Biography:

Kimberly Mason is the equal opportunity officer at the Cluster of Excellence NeuroCure, an interdisciplinary research network in the neurosciences at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. She holds a BFA in theatre from New York University, and an MA in English literature from the Open Univeristy, UK. She coordinates the Cluster’s efforts to recruit more women to the Berlin neuroscience community; to retain them in science through measures combining career and family; and to empower their career development. She initiated the Cluster’s engaged support for Soapbox Science Berlin events that increase the visibility of women and non-binary scientists, and serves in the Diversity and Gender Equality Network of the Berlin University Alliance. In 2019 she brought WAGES workshops to Berlin to raise awareness about the impact of unconscious bias on career advancement. She has explored ways of using WAGES with early career researchers to cultivate a spirit of allyship and shape the mindset of potential future leaders. She is generally interested in how the WAGES format can be flexibly adapted to various contexts, including the German academic environment, but also non-academic career paths in science.