Diversity and Discrimination in Research Organizations

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online.

The era of team science has long since dawned. However, in order for the individual members of a team to work well, research organizations need to provide a productive and naturally non-discriminatory working environment. Bringing together and integrating researchers and their diverse backgrounds in effective teams does not happen on its own. To harness the positive effects of diversity, it must be understood and managed proactively.

The edited collection Diversity and Discrimination in Research Organizations provides researchers with empirical studies on the question of whether and to what extent the social identity of the academic workforce affects their individual integration in research organizations. Practitioners receive guidance and suggestions on possible starting points and requirements for programmes to improve equal opportunities and work climate in their research organizations.

The articles can be roughly divided into two categories according to the guiding questions of this edited collection: macro studies surveying the extent of discrimination and harassment in research organizations and micro studies exploring the influence of the specific cultural contextual conditions of the academic workplace on experiences of discrimination and harassment related to the diversity of the workforce.

Clemens Striebing is a Senior Researcher with a focus on organization research at the Center for Responsible Research and Innovation (CeRRI) of Fraunhofer IAO in Germany. He studied political science and public law at the Free University of Berlin and received his doctorate in organizational sociology from the University of Heidelberg. At Fraunhofer CeRRI, Clemens deals with diversity and discrimination in the innovation system, organizational cultures and the transfer and exploitation of research outputs. His experience includes management of and participation in numerous national and international research projects for public and private clients. Clemens teaches demand-oriented and diversity-sensitive innovation development at TU Berlin.

Jörg Müller is a Researcher at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) at the Open University of Catalunya (UOC) in Barcelona, Spain where he forms part of the Gender and ICT research program. He obtained his PhD in Communications at the European Graduate School (EGS) in Saas-Fee, Switzerland and holds a degree in Sociology and Computer Science from the Free University in Berlin, Germany. He has been an expert adviser to the European Commission DG Research and Innovation. Main research interests include practice-based approach to gender (in)equality, the science of team science, and new, data intensive research methods within the social sciences. He has been coordinating the European projects “GenPORT – Your gateway to gender and science resources” (2013-2017), GEDII – “Gender-Diversity-Impact” (2015-2018) , and “ACT - Communities of Practice for Accelerating Gender Equality and Institutional Change in Research and Innovation across Europe.” (2018-2021).

Martina Schraudner holds the Chair "Gender and Diversity in Technology and Product Development" at the Technical University of Berlin, developed the Center for Responsible Research and Innovation at Fraunhofer IAO and is a board member of the acatech – National Academy of Science and Engineering. Martina deals with methods, instruments and processes that make diversity accessible to organizations and companies. With a PhD in biology from Technical University of Munich, Martina has held various positions at the German Research Center for Environmental Health (gsf), ETH Zurich and Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ). She is active in national and international committees for application-oriented research and innovation projects, among others as director of the Gendered Innovations Webpage, member of the Gender Summit Committee and the "Structural Change" group of experts of the EU.