The students can go on a scientific journey of discovery themselves on Girls'Day at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. (©Susanne Viezens, MPL)

Students at Girls'Day at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light. (©Susanne Viezens, MPL)

How do you become a researcher? What exactly is science? What does basic research mean? And what does all of this have to do with light? To answer these and many other questions, scientists at MPL have put together an interesting program and will take the girls on a tour of the Institute. To conduct cutting-edge research, many gears must turn together. This brings with it a variety of different career profiles that our young guests can try out on Girls' Future Day.

The students between the ages of eleven and 15 can go on a journey of discovery with experiments and exhibits and, for example, use the laser table to experience how researchers do science with the help of light. The girls also find out directly onsite how our employees in the workshops, service units or in IT make a significant contribution to ensuring that cutting-edge research can be carried out. And in the glass studio, the laboratories and the workshops, visitors can get hands-on experience of the diverse career opportunities at a scientific institute!

Girls'Day is a nationwide orientation day for career and study orientation for girls. It is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). On Girls'Day, girls meet role models and learn about professions or fields of study in which the proportion of women is less than 40 percent.

“We are thrilled that the students once again have shown great interest in visiting our institute on Girls’Day. After only a few days, the 15 places were already fully booked,” said Dorothe Burggraf, Head of Administration and Infrastructure at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and herself a Doctor of Chemistry. “This speaks for the great interest in natural sciences. We want to encourage girls to choose a STEM career.”

Past Girls'Days already demonstrated that this nationwide day of events gives participants an important opportunity to appreciate professional fields, courses of study and companies even more intensively. “We would like to do our part to ensure that more girls and women can decide on their professional future free from gender stereotypes,” says Flore Kunst, equal opportunities officer at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Light.