We aim for a development
of a strong, wide and inclusive
Nordic Network
for Diversity in Physics

Who are we?

We are a group of Women in Physics from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden who promotes, with the support of NordForsk, the development of a strong, wide and inclusive Nordic Network for Diversity in Physics. Strong because we aim to make it durable over time, wide because we wish to involve as many people as possible from different nationalities and generations, and inclusive because we want to consolidate networking between women and men.

We welcome women and men who live, work, study or have scientific collaborations in physics and related sciences within the Nordic countries.
We envision the establishment of a Nordic Network which will work on short- and long-term objectives and initiatives to enhance gender balance within the field of physics and related sciences and bridge the gap on gender equality.

 

Our initiatives

Within the NORNDiP project, the following actions are taken to assure that the aims of the network are met:

1) Establishment of an organization committee for the Nordic countries with representatives from the different physics society sections for women in the Nordic countries. This organization is needed to support and evaluate the activities discussed below, keep a web page updated, and keep track of the economy. It is also important for this group and for increasing networking to follow up the activities going on at different universities in the Nordic countries concerning gender and diversity related issues. Furthermore, the organization committee reports about the ongoing activities and findings.

2) Organization of a two-day conference every year during the period 2018-2020 in different Nordic countries lasting from the morning to early afternoon the day after. In 2021, a one-day conference was held online. To each conference we intend to invite at least one very prominent female physicist and at least one expert on questions related to diversity in physics. The rest of the conference will be dedicated to female Nordic speakers, preferably young scientists. The annual conference is the most important event for the Network and is open to both women and men working in or studying physics. These conferences aim to increase the visibility of female physicists, increase women’s networking and also contribute to the understanding of the problem with the lack of women in physics.

3) Development of a course of 7.5 credits on “Physics and Gender”, in order to better understand why women seldom study physics and often leave this field. This course aims to provide an increased awareness of gender aspects of physics, also at the involved physics institutions. The plan is to either develop a WEB based course with several physical meetings or to develop a summer course. The course should be open for men and women, coming from all Nordic countries. It should be mainly for master and PhD students, but it could also be useful for postdocs. A course of this type would indeed increase the contact between young physicists.

Our objectives

Physics is by tradition considered as a typically male subject. All physics departments in the Nordic countries have an uneven gender distribution with an excess of men at all levels, from undergraduate students to professors. Not so many women as men choose to study physics and the proportion of women decreases for each step up in their career path (leaky pipeline). Also in the private sector the gap between female and male scientists is too wide.

Within NORNDiP we aim to:

  • Constitute a Nordic network of female scientists to strengthen the
    presence and the role of women in physics and related sciences.

  • Empower women and girls to embrace their place as leaders in
    science.

  • Emphasize the importance of diversity as a resource.

  • Raise awareness at the Nordic universities and other public or private
    institutions on women in physics’ situation.

  • Connect different generations and nationalities of women physicists
    to share knowledge and experience.

  • Enhance gender balance in Physics and bridge the gap on gender
    equality.

  • Overcome the under-representation on women in Physics research
    and promote higher visibility of women.

  • Create a vibrant Nordic physics community of both
    women and men.

Topics of interests that are discussed within NORNDiP are: diversity, career development,
career stories, career paths, success policies in gender equality, risks of harassment and burnout.