On 29 September 2026, atom*innen took part in two sessions at the German Women in Physics Conference (Deutsche Physikerinnentagung, DPT) at Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU). Our Gender Officer Karoline Irschara spoke on a panel about equal opportunities measures. She also co-presented a contributed talk on diversity in physics.

About the conference

Women physicists in Germany have been meeting regularly for scientific and societal exchange since the 1990s. In 1997, participants in Berlin formally established the conference as the Deutsche Physikerinnentagung. This development helped pave the way for the founding of the Working Group on Equal Opportunities (Arbeitskreis Chancengleichheit, AKC) of the German Physical Society (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, DPG) in 1998. Since 2019, the DPT has run as an independent and successful conference, and the AKC supports each year's local organising team. We work closely with the AKC, most recently on our campaign PhysicsCounts. The campaign highlights the gender imbalance in the prizes the DPG awards to women and men.

The DPT brings together scientists, students, educators and professionals from all areas of physics, career stages and sectors. Alongside its scientific programme, it offers career events, soft-skills workshops, opportunities to meet representatives from research and industry, and plenty of space for networking. 

Panel: Equal Opportunities Measures

Karoline joined Dr. Stefanie Wittich and Lee Ann Schneider (Philipps-Universität Marburg), Anna Voigt (Nationales MINT Forum, Kompetenzzentrum Technik-Diversity-Chancengleichheit e. V.) and Natascha Compes (head of the Gender Equality, Diversity and Family Affairs Office at Landau) on the panel. They discussed which measures are needed today to advance gender equality in physics and across STEM. Which measures actually work, which ones are overrated?

Here are some of our key takeaway messages: 

• Start early: Almost every female physics student in the audience had participated in a Girls' Day at school. Such initiatives can help break down initial barriers and encourage them to imagine themselves as physicists of the future.
• Take data seriously, and listen closely. We need data and research to see where we stand and whether we are making progress. That alone can be a challenge: at higher academic levels, gender data is rarely tracked at all. At the same time, we need to make space for the lived experiences of women and marginalised groups in physics.
• Strenghthen networks and ditch the myth of the lone genius. Science is not about succeeding alone or doing everything by yourself. Collaboration, mutual support, and the exchange of ideas are essential to scientific progress. We need spaces that are easily accessible for connection.
• Let's make it everyone's responsibility. Equity in physics is not just a women's issue. Lasting change requires the support of the entire academic community.

Contributed Talk: "Why Diversity Makes Better Physics"

These themes were also at the heart of our talk "Why Diversity Makes Better Physics". Karoline gave it together with Ulrike Böhm (ZEISS Group / DPG Working Group on Equal Opportunities). The talk presented data on gender representation in physics and discussed the factors behind persistent disparities.

Research consistently shows that diverse teams foster creativity, productivity and innovation, both in academia and in industry. Yet large gender imbalances persist in physics, especially at senior career levels. In Germany, for example, women hold only around 12% of physics professorships. So diversity is not only a question of fairness and equal opportunity. It is essential for better science. A scientific community with a wider range of perspectives is better equipped to ask new questions, develop innovative ideas and tackle complex challenges.

Our contribution

With atom*innen, we want to help drive this change. We make women and gender minorities in quantum physics more visible and connect them across institutions and career stages. We also create opportunities for exchange, support and collaboration.

We would like to thank the organisers, our fellow panellists and speakers, and everyone who joined the discussions for the valuable exchange and inspiring perspectives.

This last month, we had the pleasure of welcoming Mario Neuner, a final-year physics bachelor's student at University of Innsbruck, as our intern at atom*innen. He worked intensively on automating our data process, particularly the visualizations of Eurostat data, and succeeded in optimizing our workflow. You can find all the visualizations here on our statistics page. 

Here's an example: Did you know that Eastern Europe has the highest average share of women enrolled in physics bachelor's programmes of any EU region — around 35%, and fairly stable over the past decade? Western Europe, by contrast, has the lowest average of all four regions — starting at just 18% in 2015 and climbing slowly to around 23% by 2024. This challenges a pretty common assumption: that "Western" countries are automatically further ahead when it comes to gender balance in STEM. Visualizations like these turn raw Eurostat numbers into something we can actually explore and learn from:

Want to see the full picture — Bachelor, Master and PhD level, across all of Europe? Explore the interactive version at atominnen.at.

Beyond the technical skills, Mario brought contagious motivation and openness to the team. Dear Mario, thank you for everything, we wish you all the best!! :-)

CREDITS: IQOQI | David Jordan

What does nearly 40 years of data tell us about women in physics? This question was at the heart of the Simposio Mujeres en Física 2026, organized by the Women in Physics Group of the Real Sociedad Española de Física (RSEF) at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería (ETSI) of the University of Seville.

Representing atom*innen, our Gender Officer Karoline Irschara introduced the platform, showcased our latest data visualizations, presented the new #PhysicsCounts campaign, and demonstrated how atominnen combines data, visibility, networking, and community to foster a more inclusive quantum ecosystem.

The symposium brought together researchers from across Spain to discuss the current state of gender equality in physics and to share research findings, experiences, and best practices. Beyond presenting our own work, the event provided an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with colleagues working on similar challenges.

One of the central messages of the symposium was the importance of long-term data collection. For more than 20 years, the Women in Physics Group of the RSEF has been collecting and analysing gender-disaggregated data on the physics community in Spain. These data provide valuable insights into both areas of progress and persistent structural barriers. A particularly striking finding concerned the participation of women in undergraduate physics programmes: Despite almost four decades of observation, the proportion of women has remained remarkably stable, increasing only slightly from around 27% in 1985 to approximately 28% today. While annual figures fluctuate, the data reveal no sustained long-term upward trend. This resonates with the fact that we published here: Since 10 years, the share of women enrolled in physics Bachelor's programmes in EU countries is steady around 30%. 

Several presentations also highlighted that gender inequalities emerge long before students enter university and continue throughout academic careers. Structural and institutional factors shape these disparities, demonstrating that individual efforts alone are insufficient to achieve lasting change. 

Another important topic was the concept of academic recognition. Speakers emphasized that many activities essential to research environments—including mentoring, peer review, committee work, outreach, and community building—are disproportionately carried out by women while often receiving limited recognition. Broadening the understanding of academic excellence is therefore an important step towards creating a more inclusive research culture.

We would like to sincerely thank Pas García-Martínez, Alberto Martín-Molina, and the entire Women in Physics Group of the RSEF for the invitation and for organizing such an inspiring symposium. It was a pleasure to contribute to these discussions, connect with researchers from across Spain, and strengthen our international network.

Over the coming weeks, atom*innen will also publish dedicated data visualizations highlighting the situation of women in physics in Spain. Stay tuned! 

As part of the Introduction to Ultracold Quantum Gases Summer School, atom*innen hosted a women's networking lunch at the University of Innsbruck and the Institute of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI).

The lunch brought together students and early-career researchers for an open exchange on women's representation and recognition in quantum science. Discussions focused on current data, the importance of visibility, challenges faced by women in academia, and ways to foster a more inclusive research culture.

We would like to thank everyone who joined the discussion and contributed their ideas and experiences. We are also grateful to the Summer School organizers for giving atom*innen the opportunity to be part of this inspiring programme and to connect with the next generation of quantum researchers.

 

Copyright: D. Jordan | IQOQI Innsbruck

We have just kicked off our #PhysicsCounts campaign - a social media campaign in which we use data to spark conversations about representation and visibility in physics. Numbers alone don't tell the whole story, but they make patterns visible that are otherwise easy to overlook, and visibility is a first step toward change. 

We started with a question about the most prestigious prize by the German Physical Society (DPG) that is being awarded in Theoretical Physics. It's the Max Planck Medal, established in 1929 by Max Born, Albert Einstein, Max von Laue, Erwin Schrödinger, and Arnold Sommerfeld to celebrate Max Planck's 70th birthday. Since then, the medal has been awarded 89 times.

We asked our community: What do you think: How many of those 89 recipients were women?

The answer: 

A single data point, a larger pattern

This gap mirrors a broader pattern of underrepresentation in scientific recognition — exactly what our #PhysicsCounts campaign aims to uncover. Prestigious prizes shape who gets remembered as a leading figure in a field, who gets cited, and who gets invited to the table for the next generation of opportunities. This imbalance raises real questions about how recognition has been distributed in physics — and about the structural barriers that have kept many women's contributions from being acknowledged at this level.

On June 12 2026, we had the pleasure of welcoming Prof. Sinha Urbasi to our joint atom*innen lunch. 

Over good food and lively conversation, we had the chance to exchange ideas in depth, not just about physics, but about other topics too: We talked about everyday life in academia, the challenges and rewarding moments of a career in research, and the situation for women in physics in different countries. The different perspectives and personal insights made the lunch very special. We would like to thank Prof. Sinha Urbasi for the open and enriching discussion. Also, many thanks to everyone else who joined and welcome to all of our new members :-) 

We warmly thank Prof. Sinha for the open and enriching exchange!

Copyright: D. Jordan | IQOQI Innsbruck