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The MPI-IS has secured funding from the Max Planck Society's Diversity Excellence Fund for their Robotics Institute Germany Internship program.
Stuttgart - The Max Planck Society's Diversity Excellence Fund supports initiatives designed to actively advance the practical implementation of a more inclusive and diversity-friendly work environment, so called Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) projects across Max Planck Institutes.
“In a highly competitive round with many really innovative and remarkable proposals, RIGI was selected for funding, a recognition we are incredibly proud of,” says Buse Aktaş, group leader at MPI-IS and RIGI spokesperson.
RIGI is a dedicated summer research program for bachelor’s and master’s students interested in robotics, designed to foster DEI in robotics research. It is part of the Robotics Institute Germany (RIG), a national initiative uniting 14 leading robotics institutions, including MPI-IS.
Following a successful pilot in 2024, MPI-IS launched a centralized recruitment process for 2025 and currently hosts eleven interns from nine countries – 55% of whom are female – at its Stuttgart site this summer. The internship projects span a wide range of topics, including wearable haptic interfaces, energy harvesting systems, medical and robotic diagnostic platforms, and bio-inspired as well as craft-inspired novel actuators and sensors. Looking ahead, the RIGI team aims to grow the program further by involving additional RIG partner institutions and continuing to build a more inclusive future in robotics research.
RIGI is coordinated by a dedicated team: Buse Aktaş, Birgül Akolpoglu, RIG Coordinator at MPI-IS, and Leila Masri, the IMPRS-IS coordinator. The broader RIG network is represented by its spokesperson, our director Katherine J. Kuchenbecker at MPI-IS.
“We thank the MPG Diversity Excellence Fund and the Presidential Commission on Equal Opportunities for their support and recognition. This funding allows us to grow RIGI into a more impactful and inclusive program by supporting more students from diverse backgrounds, expanding opportunities across partner institutions, and create an even more engaging and inclusive experience in robotics research,” Birgül Akolpoglu concludes.
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