Events

GENDERACTIONplus consultation highlights challenges and opportunities for Gender Equality Practitioners

Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) and their implementation were at the heart of a GENDERACTIONplus stakeholder engagement event held online on Thursday 27 March 2025. Gender equality practitioners from 14 countries took part in the two-hour workshop aimed at gathering input on the draft policy brief “A new ERA for GEPS: Challenges for Gender Equality Practitioners.” The event was designed to create a collaborative space for sharing experiences and gathering insights into the everyday challenges faced by those implementing GEPs in Research Performing Organisations (RPOs). The consultation focused on how monitoring and evaluation of GEPs are currently being approached across Europe, and how these processes can be improved to better support gender equality practitioners. The session opened with an introduction to the GENDERACTIONplus project and the draft policy brief, presented by Dr Jennie Rothwell from the Higher Education Authority in Ireland, the partner leading the development of the policy brief. Participants...

Towards New Horizons: GENDERACTIONplus final conference is over

Towards New Horizons: Inclusive Gender Equality in FP10 and Beyond When: 12 February 2025 | Where: Ateliers des Tanneurs, Brussels & online For those who could not participate, we published a video of the full conference and also a written report. You can read a Final Word of the Projects’ Coordinator Marcela Linková here. You can also watch the best moments in our great final conference video: Find even more information on the final conference page here. Over the past three years, Horizon Europe project GENDERACTIONplus has worked to advance inclusive gender equality in the European Research Area. Our work is coming to a close at a time of intense policy negotiations that are shaping the future priorities for research and innovation, including Framework Programme 10. This is happening against the backdrop of strengthened right-wing anti-gender politics, social upheaval, and an emerging policy framework focused on competitiveness.  The aim of...

Mutual learning workshop addressed gender bias in research and innovation funding

Last week, GENDERACTIONplus Research Funder community gathered for an insightful mutual learning workshop (MLW) dedicated to a critical issue in research funding: mitigating bias. The workshop, designed in collaboration with Joanneum Research, work-group lead Emer Cahill, and Vinnova as the Community of Practice (CoP) lead, offered participants a dynamic platform to share, learn, and innovate on this complex challenge. Mitigating bias is fundamental to ensuring that public funds for research are distributed equally and fairly. Extensive research has revealed various factors that can introduce bias at different stages of the funding process. Addressing these requires not only raising awareness but also building capacity among Research Funding Organizations (RFOs) to identify and counteract such biases effectively. A needs assessment conducted in the GENDERACTIONplus RFOs CoP identified bias mitigation as an urgent issue for the CoP. This workshop took a significant step towards addressing this priority by selecting subtopics and corresponding speakers....

EU GENDERACTIONplus hosts stakeholder consultation on inclusive gender analysis in research and innovation

On 1 October, the EU GENDERACTIONplus project hosted a stakeholder engagement event to gather global perspectives on the topic of inclusive gender analysis in research and innovation. Representatives from 13 countries, including research funding organisations (RFOs) from both Europe and North America, joined the online event to discuss innovative strategies for promoting inclusive and intersectional gender analysis in research with a view to informing European policy advice. The event opened with an introduction to the GENDERACTIONplus project by Marcela Linková, Project Coordinator and Head of the Centre for Gender and Science at the Czech Academy of Sciences. This was followed by an overview of EU policy on the integration of the gender dimension in R&I content by Katerina Svickova, Head of Sector for Gender in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation. In particular, she highlighted the ways in which inclusive gender analysis is addressed within Horizon Europe...

GENDERACTIONplus stakeholder consultation promotes policy dialogue on inclusive research careers

Inclusive research careers were the focal point of a GENDERACTIONplus stakeholder engagement event held on Monday 30 September. Thirty-five representatives from European and national organisations within the R&I eco-system actively participated in the online consultation, providing valuable feedback on draft policy recommendations developed by partners within the EU GENDERACTIONplus project. The policy recommendations ‘Research careers: the ground for gender+ inclusion’ aim to promote a more inclusive approach to research careers across Europe, encouraging systemic changes that embrace diversity, gender equality, and the elimination of structural barriers. The event brought together a wider range of stakeholders addressed by the policy recommendations, including European policy makers, national authorities, research funding organisations (RFOs), research performing organisations (RPOs) and higher education institutions (HEIs).   Setting the stage: A collaborative approach The event began with an introduction to the GENDERACTIONplus project by Marcela Linková, Project Coordinator and Head of the Centre for Gender and Science at...

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...

Consortium meeting of GENDERACTIONplus

Delighted to engage with all our partners at our regular consortium meeting today. We have reflected our #FutureofInclusiveERA conference in February at Brussels, sharing the feedback received, but also discussing the work that has been done in the previous months. We are looking forward to the exciting work ahead of us, and awaiting the forthcoming Madrid consortium gathering in June!

Mutual Learning Workshop on Gender-Based Violence in Brussels

When: 12 February 2024 | What: MLW on Gender-Based Violence – Practice Perspectives On 12 February 2024, the South Denmark European Office in Brussels hosted our Mutual Learning Workshop (MLW) on policies to end gender-based violence. The objective of the MLW was to share practical perspectives and foster collaborative efforts to address gender-based violence within in research and higher education. Policy CoP members shared and discussed the current state of the art, challenges faced and successes achieved, and shared good practices on how to keep institutions accountable. The workshop commenced with an exchange among CoP members on the recent advances in national policies to end gender-based violence and a presentation of the results of the Horizon 2020 UniSAFE project, including its 7P model. Experiences from Spain, Ireland and France were presented, highlighting their protocols, practices, and experiences with policy implementation. These presentations served as a foundation for in-depth discussions on...

GENDERACTIONplus consults stakeholders across Europe on intersectionality policy recommendations

On 15 January, the EU-funded GENDERACTIONplus project ran its third stakeholder engagement event. The purpose was to gather valuable input and feedback on recommendations aimed at lifting the focus on intersectionality and inclusion in European and national and RFO policies for higher education and research and innovation. Participants in the online consultation included representatives of European and national organisations, such as national authorities, research funding bodies, and organisations representing researchers as well as marginalised groups (including disability, gender, LGBTQ+ and ethnicity). The engagement of a diverse range of stakeholders is crucial to ensuring that the recommendations can be implemented as widely as possible. Developed by partners within the GENDERACTIONplus project, the policy recommendations highlight ways in which inclusion and intersectionality can be advanced at three levels – European, national (policy) and research funding organisations. The recommendations are informed by the results of a benchmarking survey carried out by GENDERACTIONplus during...