Women scientists are still underrepresented in higher career levels in university medicine. Young women in particular face challenging decisions that can limit their academic career.

In our third funding period, 35% of the research projects of the SFB 1009 “Breaking Barriers” are led by female PIs. All scientists have committed to raising awareness for gender-specific issues and supporting equal opportunities for all. This is in line with the goals of the University of Münster.

In order to bundle the offers of the third-party funded associations at the University of Münster, to generate synergies and to create common network structures, a position for "gender funds pooling" of all DFGs was established in 2014 through the initiative of the CRCs of the Medical Faculty - including SFB 1009 - Joint project of the WWU established in personnel development. Regular workshops and coaching for female scientists are offered as part of the WWU advanced training.

At the same time, the University of Münster has launched several specific programs to support outstanding postdocs and junior research group leaders as well as to promote female scientists at the level of senior postdocs. The mentoring program “First Class!” is to be mentioned here.The CRC 1009 "Breaking Barriers" supplements and supports the activities on equal opportunities at Münster University. In 2018 the first "International Women-in-Science Network Conference" was organized as a cooperation project with other internal and external DFG-funded research alliances To promote female researchers at an early stage in their careers.

The success of this conference encouraged further activities. Since 2020, the gender committee of the SFB 1009 has been intensively committed to the development of a women's research network (Women-in-Science Network Medicine) in the medical faculty of the University of Münster. The joint research projects of the Medical Faculty bundle all activities and offer a common communication platform for networking for women in the Medical Faculty. All organizational details on workshops and coaching, lectures (scientific and political), childcare and numerous helpful links can be found there and are maintained centrally. The heart of WisNet Med will be a mentoring program for women scientists in medicine, which is currently being set up.