DEI in Math

This episode was recorded in July 2026. Gudrun speaks with Chiara
Sabadin.


She is currently a researcher in Mathematics Education, with a
focus in Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) in Mathematics
and founder and co-lead of the Women in Mathematics group of the
University of Regensburg. Previously, she has completed a PhD in
Pure Mathematics in June 2026 at the University of Regensburg,
supported by the SFB 1085 “Higher Invariants” and the DFG, with a
work on "A cohomological version of Ribet's Method" under the
supervision of Prof. Dr. Guido Kings. Even before, she completed
her Master in Mathematics through the ALGANT Master program,
studying at University of Padova for the first year and at the
University of Regensburg for the second.


In her free time, Chiara has also started social media channels
under the pseudonyme @a_life_with_math with the intent of making
mathematics more accessible and inclusive to a broader audience,
showing and explaining how maths permeates everyday life and also
reflecting on her own experiences as a mathematics researcher and
as a woman in the field.


Nowadays the ”leaky pipeline” phenomenon of women in mathematics
academia, i.e. women in mathematics who opt out of an academic
career, is largely recognised.


Often the environment in the departments does not feel welcoming
to everyone, leading some of their members to face or feel
discrimination. Since first-hand experiences are nowhere to be
found Chiara and her colleagues Malena Wasmeier and Eleni
Hübner-Rosenau made an online survey for mathematics students and
researchers in autumn 2025, and, in this episode, Chiara tells us
more about it, sharing some insights from it. It consisted of the
following open-texted questions:



Q1 Do you think that it is important and/or a current issue to
discuss about gender diversity and inclusivity in mathematics?
Why?


Q2 How do you balance work and personal life? In particular, do
you think that working in academia affects your personal choices
(e.g. creating a family, having children,...)? How and why? Do
you think it is a problem? If so, do you have any ideas about
solutions?


Q3 Gender quotas and their effects: Have you ever experienced
positive or negative effects of them? If so, which ones? Have you
ever had the feeling ”I am here only because I am a woman/from an
underrepresented background - I don’t actually deserve it”? If
so, how did you deal with it?


Q4 There aren’t so many women/from an underrepresented background
mathematicians in advanced roles (e.g. according to M. Infusino,
Women in Mathematics Germany, in 2014 only 14% of professors in
Germany were women). Have you ever felt a lack of these role
models? If so, how do you think this affected you and nowadays
affects the future generation of mathematicians?


Q5 If you have ever menstruated, have you ever experienced that
period “affected” your work life? If so, how?


Q6 Mathematicians and women/from an underrepresented background
mathematicians are very much stereotyped. Which common
misconceptions about them do you think there are and why do you
think they aren’t the truth?


A total of 125 persons from all over the world, from bachelor
students to senior professors, participated in the survey,
leading to some interesting reflections.
Literature and further information

Chiara Sabadin, Malena Wasmeier, Eleni Hübner-Rosenau: On
Gender Diversity and Inclusivity in Mathematics Departments.
MItteilungen der DMV 34 (2026)

Chiara Sabadin, Malena Wasmeier, Eleni Hübner-Rosenau: A
collection of first-hand experiences on gender EDI policies in HE
mathematics (to appear in SMEC STEM Education Conference 2026
proceedings)

Chiara's YouTube

Podcasts

S. Salomone, G. Thaeter: Allyship, Gespräch im Modellansatz
Podcast, Folge 245, Fakultät für Mathematik, Karlsruher Institut
für Technologie (KIT), 2022.