PUSh - Award of the Academic Equal Opportunity Officer for the Outstanding Achievements of Female Students
For some, going to university is a natural step after leaving school, for others it is a risk accompanied by uncertainty and sometimes self-doubt. Financial insecurity, a lack of role models, uncertain career prospects. The list of obstacles to studying is long and intersectional. What's more - regardless of these factors: Female* high school graduates are generally less likely to choose to study than male* high school graduates, despite having better grades (source: Social Science Research Centre Berlin, retrieval date: April 22, 2024). In addition, science loses women at every career stage on the way from A-levels to professorships. We want to change that.
'PUSh' ('Preis der Universitätsgleichstellungsbeauftragten für Studentinnen mit hervorragenden Leistungen'), the Academic Equal Opportunity Officer's prize for female students with outstanding achievements, honours female graduates who study against all odds and prove their outstanding achievements with a Master's or admission thesis graded "very good".
With this award, the Equal Opportunity Officers not only want to emphasise the high academic potential of women. In particular, they want to give female students a "PUSh" for their further academic careers, whose prerequisites were more difficult than those of others.
The prize, which was awarded for the first time in 2007 for outstanding final theses, is intended to specifically promote young female academics and act as an incentive to pursue an academic career. A total of four prizes will be awarded, each worth 500€.
Please Note: Applications and theses are accepted in both English and German.
Female students of all disciplines at the University of Bamberg who have written an outstanding thesis (master’s thesis or qualification work, NO bachelor thesis) may apply. To apply, the thesis cannot be older than one year. That is to say, the thesis must have been submitted to the examination office by April 1st of the previous year. In addition, the paper must have been graded as "very good” ("sehr gut" means with grade 1,0 or 1,3).
- Motivational letter including specification of field and faculty, submission date of the thesis, and final grade for the thesis.
The motivational letter for the application for the "PUSh" Prize for outstanding theses should consist of three structured parts.
First, it is important to present your academic background and the challenges you may have encountered during your studies. At this point, you are welcome to share your personal experiences with any structural challenges you have encountered within your studies. For example, female students often face special structural challenges of various kinds due to age, disability and chronic illness, parenthood and caregiving responsibilities, ethnic and social background, gender and gender identity, financial resources, religion. For example, academic success depends on whether I am the first person in my family to study. Take a look back and reflect.
In the next section, you should explain your motivation for the application. Why is this prize important to you? What significance does it have for your academic or professional career? It is crucial to clearly convey your passion for your field of study, as well as your thesis topic.
Finally, you should outline your next career goals and explain how receiving this prize can help you achieve them. Show how you intend to use the funds received or the recognition associated with it to advance your academic or professional path.
- Curriculum vitae (CV) in tabular form
- A brief summary or abstract of the research work (max. 2 DIN A4 pages in German or English)
The abstract contains the most important information of the paper: research question/subject, method, results or conclusions
- Evaluation from the thesis supervisor (can also be sent directly from the teaching unit to the Academic Equal Opportunity Office)
- A copy of the research work (in PDF format)
Please compile all documents in this order into a PDF document and save it with the following file name: PUSh_[Year]_[Last Name]_[First Name].
After filling out the application form, you will have the opportunity to upload the document. Please note that it is not possible to save the form in progress. You will receive an automatically generated acknowledgment of receipt after submitting the form. If you do not receive this, your application has not reached us. Please first check the reliability of your internet connection, and only contact us if it does not work repeatedly.
If your file exceeds a size of 100 MB, please only upload the application documents and provide us with the file of your work as a ZIP file by email or through a data transfer provider.
For inquiries, Johanna Bamberg-Reinwand is available to assist you.
This year's jury (2024):
- Leonie Ackermann
- Yıldız Aşar
- Johanna Bamberg-Reinwand (no decision maker)
- Sebastian Franz
- Prof. Dr. Monika Heupel
- Dr. Elisa Kriza
- Dr. Jessica Röhner
- Jasinta Then
- Sophia Wagner
Forwarding of application data:
- The names from the application documents will only be passed on anonymously so that no conclusions can be drawn about the respective person.
- The names will only be made public once the winners have been chosen.