Female Empowerment in Life Sciences (FELS) Network

Female Empowerment in Life Sciences (FELS) is an interdisciplinary association of female scientists with a background in medicine or life sciences, established in September 2021 with the support of the Intra-Faculty Commission for Gender Equality of the Medical Faculty and the Directorate for Teaching and Research.

Our goal is to create a network that supports gender-neutral scientific career development, the implementation of equality for women, and female leadership.

The FELS network was founded during a workshop for female researchers from the institutes and clinics of the Medical Faculty in Bern. The workshop, organized by the Intra-Faculty Commission for Gender Equality (IFKC), took place from September 2–3, 2021. During the workshop, there were opportunities for exchanges among all 19 participants, along with inspiring coaching lectures by Prof. Britta Engelhardt, Prof. Anne Angelillo-Scherrer, and journalist Beat Glogger.

• Creating a supportive and empowering environment for female scientists
• Providing a comprehensive database for members that offers information on stipends, grants, courses, and career-promoting opportunities.
• Active promotion of networking and collaboration between female scientists
• Peer coaching

On March 21, 2025, we held our first FELS Research Day — an inspiring one-day event with focus on promoting excellence in research.

For more details, please refer to the flyer and the program.

Highlights of the day:

• Keynote presentations by Prof. Britta Engelhardt and Prof. Karolina Kublickiene
• Guest lecture by Dr. Jeanne Moor
• Research highlights from the community, selected from submitted abstracts
• Panel discussions: “How can we fix the leaky pipeline? – Innovative Pathways to Inclusive Medical Science and Leadership”

Interactive workshops on career development in research: “Shape the Future: What Would Make a Career in Leadership Roles More Attractive?”

Awards: We presented the following prizes for outstanding abstracts to recognize excellent work and innovation in the life sciences and medicine:

1. Prize (CHF300): Dr. Verdiana Trappetti (Institute of Anatomy, University of Bern), Microbeam radiotherapy as a potential tool for melanoma in situ vaccination
2. Prize (CHF200): Dr. Raphaela Muri (Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology, Nutritional Medicine and Metabolism, Inselspital), Reversible brain structure alterations induced by high phenylalanine exposure in adults with phenylketonuria
3. Prize (CHF100): Huijuan Wang (Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Inselspital), Deciphering early-stage mechanisms of progressive pulmonary fibrosis through single-cell and spatial profiling

Thank you for the great day!

Save the date! The next FELS Research Day, “Pioneering Pathways in Health Sciences,” will take place on April 2, 2027—we look forward to working together to create a more inclusive and empowering academic environment!

FELS is open to all female researchers with a background in medicine or the life sciences. Currently, a core group of 13 participants handles administrative tasks.

Contacts: Whatsapp or FELS

NEW !

This year, we won’t organise regular meetings. Instead, we will have variable get-togethers in different places, different times.

• 30.04.26, evening – Get together: FELS goes Minigolf!

FELS organizes half-day workshops every 3 to 4 months. The workshops focus on a predefined topic related to academic career development or gender equality. They feature presentations by internal and/or invited speakers. An annual retreat is also planned. The core group currently meets once a month.

Upcoming events: 

• June 3, 2026, 5:30 PM – Habilitation Workshop with Prof. Heverhagen
• Save the date: September 17–18, 2026, at the Burgdorf Youth Hostel
  We will take a closer look at graphical abstracts and other exciting topics (detailed program to follow)

Past events:

AI Workflows Workshop with Dr. Naomi Lange
When: March 2, 2026

FELS Network Workshop 
Topic: Fair scheduling – labor law as the basis for work-life balance – OPEN TO ALL
When: October 29, 2025

FELS Network Workshop
Topic: “Responsible Open Science: Best Practices for Managing and Publishing Sensitive Research Data”
When: June 17, 2025 

Flyer: Link to PDF

SAVE THE DATE

17–18.09.26 – FELS Retreat in Burgdorf, incl. workshop on Graphical Abstract

Collaboration between FELS and the CTU

The FELS Network organizes joint events with the CTU and regularly participates in the Day of Clinical Research.

Collaboration between FELS and the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research

Expanding our networking and cultivating collaborations with female scientists in various departments at the University of Bern and beyond is a key goal for FELS. We’re excited to announce an enduring collaboration between FELS and the ARTORG Center for Biomedical Engineering Research, marking a new step forward in our long-term networking efforts.

A short Bio about ARTORG:

As an engineering center within the medical faculty, the ARTORG Center is unique in Europe. When it was founded in 2008 as one of the competence centers of the University of Bern, organizational connections were created with various departments at the Inselspital, which still significantly drive ARTORG's innovations today. The ARTORG sees future challenges in healthcare and brings medical technology research with inventiveness, agility and determination from its basics to clinical application. The ARTORG Center sees its diversity with team members from different professional and cultural backgrounds as a strength and actively promotes academic careers for women in medical technology.

https://www.artorg.unibe.ch

Day of BioMedical Research 2023

Since 1996, the Department of Biomedical Research (DBMR) has organized a Biomedical Research Day. FELS had the pleasure of participating in this important event in 2023. FELS actively participated in the event and introduced the network, its concept, and its goals to the female academics in attendance. FELS members engaged in lively discussions with women from diverse backgrounds and academic careers.

• Commission for Equality of the Medical Faculty of the University Bern
• University Bern
• Department of Emergency Medicine (Teaching and Research), Inselspital Bern
• Immunology Bern (Martin Bachmann Lab)
• Burgergemeinde Bern

Clinical research careers in Switzerland:

https://cr-careers.ch/