New Chief Equal Opportunity Officer at RPTU
On March 18, 2026, the RPTU Senate appointed Professor Zuzana Storchová as the new Chief Equal Opportunity Officer. Her three-year term runs through 2029. Juliane Märdian serves as her deputy.
At RPTU, the Central Equal Opportunity Officer supports the Executive Board as well as the other governing bodies and committees in their mission to promote gender equality. Specifically, this involves, for example, eliminating gender-based discrimination—or increasing the proportion of women at all levels and in all areas where women are underrepresented.
In addition, the Chief Equal Opportunity Officer helps shape all social, organizational, and personnel measures related to gender equality or the compatibility of studies or a career with family life. She receives complaints—from members and affiliates of the university—regarding (sexual) harassment, whether in the workplace or on campus.
The new appointee, Zuzana Storchová, has been a professor of molecular genetics in the Department of Biology at RPTU since 2016 and conducts research and teaches at the Kaiserslautern campus. She brings considerable experience in the areas of gender equality and appointment committees—she has already served for several years as Deputy Equal Opportunity Officer at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry and is looking forward to assuming the role of Central Equal Opportunity Officer: “I am deeply grateful for the trust placed in me and look forward to my new role as Central Equal Opportunity Officer. My goal is to strengthen gender equality efforts at RPTU in a sustainable way, to further develop existing measures, and to provide new impetus. Especially as our university undergoes change, many opportunities are opening up to anchor gender equality even more effectively and to pursue innovative approaches.”
Juliane Märdian has been appointed as her deputy. In recent years, she has served as a staff member for the previous Central Equal Opportunity Officer, Professor Francesca Vidal, as a member of the Senate Committee on Equal Opportunity Issues, and as a member of the Rhineland-Palatinate State Conference of Equal Opportunity Officers; she possesses comprehensive insight into the processes and responsibilities related to equal opportunity at RPTU. Juliane Märdian holds a degree in business informatics and has previously worked in the Higher Education Department. She explains: “Equality is not only a legal mandate but also a cause very close to my heart. I am grateful for the election and look forward to further expanding and intensifying the work I have done over the past three years. I will advocate for equal and fair opportunities as well as equitable structures in all areas and for all status groups, and I will take a clear stand against anti-feminism, discrimination, and violence. It is important to further strengthen gender equality and equal opportunity so that the RPTU can realize its potential in the best possible and forward-looking way.”
The president of the RPTU congratulated the two candidates on their election and at the same time emphasized the ongoing importance of gender equality efforts at RPTU, which has set itself the goal, among other things, of steadily increasing the proportion of women in professorial positions. He also thanked the two outgoing officeholders, Professors Francesca Vidal and Karina Pallagst, who carried out their responsible duties with professional competence, confidence, and dedication during the first years following the merger.