Equal Opportunities
The Max-Planck-Institute of Biophysics has committed itself to promote excellence, creativity and passion of its employees regardless of gender, nationality, religion, disability, age, cultural origin and sexual identity. A prerequisite of successful collaboration at our Institute is a common understanding of collegial interaction and a space that is free of any discrimination. Our Institute strives for an open institutional culture to which everyone can contribute to the best of their abilities.
Our equal opportunities work focusses on the compatibility of family and research as well as a mentoring of young researchers to foster their individual career paths. Some measures are offered via the Max Planck Society while some are organised locally via the Institute. Our Doing Diversity group meets regularly to develop initiatives and bring diversity to life within our institute.
CoMove – Dual Career funding
Diversity Excellence Fund
Certified Engagement
Code of Conduct of the Max Planck Society
Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard Foundation / UNESCO-L'Oreal Support Program
Sign-up! Careerbuilding program
Dual Career Network Rhine-Main Region
Minerva-FemmeNet
Mentoring Hessen
Elisabeth Schiemann College
Kairos Daycare Center
Parent-Child room
pme Family Service
Girls' Day
Max Planck Junior Scholar Program
Reimbursement of additional childcare costs
The CoMove program supports outstanding scientists in dual-career constellations who are moving to the region where their partner has accepted or is negotiating a professorship or group leader position at an institution in Germany or Austria. The program is specifically aimed at partners who are moving to join their partners and who wish to establish a new research group or relocate an existing group to the new location.
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We are honored to be part of the Max Planck Society’s Diversity Excellence Initiative!
With our project “Wall-less Cell”, we receive funding to advance inclusive outreach programs for visually impaired audiences and to launch a Career Talks series highlighting individual challenges and authentic career paths in science.
Our family-friendly personnel policy carries a seal of approval. The Max Planck Society has taken extensive measures to support its employees in balancing family and career.
In 2006, the Max Planck Society became the first German research organization to be awarded the certificate of the non-profit organization berufundfamilie following a comprehensive certification process.
The search for ways to support our employees in balancing family and career will not replace the necessary social rethinking on this issue, but will contribute to equal opportunities in order to avoid employees feeling the need to choose between career and family.
Protection against sexual discrimination, harassment, and violence.
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The Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Research, established in 2004, supports talented young women with children. Its goal is to give them the freedom and mobility they need for their scientific careers. The foundation aims to help ensure that science does not lose outstanding talent. It is specifically aimed at female doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers in the fields of experimental natural sciences and medicine.
In 2019, Bonnie Murphy (now head of an independent research group) was awarded a scholarship.
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The MPG developed and established the “Sign-up! Careerbuilding” program in collaboration with EAF Berlin, a network that advises business and politics on promoting equal opportunities, diversity, and work-life balance. After three successful cycles, a fourth edition of the program was launched in fall 2016, targeting outstanding female postdocs at Max Planck Institutes who are selected through a competitive process.
The Dual Career Service, coordinated by Goethe University Frankfurt and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, is a member of the Dual Career Network of the Rhine-Main Region. The network aims to promote the exchange of industry knowledge and information about potential job opportunities with other employers within the network.
The Max Planck Society has established a mentoring program — Minerva-FemmeNet — which offers all female early-career scientists, from graduates to highly qualified researchers, support tailored to their respective professional qualifications.
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Statewide career advancement for women: The Hessian university presidents (Conference of Hessian University Presidents, KHU), the Hessian Universities of Applied Sciences (HAW Hessen), and Geisenheim University have signed a cooperation agreement to establish a new, intercultural, and statewide mentoring structure for the career advancement of women.
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Within the Elisabeth Schiemann College, scientific members of the Max Planck Society promote the careers of outstanding female scientists after their postdoctoral phase and support them on their path to a permanent professorship or directorship of a research institution.
The Kairos daycare center is located just a five-minute walk from the institute and offers a total of 135 places for infants and children aged three months to six years. The Kairos daycare center is a joint project of Goethe University and the Max Planck Society and offers places for children from the university and the Max Planck Institutes for Biophysics and Brain Research. The educational provider is the Society for the Promotion of Company and Company-Related Childcare Facilities (BVZ). If you would like to register your child, please contact the Human Resources Department.
A newly furnished parent-child room is now available on the ground floor of the guest house. This offers employees a quiet, protected space where they can keep their child with them for breastfeeding, changing diapers, resting, or filling short-term childcare gaps without having to leave the institute.
The Max Planck Society has been working with the company “pme Familienservice” for many years. The company has information centers throughout Germany and arranges childcare services—from childminders, nursery places, and care for sick children to the organization of holiday camps and advice on caring for elderly relatives. In addition, Familienservice offers a comprehensive qualification and training program for family caregivers.
The Max Planck Institute for Biophysics organizes an annual Girls' Day, during which 20 female students from grade 12 onwards are invited to visit the institute.
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The Max Planck Junior Scholar Program offers outstanding high school students summer internships to gain research experience at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics (Frankfurt am Main), the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (Frankfurt am Main), or the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research (Bad Nauheim) and to spark enthusiasm for a future career in the natural sciences. Students in grades 10 or 11 are eligible to apply.
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Do you have to go on a business trip and need additional childcare for your child?
In such cases, additional costs often arise that you or your relatives have to bear yourself.
However, since 2017, employees with a TVöD employment contract have been able to benefit from an extended legal option for reimbursement of additional childcare costs if these arise as a result of business trips or training courses.
