Gender as a Research Dimension

The integration of research as a gender dimension remains an area where least progress has been made regarding the advancement of gender equality in the research sector (ERAC 2020). Given the obvious need to ensure that the next generation of researchers is well-equipped to make research gender-sensitive, the main objective of WG3 is the development of a training programme (for face-to face and online contexts) geared towards YRIs, and especially YRIs in COST ITC.

WG3 will draw inspiration from established programmes (e.g. the ‘Gender Academy’ and ‘Gendered Innovations’) and will involve experts (such as the European Commission Expert Group on Gendered Innovations). A second objective is to examine case studies where gender has been integrated successfully into research, to circulate best practices of tools and methods to integrate gender in all stages of the research process and to identify in participating institutions impactful gender training in PhD training programmes.

Networking and collaboration 

Regular online meetings with the group members were held to discuss and plan activities. A survey has been conducted to gather information on expectations and contributions to WG3.

Summer School “Breaking the Bias” in Athens, 2023

This training school aimed at providing knowledge and skills to integrate gender meaningfully into research tackling grand societal challenges. Trainees learned about the importance of including gender and an intersectional approach into STEM research and received tools on how to do it. The “Breaking the Bias Summer School”, led by Dr. Anita Thaler & Dr. Clemens Striebing (WG 3) hosted leading international scholars on Gendered Innovations research.

The training school was held on the 5-7 of July in the beautiful city of Athens, Greece. The local organizing team, coordinated by Katerina Pastra and Vivian Stamou, welcomed the participants at the Impact Hub, in Athens, an impressive venue located in an urban-style building at Monastiraki, just a few minutes’ walk from the walls of the Acropolis and the Parthenon.

The training school gathered PhD students and Postdocs who aspire to enrich their research in a STEM field with a gender perspective. The aim of the Breaking the Bias Summer School was to bring interested scholars, activists, and other professionals together who have a desire to exchange ideas on issues of diversity in the research and innovation sector. Solution-oriented ideas on problems of social justice and intersectionality in European countries were in their well-deserved spotlight.

International Meeting and Workshops

A workshop in Berlin was organised, as well as a panel at the Falling Walls Summit in November 2024. 

STSM

  • STSM 2024 : Beyond the Default: Integrating gender in EU funded climate projects
  • Applicant : Katrin Moegele Young researcher Gender: F
  • Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (München, Germany)
  • München – Germany
  • Start date 09/09/2024. End date 29/09/2024
  • Host institution : Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, NO
  • Host contact : Vivian Anette Lagesen 

COST Innovator Grant proposal NEXT GENDER 

Capacity building for the next generation of researchers and evaluators to engage in inclusive sex and gendered research (NEXT-GENDER)

The VOICES COST Action was invited by COST to submit a proposal for a COST Innovators Grant in 2024. The decision was made to propose a service based on the activities of Working Group 3 (WG3) to help researchers integrate sex, gender and intersectionality into their research. The proposal was successful, so the CIG will run from 1 November 2025 to 31 October 2026. 

During our COST action VOICES we recognized a gap in awareness and understanding of the importance of sex and gender as research variables among researchers and investigators. It has become evident that across Europe (and beyond), the academic environment does not provide sufficient education on sex-and gender-specific topics (SGT) in science and technology across fields. Given that integration of the gender dimension into research and innovation content is of paramount importance for society and growth and has thus become a requirement in research funding applications (especially in the Horizon Europe Programme), there is an urgent need to educate and train both researchers and proposal evaluators and in particular the younger generation on the importance of SGT and their integration into research. Inclusivity beyond SGT and intersectionality dimensions in research add to this urgent need, so that future research and innovation benefit everyone and especially the most vulnerable.

After conducting a successful training school during VOICES, we realised that the young research investigators (YRIs) who participated originally had almost no training in this area. Thanks to the training school, they discovered sex and gender methodologies and intersectionality and how to use them in their own research. The example of researchers who were in their field and had developed such methodologies was crucial in providing them with a practical and inspiring approach and helping them to open up new innovative research questions. Building on this experiment, we propose to replicate this experience, to create a toolkit based on it, to make all this material available online for a wider academic audience and to create communities of practice to facilitate the appropriation of SGT and inclusive methodologies.

The aim of this proposal is to develop a training programme, consisting of face-to-face workshops, CoPs and web-based toolkits

1) to help the research community understand the importance of sex & gender as research variables and how they intersect with other variables, 

2) to provide guidance on how to incorporate them into research curricula, 

3) to address the requirement for inclusive SGT and intersectionality dimensions in project proposals.

Publications 

Key publications developed with a contribution from WG3 are:

In particular, the Nature Call for Papers is a direct result of the work of WG3. The call will run until mid-November 2025 and, as things stand, several WG3 members have submitted papers. In addition, numerous other scientists have made submissions on the topic of WG3.