Contrary to the every day experience that gender (difference) is a natural given, Gender Studies understands [gender] as a historically developed construct. As such [gender] structures essential social, cultural, linguistic, technological, representative, communicative and natural realities as well as scientific knowledge and practice. [Gender] is itself structured by knowledge as well as social, cultural and technical practices.

The Center for Interdisciplinary Women's and Gender Studies (ZIFG) pursues these questions in research and teaching. In this pursuit, we operate purposefully at the cutting edge of cultures of knowledge as well as that of research and society. We examine the process and practice of gendering in all realities and thus try to pinpoint the active moment of gender construction when it happens. We generate interfaces for a multiplicity of disciplines, research projects and activities in Faculty I, as well as at the TUB as a whole, and develop gender-appropriate research frameworks in the natural sciences, technology and urban/regional planning.

At the same time, the Center is the home of the Techno Club, an afterschool program for girls in grades 11-12. In the Techno Club, girls are introduced to the broad array of possibilities in the natural sciences and engineering. The Club thus makes a long-term cooperative relationship between Berlin schools and technological and natural science faculty both within and outside of the TU-Berlin possible, contributing strongly to interdisciplinary networking.

General Mission of the Center

• To further develop our (inter)nationally recognized research profile in interdisciplinary women's and gender studies at the cutting edge of the humanities and social sciences on the one hand, and technology, planning and natural sciences on the other,
• To develop and create interdisciplinary research projects To solidify the possibilities for interdisciplinary Gender Studies within the module-based degree programs of the TU Berlin
• To initiate and organize networks which make (inter)national and interdisciplinary scientific communication and cooperation sustainable,
  
• To create similar networks in the field of Gender Studies within the TU Berlin as well as with the Gender Studies departments and institutes at other universities in Berlin,
• To initiate transdisciplinary dialogue about questions of gender between the academy and the public, as well as in other civil, social and political spaces and institutions (politics, economy, education, art and culture).

Research Areas

• Analysis of the formation of gender relations in the critical spaces between technology, culture, science and society.
• Study of the construction of gender and gendered order and their relevance for the construction and ordering of society and academic knowledge.

Focus of the Interdisciplinary Gender Studies Model

• Basic theoretical and methodological proficiency in Women’s and Gender Studies,
• Generated results from individual research projects,
• Gender competence as part of professional decision-making skill competencies (esp. in STEM-disciplines).

Mentoring

• We offer structured programs at the graduate and post-doctoral levels.
• Through the programming and activities offered by the Techno Club, we offer opportunities for learning about and preparing for the transition from secondary school to university studies.