News

GEPs in the public sector of the Czech Republic mapped

A new analysis by the Centre for Gender and Science shows that, as of January 2023, 70 public sector research organisations (i.e., 66%) had a gender equality plan (GEP). Specifically, 71% of higher education institutions and 64% of public research institutions. The GEPs tend to follow the mandatory minimum requirements the European Commission sets. However, only 34% of organisations conducting research in the Czech Republic’s public sector meet all the mandatory requirements. Although the plans of the higher education institutions are more consistent than those produced by research institutions, they meet the mandatory requirements set by the European Commission with a slightly lower success rate than the research institutions. The largest increase in the number of GEPs occurred in 2022: while 11 institutions had a GEP in 2021, 69 did in 2022. At the Czech national level, GEPs are now also required by the Czech Science Foundation, which has significantly...

The higher education funding system can support gender equality and inclusion

A new study released by EC analyses the implementation of performance-based funding systems in the 27 EU Member States and evaluates their impact. One of the findings is that performance agreements and other funding instruments can promote gender equality and inclusion. In these cases, inclusion is translated into targets that refer to accessibility of higher education for students from minorities, mentoring and supporting disadvantaged students, encouraging equal opportunities, gender equality, innovations in teaching and learning and improvements in the quality of teaching and learning. The study mentions the Netherlands, Germany-Berlin, Croatia, Luxembourg and Denmark as an example of this approach. To learn more, go here.

GENDERACTIONplus presented at Impact of GEPs across the ERA event

On 15 March, the European Commission organised an event to present and discuss key findings of a study of impacts that the EU and national policies and programmes supporting or requiring Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) have had in research organisations across the ERA. In addition to mentioning the outputs of our project, our coordinator Marcela Linková commented on the future challenges in this area. The day before, she was elected as a MS Co-chair of on ERA Forum Sub-group on Inclusive Gender Equality. A video recording of the event is available on youtube:

GENDERACTION(plus) at the SPEAR project final event

Copenhagen, 1 March 2022: Marcela Linková presented the Horizon 2020 GENDERACTON project outputs and the GENDERACTIONplus project plans. It was an excellent opportunity to meet the sister projects’ community and experts from all over Europe!

Czech Rectors’ Conference condemns sexual harassment and discrimination in universities

“I very much welcome this move, all the more so because it is the first time in the 30-year history of the Czech Rectors’ Conference (CRC) that this topic has been addressed, and seriously at that. We have a big problem, and just how big it is will be shown in a prevalence study we are launching this autumn,” said Marcela Linková. Universities in the Czech Republic are currently facing another wave of neglected sexual harassment cases. Thanks to the media’s interest in the topic, institutions are beginning to realise that they must take active steps. And that the systems in place so far have been inadequate, as a large number of the cases have been ongoing for years. “Czech universities must create safe, friendly and fair environments, and the CRC considers it essential that individual schools and their units have functional procedures in place that can quickly identify and...

GENDERACTION and GENDERACTIONplus at Czech Days for European Research

On 14 February 2023, the Czech Days for European Research (CZEDER), the largest conference dedicated to the European Framework Programmes for research, technological development and innovation (FPs) in Czechia, took place. GENDERACTION and its successor GENDERACTIONplus are proud to be among the European projects selected for the exhibition.

#SafeAcademia campaign

Almost three hundred Tweets, ten EU sister projects involved, and plenty of individuals and research funding and performing organisations (our consortium members including) joined the celebrations of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science between 11 and 17 February under #SafeAcademia on Twitter. GENDERACTIONplus used the opportunity to present initial findings from our benchmarking that, among other issues, focused on gender-based violence and sexual harassment policies at the national level and those adopted by RFOs. During the 7-day campaign, our Twitter account got 12.5K impressions, 70 retweets and 189 likes. The campaign also ran in the Czech language. Among those involved were, for example, the ambassadors of Germany and Canada to the Czech Republic or the Minister for science and research. At the international level, in addition to disseminating information about the campaign, active campaign participants addressed the topic from various angles. See for yourself below some of...

#SafeAcademia: Celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with us

GENDERACTIONplus and our sister projects will again celebrate together. Women and girls are more likely to be exposed to gender-based violence and sexual harassment in education and academia than their male counterparts. Also, LGBTQ+, ethnic minorities and persons with handicaps and people with multiple disadvantages are often targets of different forms of violence and discrimination. This may play an important role in the decisions that these groups of people make about becoming a researcher and staying in academia. The goal of this IDWGS campaign is to raise awareness about the importance of creating safe, respectful, and inclusive environments in academia for all. How can you join? Post under #SafeAcademia between 11 and 17 February 2023 on Twitter or other social media: Use English and/or your national language. You can download the graphical PPT template to create longer statements and save some precious characters for your Tweets and tagging/nominations your friends...

Foreign researchers improve gender balance in Norwegian academia

kifinfo.no: “We didn’t think that international recruitment would influence the gender balance in academia in favour of more women in senior positions, but we were wrong,” says researcher Kaja Wendt. The findings to which Kaja Wendt is referring, which show a link between internationalisation and women in senior positions in academia, appear in a recently published article in the journal Scientometrics. More details at kifinfo.no.

Learn more about GENDERACTIONplus activities and new developments and highlights about gender equality policies in R&I in the EU. The newsletter is published twice a year.