Dr. Rachel Palmén, Senior Researcher at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3 – UOC)

Dr. Rachel Palmén is currently Senior Researcher at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3 – UOC) in Barcelona, Spain where she forms part of the Gender and ICT research program. She gained her PhD in community participation from the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, Sheffield Hallam University– which examined community engagement processes in Brazil and the U.K.

Her current research interests include gender equality and science – specifically looking at the implementation of inclusive gender equality plans and policies from an intersectional perspective. She has worked on various European Commission funded projects. She formed part of the EFFORTI project which developed an evaluation framework for promoting gender equality in R&I and coordinated 19 case studies of gender equality interventions in R&I throughout Europe. She worked on the TARGET project, the findings of which are available in the book she co-edited, A Reflexive Approach to Structural Change. She formed part of the ACT project, which established eight communities of practice for advancing gender equality in research and innovation, the findings of which are charted in the book she coedited, A Community of Practice Approach to Improving Gender Equality in Research. She also took part in the FP7 GenPORT project, in which she coordinated work packages 2 and 4 that involved carrying out a European wide needs assessment in the field of gender and science.

She is currently coordinator of INSPIRE: The European Centre of Excellence on Inclusive Gender Equality in Research and Innovation, a Horizon Europe project for five million euros over four years with 14 partners in Europe and Latin America.