Diversity in the Cultures of Physics: A European Summer School Curriculum

“Diversity in the Cultures of Physics” was an Erasmus+ funded Strategic Partnership launching several key actions aimed at improving the gender balance in physics and its subfields. The Strategic Partnership consisted of six universities in four countries: Freie Universität Berlin in Germany, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Universitat de Barcelona in Spain, the University of Manchester and the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom and Uppsala Universitet in Sweden.

One of the central activities of the transnational network was an annual international summer school series for female physicists transitioning from Undergraduate/Master programmes to a PhD study. This document presents the curriculum that has been developed for those summer schools and that has been used and evaluated in each round of the summer school series. Thus it is based on the insights and evaluation of all summer schools implemented.

The curriculum consists of four core pillars of modules: 1) research stays at physics departments; 2) visits to physics research institutions;  3) empowerment and gender equality policy;  4) gender studies and physics. A transversal pillar is composed of sessions concerning group-building processes and group dynamics. For each pillar, a manifold variety of modules that pursue the learning objective of the respective pillar have been designed, planned and carried out.

The curriculum describes aims and functions of the pillars and provides an overview of formats and designs of the modules that have been part of each pillar. For some prominent modules that have been carried out in almost every summer school and might also be practicable in future summer schools, more details are provided. It is pointed out which instructional recommendations are to be considered, what challenges are to be expected and how long the module typically lasts.