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Center for Higher Education
Studierende sitzt am Arbeitsplatz und schaut auf den Laptop. © Aliona Kardash​/​TU Dortmund

HdHf team at the Gender Congress 2026 in Essen

Group photo: Panourgias Papaioannou, Sude Pekşen, and Prof. Liudvika Leišytė stand next to a poster for the 2026 Gender Congress. © Daniela Giménez Jiménez​/​TU Dortmund
Panourgias Papaioannou, Sude Pekşen, and Prof. Liudvika Leišytė (from left to right) at the 2026 Gender Congress “Gender (In)Equality at Universities” in Essen, Germany.
On the occasion of the international UN Day “Women and Girls in Science”, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW) invited university leaders, interested academics and political representatives to the Gender Congress 2026 in Essen on 11 February.

The Gender Congress 2026 focused on innovative strategies for gender equality and equal opportunities at universities. Leading experts shaped a lively program of keynote speeches, workshops, and a panel discussion, in which they addressed current issues in higher education and gender equality policy and discussed them with the participants.

Prof. Liudvika Leišytė was invited to take part in the panel discussion “How can academic achievements be assessed in a gender-equitable manner?”. Together with Prof. Andrea Wolffram (RWTH Aachen University), Prof. Brigitte Halbfas (University of Wuppertal), and Prof. Matthias Heinz (University of Cologne), she discussed obstacles to gender-equitable evaluation of achievements and highlighted approaches to fair evaluation procedures.

The congress was organized by the Coordination and Research Office of the Women’s and Gender Research Network NRW and provided an important platform for the exchange, networking, and further development of gender equality strategies in higher education.