Last week, biologist Isabella Visschers defended her dissertation in front of an all-female PhD committee – a statement on the lack of female professors at the Institute for Water and Wetland Research (IWWR).

In stark contrast to the national trend and to other research institutes in the science faculty, the number of female professors is decreasing at IWWR. In fact, there have been no female professors at the multidisciplinary institute since last year, with ten male professors currently on staff.

‘We need a cultural shift’

The PhD candidate and her colleagues hope to raise awareness of this issue with an all-female PhD committee. Professor Nicole van Dam, who left Radboud University in 2019, is one of the campaign’s initiators.

Role models

‘Female professors should serve as role models,’ she says. ‘During my studies, I read about a female professor who was also a mother of two. She inspired me to become a professor.’

PhD candidate Visschers agrees, but has plenty of other role models to look up to as well. ‘The lack of women in this institute doesn’t discourage me from believing I could become a professor if I wanted to, even though I don’t at the moment.’

Male qualities

According to Van Dam, the limited number of female professors can be attributed to the institute’s relatively closed culture. This is to the detriment of female candidates, particularly during job interviews. ‘It’s primarily men who determine whether a candidate is suitable for a position. This could result in more emphasis being placed on traditionally male qualities in the decisive interview phase.’

There also seems to be a problem with staff evaluations. ‘Men tend to be drawn to research, while women tend to be drawn to teaching,’ says Van Dam, who believes that teaching is undervalued compared to bringing in major grants.

Throughflow

This gender gap does not seem to apply to students. With more than half of the student body being female, biology is far from a male-dominated discipline. ‘It’s all about the throughflow to higher positions,’ explains Van Dam. ‘The institute has work to do. Simply hiring a few women when male professors retire isn’t enough; we need a cultural shift. A staff of all-male professors is totally outdated.’

According to Van Dam, Dean Lutgarde Buydens is the perfect person to oversee this cultural transformation. It is no coincidence that Buydens is serving as the vice-rector of today’s PhD committee. ‘She supports our initiative, has influence, and can really make a difference,’ says Van Dam.