GenTIC researcher Jörg Müller has participated at the workshop “Fostering institutional change through Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) and the way forward towards Horizon Europe”, organised by the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission on March, 4 in Brussels.

 

The event brought together representatives of European-funded projects in the field of gender equality in research and innovation to brainstorm on how to ensure sustainable and impactful Gender Equality Plans at R&I institutions and feed the discussion on the role of Gender Equality in Horizon Europe, the EU’s next funding programme for research and innovation that will run from 2021 to 2027.

 

Jörg Müller presented the current state of the ACT project work plan in an introductory session that set the scene on the use of GEPs to foster institutional change, together with speakers Harald Hartung, Head of Unit E5-Democracy & European values at the DG Research and Innovation; Marcela Linkova, coordinator of GENDERACTION; and Gemma Irvine, Vice-President for Equality & Diversity at Maynooth University in Ireland.

 

Participants shared the lessons learned and good practices stemming from European projects, and discussed what are the minimum requirements and the key elements for a comprehensive and innovative GEP. Two brainstorming sessions facilitated by trainer and researcher Lucy Ferguson addressed new ways of networking and sharing information, how to tackle lagging institutions and how to involve other actors from the public and private sectors.

 

The workshop ended with a summary of take-home lessons and concluding remarks by Federica Roffi, Deputy Head of Unit Spreading Excellence, Widening Participation, Science with and for Society of the Research Executive Agency, and Mina Stareva, Head of Sector Gender at the DG Research and Innovation of the European Commission.

 

Photo by Viktor Forgacs on Unsplash.