Promoting diversity, strengthening community
Part of the Max Delbrück Center’s 2030 Strategy is to foster “an environment that nurtures creativity, innovation, diversity of thought, and openness to experimentation.” In her new role as Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator, Dr. Dilek Güven aims to devise creative ways to put this goal into practice. With over half our scientists coming from countries other than Germany, and women comprising 60% of our staff, the Max Delbrück Center is already diverse, says Güven. “My focus will be on how we can we can work together as a community in a harmonic way.”
Born in Germany to parents of Turkish descent, Güven grew up practicing the art of “diversity management,” she says. “Children who grow up with different identities have to deal with questions and the topic of identity from a very young age. They become “diversity managers” in that they often have to act as a bridge between cultures, she explains.
She spent her academic career studying minorities and discrimination. For her doctoral thesis, she focused on pogroms carried out against Armenians Greeks and Jews in Istanbul in 1955. Before coming to the Max Delbrück Center, Güven worked at the Center for Research on Antisemitism at TU Berlin and was actively involved in TU’s Women’s Council.
“Diversity is essential to any organization because in addition to cultural richness, it provides a diversity of ideas, which means a larger set of tools to solve problems. That’s riches,” she says.
The Max Delbrück Center already has many diversity programs in place. These include support for people with disabilities and people who do not identify with heteronormative culture. We also are bilingual. “There is a great team that is already engaged in these topics,” says Güven. “I have been talking to a lot of people to understand what is already being done and to identify how we can build on programs to further enhance our sense of community.”
Interview: Gunjan Sinha
