The FFNT (Female Faculty Network Twente) is the professional network of female academic staff members at the University of Twente. Our vision is to establish and maintain the current culture and the practices of diversity in our university. Our mission is to promote female academic leadership and help shape policies that increase gender diversity at our university.
- Background
Academic workplaces and academic careers are supposed to be gender-neutral. However, even today, less than 20% of female researchers are promoted to professors in Dutch academic institutions. At the same time, the number of female doctoral candidates in different faculties, as well as female postdocs, is quite comparable to the numbers of male colleagues. The leaky pipeline is an alarming reality in Dutch academia. If talent walks away, in the long run, this often translates into sub-optimally used opportunities for growth and for innovation. An inclusive work environment is a key factor to retaining and leveraging female researchers’ talent and assuring long-term benefits and growth. To address the ‘leaky pipeline’ issue at the University of Twente, a number of enthusiastic female academic established the FFNT in 2005. Since then, this organization has grown to 431 members at all academic levels. It engages with and for its members, with UT managers and administrators to keep up the dialogue about equity, diversity, and inclusiveness. We are actively involved in building the business case for gender diversity at various levels of the university, in human resources departments, as well as in teaching and research. FFNT also offers a lot of training sessions to train its members in professional academic skills and leadership qualities, effectively tuned for women.
FFNT collaborates with other UT organizations, such as OBP-VN, the UT’s Human Resources Department, the UT’s Ambassadors Network, PNUT, the Twente Graduate School, and Studium Generale.
- Organisation
The network is run by the FFNT Board, which is responsible for the long-term vision, strategic planning, organization of the events, and finances. The FFNT Board consists of academic staff members from all faculties, with administrative support by a secretary. The aim of the Board is to cover the needs and interests of all female academics at the UT and therefore, the Board welcomes professors, associate professors, lecturers, researchers and PhD candidates.
The Board of the Female Faculty Network Twente (FFNT) consists of 6 female academic staff members from all the faculties of the University of Twente. The FFNT Board members ensure the equal representation of the UT faculties at board level, in order to cover the needs and interests of the whole community of academic female employees. Therefore, the Board welcomes professors, associate professors, lecturers, researchers and PhD students. In this academic year, the FFNT Board consists of one full professor, one associate professor, two assistant professors, and one PhD researcher.
If you are interested in FFNT membership or would like to contact one of the Board members, please approach anyone of the Board members directly or send an e-mail to FFNT. We would be happy to consult you on FFNT-related matters and to provide any information that helps your needs as a female academic staff.
CHAIR
Vanessa Magnanimo (053 4895363)
Group: MultiScale Mechanics (CTW)
Position: Adjunct Professor
Area of research: solid mechanics, soil mechanics.
PhD from where: Politecnico di Bari, Bari (IT)
Most important achievement: The development (and industrial funding) of my independent research line on Solid-Soil micromechanics.BOARD MEMBERS
Maya Daneva (053 489 2889)
Group: Services, Cybersecurity and Safety (EWI)
Position: Associate Professor
Area of research: Empirical Software Engineering, Software Analytics, Requirements Engineering
PhD from where: St Clement Ochridsky University of Sofia
Most important achievement: Led four PhD students who successfully defended their PhD theses in the period of 2009-2014.Veronica Junjan
(053-489 2616)Group: Department of Public Administration (BMS)
Position: Assistant Professor, Public Management
Area of research: Public Administration Reform and decision making in the public sector PhD from where: Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Most important achievement: developing my research line in public sector reform development and implementationCarmen Anthonj (053 489 1318)
Group: GeoHealth at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Department of Earth Observation Science (EOS)
Position: Assistant Professor
Area of research: Medical Geography; water-related health risks and disease prevention; achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (“safe water and sanitation for all”); cultural context of health; science-policy interface.
PhD from where: Institute for Hygiene and Public Health (IHPH), University of Bonn, Germany.
Most important achievement: Developing research, education and capacity building portfolio in the field of water and health, looking at community-based local knowledge, risk perceptions and impact on behaviour change, and using data to inform decision-making.Georgia Kittou (053 489 1293)
Department: University College ATLAS (UCT-ITC)
Position: Lecturer
Area of research: Interacting Cosmic fluids, Dark Energy Models, Asymptotic Structure of Cosmological Models, Dynamic Structure of Early Universe
PhD from where: University of the Aegean, Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering (ICSD)
Most important achievement: Scientific collaboration with professor John D. Barrow.Tessa de Koning Gans (053 489 2273)
Group: Photocatalytic Synthesis (TNW)
Position: PhD candidate
Area of research: Electrochemistry
Master in: Chemical Engineering, University of Twente, NetherlandsVasso Gkatsi (053 489 8561)
Group: Power Electronics and EMC (PE)
Position: PhD candidate
Area of research: Electromagnetic Compatibility
Master from where: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Most important achievement: Being able to get my Master degree and my Diploma at classical piano in the same year. - Contact information
For more information on FFNT or on how to get involved, you are welcome to contact one of the members of the FFNT Board. Alternatively, please send an e-mail to ffnt@utwente.nl.
Join us and become a member of FFNT.
- Objectives and Activities
In line with its 2015-2020 strategy, the Female Faculty Network Twente has three main goals:
- To contribute to FFNT members' professional development
- To increase the attractiveness of FFNT
- To contribute to the UT as an inclusive organization
We do so through a number of activities, such as yearly conferences, lunch discussions, and workshops on various topics relating to gender in academic workplaces. We meet and discuss with UT management as well as our members to address gender and related issues faced by our members, such as transparency of hiring and promotion criteria and family-friendly policies. We also encourage the pro-active engagement of our members in shaping their own careers and promoting their leadership at different levels of the UT.
Our events are free of charge for the FFNT members. We encourage you to contact us with your suggestions for future events - you can help shaping our annual program of activities based on your needs! - FFNT strategy 2020
Overall diversity objective 2020 for the UT:
UT is an attractive workplace for female academic talent
FFNT Vision:
FFNT embraces diversity and promotes female academic leadership
Overall FFNT objective:
Increase impact of FFNT for its stakeholders and members
Goals
- Contribute to FFNT members' professional development
- Increase attractiveness of FFNT
- Contribute to the UT as an inclusive organisation
Targets
- Improved female academic career progression at the UT
- Increased # of clear, appealing and positive events
- Learn more about, listen to and act upon the needs of the members
- Increase regular exchange with UT managers regarding recruitment,
promotion as well as other gender equality issues at the UT - Increase customized events for different career level needs (PhDs, Professors)
- Better address academic career bottlenecks in development/progression
- Increase # of FFNT members (from N=200 to N=300);
- Increase attendance of FFNT events
- Increase evidence of career successes and award(s) of women academics at UT
- Increase media presence: UT Nieuws, LNHV, social media sites
- Network more nationally and internationally
- Better monitor how inclusive is UT
- Better raise awareness of gender biases at the UT
- Membership
Female academics, including full, associate and assistant professors, post-docs, and PhD candidates, are welcome to become a member of the FFNT. Membership is free of charge.
- Membership Benefits
FFNT Membership assists your career at UT through an expansive collection of knowledge resources, higher education-specific content, and networking opportunities.
Membership Benefits
KNOWLEDGE
Membership includes instant access to monthly on-campus events featuring professional development workshops and creative thinking sessions. Join us to learn about a variety of topics of interest to women researchers, including the politics of promotion, assertiveness at the workplace, work-life balance and generation of successful social media presence (just to name a few).
HIGHER EDUCATION-SPECIFIC CONTENT
We help our members navigate the promotion-related organizational pathways and the academic system of promotion criteria.
Be the first to know national and international initiatives for women in science. Expand your knowledge — and your horizons — with resources concerning women-only grants, scholarships and prizes.
COMMUNITY
We make it easy to connect with academic women employees at UT to network, share ideas, and get advice, whether locally through UT FFNT Board Members or virtually through the FFNT Group on LinkedIn.
FFNT members enjoy free access to the annual New Year’s breakfast, the bi-monthly ‘Lunch with a Leader’ events and the FFNT annual conference featuring keynotes by world-class speakers on inclusiveness as well as skill-focused workshops.
EXCLUSIVE BENEFITS
Enjoy free access to the annual conference for women within The Netherland’s Royal Engineering Society (KIVI).
If you want to become a member please send a request to the FFNT website and fill in this form.
At the moment the FFNT has over 400 members.
- Become a member
- In the media
- Only 17% of UT associate professors are women
- ‘I dream of times when FFNT is not useful anymore’(November 2020)
- Breakfast, Board and Business with FFNT 2018
- MeTooUT discussion: ‘Walking away is not an option’(November 2017)
- Career at a Dutch university is like juggling balls (November 8 2016)
- UT wants more female professors in 2020 (in Dutch July 2016)
- Leaking in the pipeline: where do the women go? (May 2016)
- Let your voice out (April 2016)
- Is it possible to be a part-time scientist? Michaela Nesvarova (March 2016)
- Verborgen succesfactoren with Sara Shinton (in Dutch) (November 2010)
- Interview with Wietske Bijker (Vice Chair of FFNT) (October 2010)
- Article about the FFNT survey (in Dutch) (October 2010)
- Interview with Liudvika Leisyte (Chair of FFNT) (in Dutch) (September 2010)
- Interview with Virginia Valian (March 2010)
- Interview with Anne Flierman (in Dutch) Angelica Mader and Joyce Berger interviewed Anne Flierman about career opportunities for women at the UT. (March 2010)
- Our partners
Within UT
UT AMBASSADORS NETWORK
The Ambassadors’ Network is a committee set up by the Executive Board charged with advising the Executive Board on measures for promoting women to more senior positions. The network has given advice on the following subjects:
- Applications for the UT incentive fund
- Importance of a workshop on gender awareness for UMT and managerial staff
- Arranging three tenure track positions, especially for women.
- Importance of gender-neutral recruitment and selection.
A second task of the network is monitoring the implementation of the policy. For this, the committee visits the faculties twice a year to discuss the issue with the deans. The name network is by analogy with the national ambassadors’ networks that consist of prominent figures from trade and industry who wish to stimulate the promotion of women to top jobs within their company.
Female talentFemale talentCentre for training & developmentCTDOther Networks
- LNVH – Dutch network of women professors.
- VVAO – (in Dutch) Vereniging van vrouwen met hogere opleiding Afdeling Enschede
- NIMF - Dutch Network for Women in Computer Science, Mathematics and Physics.
- vnVA – (in Dutch) vereniging van Nederlandse vrouwelijke artsen.
- GAIA – (in Dutch) netwerk voor vrouwen uit de aardwetenschappen.
- VMNN – (in Dutch) Vrouwelijke Managers Netwerk Nederland
Other Dutch Universities
- Delft University of Technology DEWIS (Delft Women in Science)
- Eindhoven University of Technology WISE (Women in Science)
- Wageningen University VWI (Vrouwennetwerk Wageningse Ingenieurs)
- Utrecht University Vrouwennetwerk van de Universiteit Utrecht (in Dutch)
- Erasmus University Rotterdam ENVH (Erasmus Netwerk Vrouwelijk Hoogleraren)
- Radboud University Nijmegen Workgroup of Female Professors
- Universiteit van Amsterdam Network for Women in the FNWI
- Funds and prices
Incentive Fund
The UT Incentive Fund is a small fund, created and financed by UT. Its aim is to help female staff develop and/or accelerate their careers, and achieve their professional ambitions. If you a female staff member who has the ambition to move up to a position in the “talentpool”, the subtop or at top level, the UT is keen on supporting you.
For who?
Support staff and science staff (excluding PhD candidates).
For what?
In the past, following proposals were accepted:
- Courses or coaching for personal or professional development.
- Travel and accommodation expenses for getting international experience and/or building an international network, e.g. conferences or research visits.
- Facilities to write a grant proposal or work on a publication.
- Replacement constructions (fte’s) for educational assistants or student assistants
Marina van Damme Prize
Marina van Damme prize (Universiteitsfonds University of Twente) for a successful alumna of the university. Since 2010 it is called the Marina van Damme Scholarship.
For who?
Marina van Damme prize is meant for successful female alumni of the University of Twente, Technical University of Delft or Technical University of Eindhoven. For our university it means that you have to hold a master degree and/or a doctorate degree obtained at University of Twente.
For what?
The scholarschip is intended for giving a "nudge" to take a new step or a new direction in the further development of a career of a candidate. It is not meant for funding a PhD. It is intended, for example, to increase knowledge or an international orientation in the form of a study programme, internship or project.
Read more abot the application and requirements on the Marina van Damme prize website.
Marina van Damme PrizeMarina van Damme PrizeProfessor de Winter Prize
Professor de Winter prize (Universiteitsfonds University of Twente) publication price for female talent.
For who?
The goal of the prize is to promote the female scientific talent at the University of Twente: female lecturers employed at the UT.
For what?
The prize is an award, with no specified goal.
Read more about the application and requirements on the Professor de Winter prize website.
Other prizes and Scholarships
L’Oréal - UNESCO international fellowships program fellowships for women in life sciences.
Catharine van Tussenbroek fonds (in Dutch) scholarships for female scientist to travel abroad.
KNAW Merianprijs (in Dutch) prize of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences for excellent female scientists.
Grants
- Awards for woman in STEM
- Career Guide Grants
- Career Guide Prizes
- Career Guide Fellowships
- NWO closely monitors ‘women in science’ and launched various policy initiatives. One of the initiatives is the introduction of special programs for women
- MEERVOUD (MEER Vrouwelijke Onderzoekers als UD) for post-docs engaged in research in biology, the earth sciences, mathematics, computer science, chemistry and other physical sciences
- Athena for Veni laureates
- Aspasia for Vidi and Vici laureates
- FOm/v (in Dutch) (FOM, Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter) for Phd’s and post-docs
- Small Business Grants available to Female Entrepreneurs
- Useful links
Numbers and statistics
Regarding women at top positions at the University of Twente.
Monitor women professors in 2009.
The state of affairs with respect to women in university positions and academic decision-making bodiesPROMOTION CRITERIA
Each faculty at the UT elaborated their own set of promotion criteria (based on UFO) for the tenure track (UD2-UD1-UHD2-Adjunct professor). These criteria give an indication of the minimum requirements to be fulfilled in order to be promoted to the next level. Each individual will be evaluated by the tenure track committee of the faculty: at the entry of the track, after two years and after five years. The majority of the faculties use the same criteria to evaluate the promotion applications of internal candidates.
The following faculties have their criteria on their website.
TNW
BMS
ITC
For the other faculties, you can ask your HR manager about the procedures and criteria for promotion.RECENT STUDIES ON GENDER IN ACADEMIA
Academic research plays an important role in uncovering bias and helping to shape a more equal society. But academia also struggles to adequately confront persistent and entrenched gender bias in its own corridors. Read more information.
OBP Women network (Dutch only)
Training programmes and courses
Mentor programme
Mentor day of LNVHADDITIONAL LITERATURE
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Title
Author
50% meer talent
Esther Mollema
A short history of nearly everything
Bill Bryson
Achter de Coulissen, Coaching als Managementinstrument nader bekeken.
Opportunity in bedrijf
Behind the scenes of science. Gender practices in the recruitement and selection of professors in the Netherlands (2009)
Marieke van den Brink
Bossypants
Tina Fey
Committee on Maximizing the potential of women in Academic Science and Engineering (2007) Beyond bias and barriers: fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering. National Academic Press, US
Diversity and inclusion in Higher Education
Daryl G. Smith
Do babies matter? (Gender and family in the ivory tower)
Mary Ann Mason, Nicholas H. Wolfinger, Marc Goulden
Emancipatiebeleid voor universiteiten (2009)
T. Willemsen, T. Timmers
Gender and the Dysfunctional Workplace
Fox, S.
Genderbewust personeelsbeleid bij de overheid (2004)
Ministerie SZW
Handbook of Research on Promoting Women's Careers
Vinnicombe, S., Burke, R.J., Blake-Berad, S. and Moore, L.L.
How professors think
Michele Lamont
How Remarkable Women Lead
Joanna Barsh
I Shouldn't be Telling You This
Kate White
I'd Rather Be in Charge
Charlotte Beers
Kwestie van kijken (2012)
OIB, Monic Lansu
Men and women of the corporation (1993)
R. Moss Kanter
Nice Girl's Don Get the Corner Office
Lois P. Frankel
Play like a Man, Win like a Woman
Gail Evans
Presumed Incompetent (The Intersections of Race and Class for Women in Academia)
Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, Yolanda Flores Niemann, Carmen G. González, Angela P. Harris
Speak up dear!
Farah Nobbe and Natalie Holwerda-Mieras
Stratego voor vrouwen (2008)
M. Buhrs, E. De Groot
Supercorp. How vanguard companies create innovation, profits, growth and social good (2009)
R. Moss Kanter
The Oxford Handbook of Gender in Organizations
Savita Kumra, Ruth Simpson, Ronald J. Burke
Trend analysis gender in higher STEM education
Cocky Booy, Noortje Jansen, Gertje Joukes, Esther van Schaik (VhTo)
Vrouwelijk talent werkt…. (2012)
A. van Doorne-Huiskes
Vrouwen, Wageningen en de Wereld. Wetenschap, studie en loopbaan 1918-2003
Margreet vd Burg en Marian Bos-Boers
What Works; Gender Equality by Design
Iris Bohnet
Women Matter 2 female leadership, a competitive edge for the future
McKinsey & Company
ARTICLES
- Reshma Saujani: Teach girls bravery, not perfection
- Girls Who Code Clubs Organization Reshma Saujani
- Prof en moeder zijn, elders kan het prima, (in Dutch) article in NRC next (March 2010)
- Mevrouw de Professor, (in Dutch) article in Esta (February 2010)
- Crumbling Ivory Towers: Academic Organizing and its Gender Effects, Yvonne Benschop and Margo Brouns, Gender, Work and Organization, 10 (2), 194-212, 2003
OTHER LINKS
- Networking and Professional Development Resources for Woman in STEM
- Resources for Women in Computer Technology
- Resources to help women break into Kubernetes
- Academic Mamas: Motherhood and Academia
- International Day of Women and Girls in Science
- Vier vrouwelijke wetenschappers krijgen Wise positie toegewezen
- The television program All women on top (in Dutch) is broadcasted on RTL7.
- Information about the VAWO Scientists’ Union (vakbond) (mostly in Dutch). Jorgen Svensson is the representative at the University of Twente.
- Nederlands Genootschap Vrouwenstudies (in Dutch) - website of the Institute for Gender Studies of the Radboud University Nijmegen.
- VHTO - National expert organisation girls/women and science/technology makes an effort to increase the involvement of women and girls in science and technology education, the technological employment market and government policy.
- http://www.talentnaardetop.nl/ Het initiatief voor meer vrouwen naar de top. Het Charter Talent naar de Top is een publiek commitment, een code met heldere afspraken voor het realiseren van m/v diversiteit aan de (sub) top. Ondertekening van het Charter is vrijwillig maar niet vrijblijvend.
- The website of Virginia Valian regarding the Gender Equity Projects contains a lot of information about women in science, professional development, etc.
- Coding Resources for Women at Every Stage of Their Career