Multiple Barriers on the Path to Scientific Excellence: Empirical Approaches to Solutions

This project explores the retrospective and planned career paths of researchers at BUA institutions through a survey that represents different levels of seniority (doctoral students, junior faculty, professors). In addition to career paths and a focus on mental health and burnout, the project assesses attitudes towards 'Diversity, Objectivity, and Meritocracy in Science (DOMWiss survey)' among researchers. These attitudes form the normative framework in which unequal career developments and prospective career planning are embedded. Discrimination experiences and the attitudes of marginalized researchers themselves (e.g., internalized stigmatization, negative self-image) are considered as psychological mechanisms. The context-specific nature of social inequality and the imperative of intersectional research on justice are central to this research. The complexity of social positioning is addressed through the participatory development of German-language survey instruments.

Project Leader: Prof. Dr. Mirjam Fischer, Humboldt-University of Berlin