All Hands Meeting - Workshop DEI

As part of the All Hands Meeting of the Network of German Centers of Excellence for AI Research in November 2025, the centers’ working group on diversity, equity, and inclusion topics organized the workshop “Stronger Together. Building a Cross-Institutional Gender Equality and Diversity Movement in German AI Centers.”

The workshop brought together researchers and staff to promote gender equality and diversity in all AI competence centers. Following an inspiring talk by Maria Petrova-El Sayed, an expert in women’s networks, participants collaborated in three table discussions: The first, “Networks that Empower: Building a Cross-Center Women’s Network,“aimed to strengthen connections, visibility, and support for underrepresented groups in AI, with a focus on women. The second table, “Hiring for Diversity: Designing Diversity-Sensitive Recruitment,” explored how to create inclusive recruitment processes that improve diversity among applicants and hires. The third discussion, “Inclusive by Design: Fostering Diversity-Sensitive Teams,” focused on building and leading research teams in a diversity-sensitive way.

Laura Wollenweber (BIFOLD) and Alexandra Stang (MCML) moderated the workshop.