Prof. Tomas Brage: Biases and Career Paths in Academia
Academia, alongside universities, runs on the core values of meritocracy, academic freedom and excellence in research and teaching. These values are challenged in many different ways, but the most important threat might come from within: evaluations and selections are not only common and important processes of academic career paths – they are also susceptible to bias. More and more evidence, research and studies show that our preconceptions are a clear obstacle for the fair process that the meritocratic principle so heavily relies on. In this keynote, Prof. Tomas Brage, professor of physics at Lund University, discusses bias as a psychological, an individual and a systemic problem that hijacks processes and hinders academic careers. The keynote was held on 14.09.2022. The event was organized by the Gender Consulting for Research Alliances of the Rhine-Main Universities and funded by the CRC “Transregio Strong-Interaction Matter under Extreme Conditions".