Berlin Science Week
1—10 Nov 2024 Berlin Science Week

Promoting Gender Equality for Innovation | Falling Walls Foundation

Monika Lessl, Tatjana König, Simone Menne, Londa Schiebinger, Kumsal Bayazit, Stefanie Molthagen-Schnöring

Promotion of gender equality drives innovation both in science and in industrial organisations. However, we miss to put our scientific knowledge into practice. We must find ways to innovate our recruiting, work processes and most importantly our understanding of leadership. Thus, in this panel we will explore the questions: How to implement gender equality to increase the quality of innovation? What else needs to be changed? And for that matter, who needs to change: decision makers or policy makers shaping gender equality or those who are disadvantaged?

With following Speakers: Monika Lessl, Tatjana König, Simone Menne, Londa Schiebinger, Kumsal Bayazit, Stefanie Molthagen-Schnöring

The Falling Walls Science Summit was part of Berlin Science Week 2021 and hosted by the Falling Walls Foundation

To find out more about the Falling Walls Science Summit and Falling Walls Circle, go here.

Monika Lessl

BAYER FOUNDATION

Dr. Monika Lessl is Executive Director of Bayer Foundation and SVP, Head of Corporate R&D and Social Innovation at Bayer AG. She holds a Ph.D in biochemistry and molecular biology and has many years of leadership experience in industry.  She believes that innovation and diversity is the key of driving organizational transformation and societal progression.

Tatjana König

KÖRBER FOUNDATION

Tatjana König is member of the Executive Board of the Körber Foundation in Hamburg. She studied law at Freie Universität Berlin and Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, specializing in international and European law. She holds a postgraduate degree in mediation. Having worked in politics and for the public relations agency Scholz & Friends, she also founded her own communications company. In 2013 she took over the management of the Falling Walls Foundation in Berlin for several years.

Simone Menne

American Chamber of Commerce Germany

Simone Menne started her career for ITT, later joining Deutsche Lufthansa. In 2012, Ms. Menne was appointed CFO and stayed in this position till 2015. She worked as CFO at Boehringer Ingelheim from 2016 to 2017. In both companies she was responsible for the foundation of the digital lab. Ms. Menne serves as non-executive board member for Henkel, Deutsche Post DHL, JCI and Russell Reynolds. She also owns an art gallery in Kiel, Germany and is the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Germany e.V.

Londa Schiebinger

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Londa Schiebinger is the John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science at Stanford University, and Founding Director of Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment. Gendered Innovations harnesses the creative power of sex, gender, and intersectional analysis to enhance excellence and reproducibility in science. She is a leading international expert on gender in science and technology and has addressed the United Nations, the European Parliament, the Korean National Assembly, and numerous funding agencies on that topic. Schiebinger received her Ph.D. from Harvard University and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize and Guggenheim Fellowship. From 2018-2020, she directed a European Commission expert group to produce: Gendered Innovations 2: How Inclusive Analysis Contributes to Research and Innovation. Recent publications include: AI can be Sexist and Racist—It’s Time to Make it Fair Nature (2018); Sex and Gender Analysis Improves Science and Engineering Nature (2019); Analysing How Sex and Gender Interact The Lancet (2020); Ensuring that Biomedical AI Benefits Diverse Populations eBioMedicine(2021).

Kumsal Bayazit

ELSEVIER

Kumsal Bayazit was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Elsevier in February 2019. She has held multiple positions with RELX Group since 2004, most recently as Regional President Europe, Middle East and Africa at Reed Exhibitions. Before joining Reed Exhibitions in 2016, Kumsal was RELX Group’s Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for driving strategic initiatives, technology strategy and portfolio management. Prior to that she served in several operational and strategic roles with LexisNexis. Kumsal also chairs the Technology Forum at RELX Group and is a non-executive director at LSL Property Services plc. Prior to joining RELX Group in 2004, Kumsal spent several years at Bain & Company in their New York, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Sydney offices. Kumsal earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a graduate of University of California at Berkeley where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with honors.

Stefanie Molthagen-Schnöring

Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Molthagen-Schnöring ist Kommunikationswissenschaftlerin und seit 2011 an der HTW Berlin. Nach mehreren Jahren Lehre und Forschung im Studiengang Wirtschaftskommunikation übernahm sie 2014 das Amt der Prodekanin im Fachbereich Informatik, Kommunikation und Wirtschaft. Seit 2019 hat sie das Amt der Vizepräsidentin für Forschung und Transfer inne.