on FB: UW Doctoral Network
Rules of the UW Doctoral Women’s Network:
- The meetings are primarily for the exchange of experience and support. They do not involve any tasks to complete; it is not another project. Their purpose is to strengthen each other, to be able to talk about the experience of being a PhD student and a woman in the world of science. We choose topics which we want to talk about, and we indicate who we would like to see as a guest. Our network is horizontal.
- We build a safe space, we share, and we don’t judge.
- We meet periodically to maintain a certain rhythm – but there is no compulsory attendance; you can participate at your own pace.
- We would like to invite more fellow doctoral candidates.
- We are all on a first-name basis.
- There are Polish speakers as well as people who don’t speak Polish, so correspondence can be in 2 languages, especially with key information, and we may switch to English during meetings.
Details on the UW Equality website (in Polish)