Brigitte Gilles Prize
in 2007, RWTH Aachen awarded the Award for Promotion of Women for the first time. The annual awarding of the Brigitte Gilles Prize took place from 2008 to 2011. The University funded school project that contributed to awakening and promoting young girls' interests in the natural science and technology as well as internal RWTH Aachen projects and measures that intensively served the needs of female students in the the initial semesters of their studies.
Who is the Brigitte Gilles Prize named after?
I want to open women's eyes to all of their chances.
Brigitte Gilles
Professor Brigitte Gilles was a reputable professor of psychology starting in 1980. In 1983, she became the Dean for the Faculty of Pedagogy. After the faculty closed, she stayed as a professor at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at RWTH Aachen untl her retirement. She remained a professor emeritus.
Already at the start of her career, Brigitte Gilles invested in gender equality at the university. She had already spent considerable time in her studies on gender inequality. In 1989, she gave a "blazing" talk before the Senate as a dean, about the preservation of the pedagogic university. As a result she managed to save the term "Department 9".
In 1991, Professor Brigitte Gilles was chosen as the first RWTH Aachen Representative for Women. She formulated her goal very clearly after the vote.