The Heinz Trox Foundation is providing CyberMentor, Germany's largest scientifically supported online mentoring program for girls in STEM, with a five-year grant of 1.75 million euros to help it establish itself sustainably.
In its 20 years of existence, the online mentoring programme has supported more than 11,000 mentee-mentor pairs, successfully inspiring mentees to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Strong foundation for a sustainable future for CyberMentor
With its generous multi-year funding, the Heinz Trox Foundation is providing great support for the expansion of CyberMentor into an independent, non-profit social enterprise with a university connection:
"This funding is both a tailwind and an opportunity for us: it gives us the chance to further develop CyberMentor for the future, and at the same time the chance to open up new prospects in the STEM field for even more girls in Germany. The Heinz Trox Foundation is investing in the sustainability of our programme and thus in the future of young women. This is a strong signal - and deserves our great recognition," says a delighted Professor Dr Heidrun Stöger, co-founder of CyberMentor and holder of the Chair of School Education (School Research, School Development and Evaluation) at the University of Regensburg.
A partnership with prospects for the future
With the support of the Heinz Trox Foundation, there should be many more mentee-mentor pairs. The aim of the collaboration is to put the funding of the programme on a sustainable long-term footing, according to the programme managers. To this end, a professional fundraising initiative will be launched, accompanied by the development of a suitable institutional structure as a social enterprise.
The close connection to the University of Regensburg and the Chair of School Education remains central — not least as a guarantee of the program's scientific quality and continuous development.
CyberMentor
CyberMentor is Germany's largest scientifically supported online mentoring programme to promote girls in STEM. The programme, which is based at the University of Regensburg, inspires up to 800 girls for STEM every year through 1:1 mentoring with STEM women, joint networking and practical STEM projects.
The lasting impact of the programme is reflected in the above-average STEM study and career choices of former participants as well as in numerous national and international awards - including recognition as a best practice model by Harvard University and UNESCO.
CyberMentor was conceived in 2005 by Professor Dr. Heidrun Stöger (University of Regensburg) and Professor Dr. Albert Ziegler (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) and is continuously scientifically monitored and further developed by them.
Heinz Trox Foundation
The Heinz Trox Foundation is an expression of the life's work of its founder Heinz Trox (1934-2015). By establishing the foundation in 1991, he laid the foundations for the long-term independence of TROX SE.
The foundation promotes scientific activities in the field of air conditioning and ventilation technology and also supports social and cultural initiatives. It is recognized as a non-profit organization, pursues exclusively and directly scientific, non-profit and charitable purposes and is subject to the foundation supervision of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Contacts
Kristin Frauenhoffer
Public Relations CyberMentor
University of Regensburg
Phone +49 941 943-1776
presse@cybermentor.de