There is some hope for diversity in science

I became quite happy this morning while scanning though the new Chalmers recruitments for new assistant professors in the Area of Advance calls this year (unfortunately this news item went out only on the intranet for some reason, but I will recap with names for easy googling).

Out of 15 recruitments, 10 are women – that’s almost 70%, which must be regarded very positive in terms of gender balance at a university with a male-dominated faculty. Of the five men, only two seem to be of European background, with the other three being non-white from different cultural spheres. In the end, only two out of fifteen (<15%) are the “traditional” Swedish university type (white men) who dominate the Chalmers faculty today.

Well done with the recruitments, especially if these are also the best persons for the positions (which I assume they are given how hard these positions are to get!) Also, good luck to the new PIs, I have already spoken to two of them who will land at the same department as I am in, and I can’t wait to start working with these brilliant minds!

Here’s the complete list of recruitments:

• Mathilde Luneau, Area of Advance Energy – Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
• Alexander Giovannitti, Area of Advance Material – Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
• Varun Chaudhary, Production Area of Advance – Department of Industrial and Materials Science
• Maud Lanau, Sustainable Cities – Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
• Margaret Holme, Basic science – Department of Biology and Biological Engineering
• Annikka Polster, Health Engineering Area of Advance – Department of Biology and Biological Engineering
• Eszter Lakatos, Health Engineering Area of Advance – Department of Mathematical Sciences
• Elena Pagnin, Information and Communication Technology Area of Advance – Department of Computer Science and Engineering
• Ilaria Torre, Technology in Society – Department of Computer and science engineering
• Kun Gao, Transport Area of Advance – Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
• Angela Grommet, Excellence Initiative Nano – Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
• Georgia Panopoulou, Basic Science – Department of Space, Earth and Environment
• Hans Chen, Basic Science – Department of Space, Earth and Environment
• Saara Matala, Technology in Society – Department of Technology Management and Economics
• Nils Johan Engelsen, Excellence Initiative Nano – Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience