Gender & Diversity Delegate / Diversity Coordinator

The Gender & Diversity Delegate (GDD)

• The Gender & Diversity Delegate promotes and facilitates the implementation of top-down and bottom-up diversity and inclusion initiatives at D-GESS;
• Professors and other departmental authorities have the primary responsibility for diversity and participatory culture in their groups and in the department. They should develop their own initiatives, rather than wait for the GDD to initiate things for them. The role of the GDD will be to support and catalyze such processes, not to take responsibility away from other departmental stakeholders;
• The GDD links the D-GESS to ETH-wide diversity organs (e.g. Diversity / VPPL) in order to guarantee regular dialogue and information flow between the various stakeholders concerned with Gender and Diversity subjects;
• Within D-GESS, the GDD collaborates closely with the WIDE group and other relevant groups (e.g. Swish, ASST, GessWho, and staff unions/groups, the GESS Help!Point);
• The GDD is a professor elected by the Department Conference in coordination with the WIDE group for a fixed period;
• The GDD is invited to attend relevant discussions of departmental organs, and has the right, but not the duty, to join meetings, discussions and classes where problems of exclusion have surfaced (barring conflict of interest);
• The GDD reports regularly to the department as deemed fit by the head of the department.

Prof. Roy Wagner was elected as the first GDD of the D-GESS in November 2021.
The Diversity Coordinator
• The GDD and the diversity coordinator form a team, similarly to the model of head of a Teaching Commission and the Teaching Developer;
• The coordinator takes care of all administrative issues of the WIDE group and the GDD (i.e. organizing regular meetings, drafting projects, taking an active role within the sub-groups);
• The coordinator is part of D-GESS staff and their position is funded by the D-GESS at a rate of 20% (to be reviewed based on actual needs and priorities);
• The coordinator is a professionally trained Diversity and Inclusion specialist or an existing staff member who regularly undergoes relevant training. They should have excellent communication skills and an inclusive mindset.
The position is held by Dr. Charlotte Meisner.