EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES & COMPATIBILITY

Striving for providing a stimulating and inclusive environment that facilitates creativity and inventiveness to flourish, and at the same time rewards competence and quality, RWI offers a range of support structures for team members at all stages of their personal career. Based on an effective and efficient management and governance structure (Section 1), various measures aim to support early-career researchers (Section 2), to embed recruitment and personal advancement into an effective equity and diversity concept (Section 3), to ascertain reproducibility and replicability by a stringent and supportive research data management (Section 4), and to enhance our capabilities for science communication and knowledge transfer (Section 5).

1. Management and governance structures

While the Executive Board is responsible for the operational management of RWI and ultimately accountable for the institute’s economic health and its professional conduct, the institute is aiming to keep its managerial hierarchy as flat as possible: The heads of individual research units enjoy a high degree of strategic autonomy regarding the design of their teams’ research portfolio and their personnel policy, while an overarching strategic coordination guided by the executive board is preserving consistency, coherence and financial sustainability of the resulting program budgets.

Moreover, in addition to scrutinizing the program budgets drafted by RWI and reporting to the institute’s supervisory board, the institute’s Scientific Advisory Board ensures the quality of strategic plans, of the actual work conducted and the major decisions made regarding structure and personnel. It comprises up to 12 excellent and internationally renowned researchers whose expertise is covering the spectrum of research interests pursued at the institute; their tenure is limited to 8 years. It inspects RWI every fall, examining RWI’s performance and recommending avenues for improvement.

This annual inspection is informing the Supervisory Board of RWI of the ensuing policy advice, and about the consistency and coherence of its strategic plans for future research. On this basis, at the beginning of each year the Supervisory Board adopts the program budget which is guiding research in the subsequent year. Moreover, supported by the Scientific Advisory Board, each summer it verifies the quality and impact of research conducted by the institute in the previous year, in addition to its financial health and managerial conduct, based on the report of a public auditor.

Since upholding scientific integrity is essential for the quality of research and its credibility, the RWI has implemented the guidelines of the German Research Foundation (DFG) on “Ensuring Good Scientific Practice” and the “Leibniz Code of Good Scientific Practice” of the Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, and has appointed an ombudsperson to support implementation. To ensure honest conduct in research processes and to regulate review procedures in cases of suspected scientific misconduct, the RWI augmented these guidelines by specifying a concrete review procedure for determining when scientific misconduct has occurred, what processes must be carried out in such cases, and what sanctions must be imposed. To offer researchers effective support, the institute offers training focusing on good research practices and also ensures the preservation of scientific integrity with its research data management infrastructure.

The RWI adamantly refuses to tolerate any cases of discrimination, harassment, and racism. The institute has enacted measures that aim at limiting the scope for an abuse of power, conflicts of interest or inappropriate behavior, by pursuing a comparatively flat hierarchical structure, by sharing responsibilities at all hierarchy levels, and by implementing reporting structures that nurture transparency and accountability. Team members can report any concerns they might have in this respect to the work council, to representatives of doctoral students, the equal opportunities officer, an ombudsperson, and to an internal reporting office offered by an external law firm.

Starting from their first onboarding, team members are made aware that RWI cultivates a culture of integrity and ethical behavior. Based on the institute’s guidelines enshrined in its Code of Conduct, all executives see it as their personal responsibility to provide active role models in this respect. As the institute’s team members are from many different backgrounds, various measures aim at building a shared understanding of appropriate behaviors, such as a regular training on good scientific practices. Any conflicts that still might arise are dealt with constructively and transparently.

Ascertaining sustainability is a crosscutting theme that is reflected by research on sustainability being an integral part of the institute’s research agenda, but also by various initiatives to foster sustainability of our operational procedures. RWI has installed a Working Group on SustainabilityManagement that regularly examines all RWI activities and has already developed measures to improve our sustainability. With the approval of its Board of Directors, RWI has therefore adopted the German Sustainability Code and publishes a sustainability report in accordance with its provisions. This report sets out RWI's values and goals with regard to environmental, social and governance aspects.

2. Support of early-career researchers

According to its ambition to provide a vibrant, open and stimulating research environment, RWI is aiming for cultivating a stable reservoir of competences, invigorated by a continuous flow of talents. The institute’s efforts to ascertaining these objectives are structured along the course a typical academic career, comprising the promotion of an excellent graduate education, supporting early-career researchers in their career paths, and attracting and retaining talented early-career researchers in their advance toward tenured positions. To achieve these objectives, the support system rests on three pillars:

• an excellent graduate education in structured doctoral programs;

  • support for early-career researchers in their career paths;

    • attracting and retaining talented early-career researchers in their advance toward tenured positions.

Through its active participation in the graduate education, for instance the program offered by the Ruhr Graduate School in Economics (RGS Econ), the RWI tightly connects with the neighboring universities’ systems to support early-career researchers. These universities have established programs and centers that support early-career researchers and offer measures that are complementary to RWI’s initiatives, e.g., providing access to career coaches, onboarding and leadership programs, and personal assistance for international researchers. This network contributes to expanding the position of the home region of the institute as a leading place for education and research in economics and evidenced-based research advice.

Promoting an excellent graduate education. RWI offers excellent graduate education along two structured tracks, which are mainly distinguished by the application and selection process, the extent of course work and the contractual involvement into the RWI:

• Firstly, as doctoral student in the Ruhr Gradate School in Economics (RGS Econ). The graduate program, operated jointly by the neighboring universities of the “University Alliance Ruhr” and the RWI since 2004, offers a comprehensive training program in modern economics. A cohort of usually eight to ten doctoral students is internationally advertised and jointly selected each year. Participants are employed via part-time contracts at one of the four participating faculties or the RWI but complete the entire course program of RGS Econ, which is ensured by a reduced integration into teaching or research.

• Secondly, as doctoral student at the RWI. Here, recruitment is solely a concern of the RWI. The doctoral students receive a full-time contract and complete an individually tailored training program, mainly from the range of courses of RGS Econ, but are integrated into the research and project work of the respective competence area from the start. Regular interaction with their supervisors ascertains a smooth transition from the initial contract (qualification phase “Q1”) to the second qualification phase “Q2” in which the dissertation is to be finalized.

To promote continuous learning and inspiration, the RGS Econ organizes “mini lectures” besides its main course program, taught by outstanding researchers from abroad. These short series of lectures bring early-career researchers to the frontiers of research on economics and economic policy. In addition, RGS Econ organizes summer schools, where RWI students can interact with outstanding researchers from diverse international institutions, and courses fostering the acquisition of soft skills, such as academic writing, media communication, and time management.

RWI offers early-career researchers an inspiring research environment characterized by regular interaction with other researchers being at different stages of their academic careers. While early-career researchers enjoy considerable freedom to pursue their own research ideas, they are embedded in research teams which regularly renew and adapt their respective research agenda in line with the institute’s overall mission. This systematic and participatory process of strategic research agenda setting ascertains a critical mass of competencies and experiences within each division, inspires a shared sense of purpose within the team, provides orientation and facilitates direct feedback on ongoing projects far beyond the regular interaction with thesis supervisors.

Regular series of seminar lectures and meetings with outstanding researchers from abroad intend to stimulate the interaction with other researchers and to facilitate the early formation of research networks. RWI also provides generous travel grants for conference visits and research stays abroad, especially through the “RWI Research Exchange Program”. Emerging research ideas are discussed in informal brown bag lunches, and regular retreats foster the exchange on the progress of the doctoral theses. Once a year, outstanding publications by early-career researchers and the best doctoral theses are awarded prizes bestowed by the association of friends and supporters of RWI.

Supporting early-career researchers in their career paths. RWI strives for fostering an academic and personal environment that ensures a successful and smooth transition between subsequent stages of the individual career paths of early-career researchers, acknowledging that these paths are quite idiosyncratic and need tailored approaches. After the completion of the second qualification phase (Q2) with a doctorate, graduates enjoy a highly competitive position in the labor market. Researchers which do not pursue a career outside of the institute enter the post-doc phase at RWI, also structured into two three-year qualification phases, “Q3” and “Q4”, respectively. 

This post-doc phase is structured by clear guidelines which provide orientation regarding personal development and the milestones to aim for. Regular feedback is offered to early-career researchers by senior researchers on their progress. Typically, the transition from the third to the fourth stage is an important juncture, deciding upon the ultimate career objective inside or outside of academia. Seminars organized by the institute, often involving RWI alumni, offer early-career researchers information on possible career paths in various professional spheres. Past placements of RWI team members provide ample evidence of successful transitions to professorships at universities, technical colleges and other research institutes, policy organizations and ministries, and companies.

Attracting and retaining talented early-career researchers. A further career option open to postdoctoral researchers is taking on more responsibility within the institute, typically as (co-)heads of a research division. The RWI executive board decides to offer this career route of a permanent contract on a case-by-case basis only to those researchers whose competence and contribution is assessed to be indispensable for the further successful development of the institute. This decision is always informed by the advice of the RWI Research Advisory Board.

Typically, though, (co-)heads of research divisions are recruited within the framework of a joint appointment with a partner university to attract competent external researchers. The RWI has woven a tight web of cooperation contracts with adjacent universities comprising explicit formulations regarding the intent to conduct joint appointments. In recent years, several joint appointments have been realized, for instance with Ruhr University Bochum and Technical University Dortmund, appointments with several other universities are in preparation.

3. Support of equity and diversity

The RWI pursues a series of measures to increase diversity at the institute, ranging from ascertaining fair and equitable hiring and promotion processes over fostering respect and proper conduct in day-to-day interactions to offering flexible arrangements for balancing career and family. The institute specifically aims to significantly increase the representation of women at all career stages, but it extends this ambition to other dimensions of diversity, such as ethnic origin, following the DFG's research-oriented equality and diversity standards. Accordingly, equality and diversity are pursued consistently and visibly at all levels of the organization and are anchored as a strategic management task.

All structural and control measures within the institution are systematically designed, explicitly considering equality and diversity in all personnel and financial decisions as well as in institutional infrastructure measures, and integrating them into quality assurance procedures. The institute's management is not only aiming to ascertain a diverse employee structure at the RWI according to its own diversity strategy, but has also decided to sign the Diversity Charter (established by Charta der Vielfalt e.V.) as a clear signal of this commitment.

Promoting equity and diversity in recruiting and promotions. At RWI, we have taken several measures to promote diversity in recruitment and promotions. To foster gender equality in recruiting early-career researchers, we follow a cascade model, ensuring steady advances in achieving gender balance among researchers. RWI’s goal is to steadily improve gender balance at all levels from early-career researchers to division leaders. In addition, RWI has established a channel for research visits of early-career researchers from the Global South, increasing diversity at RWI and enhancing the spectrum of perspectives on our research agenda.

Recognizing that affiliated researchers are serving as role models for early-career researchers, this approach extends to recruitment for both the RWI Research Network and RWI’s Scientific Advisory Board that has realized gender parity for many years. A significant achievement of this equity and diversity strategy is the increased share of female division heads and professors at the institute. At the time of the last evaluation in 2019, the share of female RWI members was 18.2% among division leaders and 0% among professors, basically in line with the low representation of women in the profession. As of December 2024, 41.5% of RWI’s doctoral students, 24% of our post-docs, and 30% of our professors are female.

Fostering an inclusive environment. To provide an inclusive environment for researchers with different backgrounds, RWI has established structural measures to prevent and tackle inappropriate behaviors such as discrimination or harassment. In cases of discrimination and conflict, in addition to the internal reporting office – operated by an external law firm in accordance with the Whistleblower Protection Act – there are several contact points at RWI which employees can turn to. These include the works council, the equal opportunities officers (for women's issues), the inclusion officer, the doctoral student representative, and the ombudsperson (in cases of suspected scientific misconduct or similar issues). Moreover, a complaints office according to the General Equal Treatment Act (Art. 13 AGG) has been established.

Each of these contact points or services are always aware of the often confidential nature of the issues discussed, so an anonymous report is possible. In addition, RWI meets the revised requirements for Horizon Europe projects in the field of gender equality (Gender Equality Plan (GEP) eligibility criterion of the Horizon Europe Framework Program for Research and Innovation 2021-2027) and documents this on its website. The RWI intends to offer awareness raising and training actions on gender equality and unconscious gender biases for staff and decision-makers.

RWI’s team members are called upon to display proper conduct throughout, also in daily interactions at the workplace. The institute is confident that the increased share of women in leadership positions has positively affected its work culture. Female researchers in leadership positions, many of whom are in a phase of their lives in which balancing career and family is a major challenge, are supported, for instance, by flexible arrangements for maintaining ties to the institute during maternity and parental leave or by offering a staggered re-entry at its end.

4. Research data management and research infrastructures

RWI is dedicated to promoting replicability and reproducibility of empirical research, resting on a professional system of research data management (RDM). In their work, RWI researchers rely on a wide range of data. They work with large administrative datasets, commercial datasets and existing survey data from data providers. As a prerequisite of their access to this data, RWI researchers commit to adhering to the specific rules and regulations guiding their access, storage, and publication. RWI researchers also create new data sets by digitizing historical sources and collect their own data in surveys and laboratory experiments, guided by professional standards regarding sensitive personal data and, if applicable, by the approval of a joint ethics committee which RWI established in partnership with adjacent universities.

In these efforts, RWI researchers are supported by a professional RDM system, ranging from the planning, acquisition, processing, secure provision, storage, documentation to the publication of research data. Ensuring reusability and quality assurance of all research data as well as reproducibility and the verifiability of scientific results are the overarching objective. A key element of this approach is the creation of a replication package that adheres to the FAIR Principles, storing data in a manner that makes them findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable, in line with the “Guidelines for Safeguarding Good Research Practice” by the DFG and recommendations of relevant NFDI consortia, such as KonsortSWD.

Encouraged by the institute and guided by regular workshops covering topics such as data documentation, quality control, and legal and ethical considerations, researchers at RWI commonly register a pre-analysis plan committing to a detailed methodology before data collection or analysis begins, clarifying their hypotheses, samples used, and analysis procedures. This prevents data mining and p-hacking, enhances transparency and credibility, and ascertains the reproducibility of empirical results. 

In doing so, it is the joint responsibility of RWI and its researchers to ensure the implementation of pertinent guidelines and recommendations on RDM. The RWI as an institute takes care of the protection from loss, long-term storage and the proper destruction and provides the opportunity to document research data for further use. To ensure that the FAIR principles will be adhered to in all RWI research, the RWI has adopted an RDM guideline. Thereby, all data sets used in published RWI studies and the data sets generated by institute projects are systematically collected and, to the extent possible, provided for reuse by the scientific community.

5. Science communication and knowledge transfer

In accordance with the mission of the Leibniz Association to conduct applied fundamental research and to engage in knowledge transfer, RWI pursues a multi-pronged strategy to effectively disseminate the results of its research into public and policy spheres. In addition to research reports and publications in scientific journals, RWI publishes RWI Positions and RWI Impact Notes as compact vehicles for disseminating research results and outlining policy options, and actively informs the general public about its work on social media accounts.

RWI researchers regularly contribute to the public discourse by giving interviews and writing op-eds in quality press outlets, supported by RWI’s competent communication team. Finally, many RWI researchers are serving on policy committees and advisory boards, such as the Council of Economic Experts or the Expert Commission on Research and Innovation. As another important route for the dissemination of its research results, RWI is organizing events fostering the exchange of researchers, policy makers and the general public. RWI’s flagship knowledge-sharing event is our annual Wirtschaftsgespräch, where distinguished guest speakers present and discuss economic and social issues with members of the public. 

In addition, we are committed to fostering dialogue with young audiences through various initiatives, especially by partnering in YES! Young Economic Solutions, a school competition on societal challenges, and the annual event Ökonomie Hautnah, addressing high school students in innovative formats such as academic speed dating. These initiatives complement the ambitious engagement of RWI researchers in academic teaching at adjacent universities and technical colleges.