A consortium of 26 organisations from 21 European countries recently met at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences for the launch of GENDERACTIONplus in Prague. This project works at the interface between public institutions and ministries (national authorities) and research funding organisations and will run for three years. Also on board from Austria are the federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (bmbwf) and the Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS). In line with the new political ERA agenda the programme focuses on 5 thematic areas.
The main focus of GENDERACTIONplus
- Intersectionality and inclusiveness
- Sexual harassment and gender-based violence in research
- Integration of the gender dimension in research and innovation content
- Monitoring of gender equality measures at ERA member state level, including the development of a monitoring mechanism and indicators
- Development of a system to assess the implementation and impact of gender equality plans as a key tool to promote inclusive institutional change
Gender equality as a priority
"It is essential that gender equality continues to be a priority in the European Research Area," says project coordinator Marcela Linkova, Ph.D. "In recent years, we have made great progress at the policy level in the EU as a whole and in some European countries, but we also know that we can do even better."
Gender-based violence and sexual harassment continue to be a major problem and better tools need to be developed to take account of the intersectionality and diversity of discrimination. Another important topic is the monitoring and evaluation of gender equality plans and their impact, as they are now a funding criterion for Horizon Europe. "This is an ideal opportunity to take all these topics forward in a great and motivated European consortium," says Linkova.
Helene Schiffbänker and her team are responsible for capacity-building activities in European research funding organisations, continuing the research activities in the Horizon project GRANteD (Grant Allocation Disparities), which is coordinated by JOANNEUM RESEARCH.
The GENDERACTIONplus project builds on the Horizon 2020 project GENDERACTION, which was carried out from 2017 to 2021, as well as on the work of the Standing Working Group on Gender in Research and Innovation (SWG GRI) and the work of the FORGEN Community of Practice of RFOs, which was developed in the ACT project from 2018 to 2021.
You can find more information on this topic here:
- Precursor project of GENDERACTIONplus: GENDERACTION
- ERA Portal Austria
- Conclusions of the Council on the future governance of the European Research Area (ERA)
