Act Now to Support Gender Equality: Sign the Open Letter to Commissioner-Designate Zaharieva
Act Now to Support Gender Equality: Sign the Open Letter to Commissioner-Designate Zaharieva
On 18 September 2024 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented her Political Guidelines for the next European Commission and new Commissioners-Designates. The new Commissioners are expected to begin their term on 1 December 2024. As we prepare for this transition, we want to ensure that the important progress made in recent years promoting gender equality in research and innovation at the Commission level continues. In the current political landscape, support for gender equality is at risk of backsliding and erasure by “simplification”. The Mission letter for Commissioner-Designate Ekaterina Zaharieva does not address gender equality or inclusiveness, an early warning sign for the challenges ahead. To counter this, we are organizing an open letter urging the Commissioner to support inclusive gender equality in R&I, specifically in the upcoming Framework Programme 10. We invite you to endorse the letter, which calls for maintaining Gender Equality Plans as an eligibility criterion—a...
Introducing the online course on Gender Dimension in Research and Innovation for National Contact Points
We are delighted to announce that the Gender Dimension in Research and Innovation online course, tailored specifically for National Contact Points of Horizon Europe, is now available on the NCP Virtual Campus. The aim of this online course is to enhance the capacity of National Contact Points (NCP) as key actors in the Framework Programme by fostering a deeper understanding and application of gender analysis in R&I proposals. Integrating the gender dimension is crucial for promoting inclusivity and advancing the quality of research and innovation across Europe. The course is introductory and contains eight learning units that combine video lessons, downloadable materials, quizzes, a repository of additional resources, and an evaluation questionnaire to track progress and gather feedback. Examples of topics covered: This comprehensive approach will support NCPs in offering tailored guidance to researchers and helping them meet the “Excellence” award criterion in Horizon Europe proposals. We kindly ask you...
Invitation to participate in GENDERACTIONplus stakeholder consultation on recommendations for inclusive research careers in the ERA
Do you have knowledge on research careers and how to make gender equality and inclusiveness an integral part of the career path? Join us at an online stakeholder consultation on Inclusive Research Careers – what to recommend and how to implement? on Monday 30 September 2024 at 14-16 CET. Following a Europe-wide survey and subsequent report on Inclusive Research Careers, GENDERACTIONplus partners have developed a set of policy recommendations for European policymakers, national authorities and research funding organisations on ways to improve inclusive research careers. This online workshop is a platform to discuss these draft recommendations and gather valuable feedback from a diverse group of stakeholders. Discussions will focus on ways to bridge the gap between well-established European priorities and barely existing national policies, while respecting the diversity of national contexts and the particular national ownership of these policies. To attend, please complete this registration form. Registrants will receive a...
Mutual Learning Workshop on Resistances
When: 12 – 14 June 2024 | Where: Madrid Our Mutual Learning Workshop have brought together members of our two Communities of Practice to learn more about various forms of resistance to gender equality, build competence to react to these resistances and take self-care in the face of them. You can find a press release on our consortium meeeting and Mutual Learning Workshop here. In preparation for the workshop, we mapped the experience of our consortium members with various forms of resistance. So what are the most common forms reported? Representatives of national authorities most often face non-prioritisation, where preference is given to another problem over gender equality, with denial of the relevance of the issue and inaction next. The situation is very similar in our research funder community, with non-prioritisation first and inaction and denial of relevance next. In connection with this, we will be communicating on our social...
Our objectives
1
Develop strategic policy advice on existing and emerging policy solutions in the five key thematic areas in the two Communities of Practice.
2
Enhance the policymaking process through engaging with stakeholders, CSOs and citizens, as relevant, in the five key areas.
3
Build capacities, competence and expertise for gender equality and mainstreaming in R&I, with special attention to countries with a less comprehensive policy.
4
Create impact through communication, dissemination and exploitation, including National Impact Plans and an EU impact plan.
Communities of Practice
Two Communities of Practice are active in GENDERACTIONplus, working to build shared understandings and insight; enable policy dialogue and practice on emerging topics; stimulate capacity building through mutual learning, mentoring and self-reflection, benchmark and diffuse existing knowledge. All this is geared toward designing policy solutions, achieving policy coordination and, ultimately, generating policy change.
The Community of Practice of Research Funding Organisations (the RFO CoP) is led by Vinnova, in close collaboration with Joanneum. The Community of national authorities (the Policy CoP) is co-led by the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and South Denmark University. The two CoPs organise bimonthly meetings for peer support and mentoring and organise online and onsite mutual learning workshops for the development of practical strategies and skills.
Intersectionality and inclusiveness
We wil explore the use of terminology, existing policies and practices on intersectionality, diversity and inclusiveness in research and innovation in the ERA, and ensure that the gender+ perspective is mainstreamed into GENDERACTIONplus topics.
We aim at policy coordination and capacity building on gender-based violence and sexual harassment in Research Funding Organisations, Research Performing Organisations and national authorities, through policy benchmarking and targeted mutual learning and development of strategic policy advice.
Gender-based violence
Gender dimension in R&I
We will enhance policy coordination across the EU Member States and Associated Countries to advance the gender dimension in research and innovation from an intersectional perspective through the whole cycle of research and innovation funding.
We will provide indicators for monitoring the implementation of inclusive gender equality policies at the national level. Presented through a dashboard on the project website, indicators will be advanced, and will complement the ERA scoreboard and the ERA monitoring.
Monitoring and evaluation of GE actions
Promoting institutional change
We will develop a system for monitoring and evaluating the implementation and impact of Gender Equality Plans in order to support institutional change as the main instrument to promote inclusive gender equality in the new ERA.
Outputs
- Policy mapping and benchmarking
- Strategic policy advice
- Mutual learning and capacity building
- ERA stakeholder and citizen engagement