Here are the Summaries of posters that were exhibited at the European Gender Summit. Our thanks to all the contributors who made the exhibition so interesting and varied, with contributions from around the world. Where available, you can also download the posters. If you exhibited a poster and would like it uploaded here contact us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Congratulations to our poster competiton winner:

First Place: Talent at stake. Changing the culture of research. Gender-sensitive leadership (Poster 48).

The close runner-ups are, in second place the Athena SWAN Charter (Poster 2) and in thrid place Project Ada (Poster 40).

Talent at stake. Changing the culture of research. Gender-sensitive leadership

 Talent at stake. Changing the culture of research – gender-sensitive leadership is a booklet designed to inspire everyone who wants to do something to increase diversity and promote greater gender balance within the research sector.

http://eng.kifinfo.no/nyhet/vis.html?tid=73777

Athena SWAN Charter

 Founded in 2005, the Athena SWAN Charter is a scheme that recognises excellence in science, engineering and technology (SET) employment for women in higher education. Any university or research institute embedded within a university that is committed to the advancement of the careers of women in SET can become a member of the Charter, accepting and promoting the six Charter principles. To date there are 59 Charter members. Once Charter signatories, universities and their SET departments are encouraged to submit for Athena SWAN Charter recognition awards. There are three levels of award: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Athena SWAN was launched in 2005 and in 2006 the first Athena SWAN Charter awards were presented to universities in recognition of their excellent practice and commitment to the career progression of female academics and researchers in their SET departments. That year there were 13 successful award holders. The following year saw the first and only Athena SWAN Gold department award achieved to date (the Department of Chemistry, University of York). Since then there has been an increasing number of award submissions with each year’s awards round and by the end of the awards 2010 there were 77 award- holding institutions and departments. Having completed the first awards round for 2011, there are now 87 award holders. We have recently undertaken a piece of research looking at the impact Athena SWAN has had in institutions and SET departments. A report on this will be launched in October, however feedback received to date does evidence a change within SET departments in terms of representation of women. In addition to this, many report that the good practice they are implementing generally benefits all staff and contributes to improving the working environment and culture within their institutions.

www.athenaswan.org.uk

Project Ada

Recruiting female students to the ICT studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

The Ada project at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) was initiated in 1997 and has been running since then. The main goal of the project is to educate more female ICT scientists and professionals. This is done by two measures: the first is to recruit more women to ICT studies at the university; the other is to inspire female students to take such programmes in their degrees once they have started. Ada focuses primarily on the master's programmes in computer science, informatics, telecommunications, electronics, electrical engineering and cybernetics. Equal opportunity is a strategic focus area at NTNU. This includes the recruitment of female students to science and technology. The number of female applicants to the Master of Science programmes in engineering at NTNU has doubled since 2005. During this period the percentage share of female students increased from 16 to 27 per cent. Ada is the primary measure to recruit female students at NTNU. Part of the project uses advertising, information campaigns and direct, personal contact with the target group. Some of the actions taken during the past few years are: ICT camps for girls, visits to upper secondary schools from our female students and a national conference for girls on education in technology and science. The project has an annual budget of €230 000 and employs a project manager and 12 part-time students. The project works in close collaboration with the industry and part of the funding comes from sponsorships and participation fees from private and public companies.

AKKA is a gender integrated leadership program at Lund university. The program started in 2004 exclusively for senior women scientists. In the third and fourth program participants include men as participants. In all, from 2004 until 2011, 97 women and 27 men have been involved in an AKKA program. What are the effects of this program - in a short and long perspective? Have the number of women in leader positions increased? Has the program increased the participantsgender consciousness? Have the participants become a gender equality change agents as leaders? In what way has the program had an impact on changing the leader structure? Positive results, so far, are that gender structures have become visible for those, men and women, who more or less denied the existence of discrimination. Both male and female participants have expressed the advantages of being in a gender-mixed program - and to have had the opportunity to discuss leadership and gender as well as sharing cross-gender experiences. Another aspect that we want to put focus on is weather the contents of the AKKA program should be adjusted to a gender mixed group of participants. The gender mixed program has been critized for focusing women’s situation. However, men’s situation in academia, in a gender perspective, includes men´s dominance and the masculine power structures. There is no objective way to approach this in order not to provoke a number of men. In the ongoing AKKA program we have met criticism by strengthening the gender perspective, and so far this seems to be successful.

www.lu.se

Currently, the proportion of women in science and technology in academia is low. Therefore, the likelihood that a name of a woman faculty will come up by top level decision makers who select candidates for a top academic management position, or a prize, is relatively low. Furthermore, women are less likely to promote themselves than men. For these reasons, proactive actions should be taken to promote women in science and technology in academia. Finally, women are less familiar with the rules of the game needed to apply and to get promotion in the academia. The present initiative addresses the above key issues in order to enhance the presence and status of women in science and technology. We used an intervention approach, diagnosing the key constraints, searching for opportunities and taking initiatives to nominate women in science and technology to top management positions, to prizes and to facilitate their admittance, their tenure and promotion.

As part of the initiative we take the following steps:
1. Formalize the role of the advisor to the university president on the status of women;
2. Create a network of all the advisors for the universities' presidents;
3. Diagnose the current situation by gathering objective data and publish a report for submission to the university president and the board of governors;
4. Write a draft of resolutions to be approved by the Board;
5. Take initiatives to overcome the constraints;
6. Change the organizational culture to be more user friendly to women;
7. Identify opportunities and nominate women candidates to the top management team and to prizes;
8. Build a support network.

The outcomes of our initiatives are:
a) A significant increase in the presence of women in top management positions in academia;
b) An increase in the percentage of women full professors;
c) A shorter time for getting promotion to a higher level academic rank;
d) A greater awareness of women faculty of the rules of the game for getting promotion and a greater awareness of PhD students for the actions needed to be taken to get post Doc Fellowships.

http://ie.technion.ac.il/home/users/merez0/html

The European Commission and JRC are in a continuous phase of ensuring equal opportunities (EO) to all staff and improving the gender balance throughout the organisation (e.g. JRC Action Plan for Equal Opportunities 2010-2014). Despite the recent efforts of the JRC, gender balance is yet to be reached with an overall sub-optimal female representation of 36%. An overall finding of the previous EU financed the UPGEM–project, was that women in scientific environments tend to have specific problems with what could be called the ‘workplace culture’. In order to reach an equal gender balance in career paths, and hence managerial positions, the required effort is not so much a change in the women’s behaviour but rather a change in the culturally determined perception of the ideal employee/manager. A change of workplace culture will benefit males as well as females. The project proposal targets two JRC institutes (IHCP and IRMM) and includes a four-step qualitative research project: • Culture contrast methodology, where the focus will be on ‘work relation’, ‘workplace identity’ ‘power structure’ and ‘gender’. • Culture mapping, where the input from staff is needed to map the work practices and perceptions. • Evaluation, including mapping potential areas for change in relation to the EO strategy and targets. • Summary and outcome, with recommendations for future equal opportunities practices. The overall objectives are to: • Offer solutions to achieve equal opportunities for career development. • Change the workplace cultures towards being more sensitive to diversity. • Develop tools to implement the desired changes efficiently. • Contribute to make IHCP and IRMM cases of ‘best practice’ regarding gender distribution in managerial positions compared to JRC as such and other European scientific workplaces. With this project, the institutes IHCP and IRMM have the potential to become role models for career development in JRC.

www.UPGEM.dk

The project investigated the continuing portrayal of established stereotypes and the possible emergence of new representations of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in UK children’s television programmes. A key premise that has underpinned the project is that children and young people (CYP) are not simply passive receivers or consumers of media messages, but active viewers, interpreters and, potentially, producers of media representations. Indeed, the research argues that this process of interpretation plays an important role in the ways in which CYP actively construct their sense of self-concept and their identities. As such, a key aim of this project has been to move away from research methods that focus on the ways in which adult researchers interpret representations of STEM to engage with the insights offered through CYP’s media literacy skills. The project analysed the content of over 300 hours of television programming to investigate the representations of characters involved in STEM, from a gender perspective. Over all the types of programmes analysed, male characters dominated representations of STEM and STEM practitioners. 59 CYP aged 7 to 15 years then participated in workshops that were designed to support them in analysing, for themselves, short extracts from television programmes and to engage with the ‘creative’ element of their media literacy skills by planning STEM-related television series. The project showed how these CYP drew on their sophisticated media literacy skills to demonstrate not only their understanding of stereotypical representations of STEM and the roles that these stereotypes play, but their ability to conceptualise the notion of ‘an audience’ and suggest how alternative representations might be constructed and displayed in an way that the audience would find engaging. As such, we feel that this research has important messages for both for TV professionals who are developing STEM-related TV programmes and for researchers and educators seeking to gain a better understanding of the role that these representations might play in shaping CYP’s engagement with STEM.
www.open.ac.uk/invisible-witnesses

Gender stereotypes may be changed via activation of the Self function, which influences students' thinking about their personal growth in gender dimensions. Thus, by gender education we may activate core social motives of self-enhancing, seeking possibility for self-improvement , self-expression in different social roles, gender relations and creation of the image of the self as a girl or boy, woman or man. Subjective position activated in the process of children's thinking about gender helps to overcome assimilated gender stereotypes.

The Spinning Top is a well-known and much beloved toy. The Driven Spinning Top is even more magic, funny, scientific, educative, technical, practical, improves patience, attention and perseverance and is liked EQUALLY by girls and boys.

http://files.eun.org/scientix/posters/PosterScientix_Spinning%20top.pdf

ESTIA-Earth undertook the designed by us structure for a postgraduate multidisciplinary education, [1], [2]-[5], and built a new European curriculum, with focus on the new member states: Baltic countries Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, Central Europe countries: Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and candidate country Turkey.  The program Estia-Earth involves the surrounding countries from the Mediterranean-Aegean-Pontian Seas area: Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania, mainly because the issues of migration of women are more intense in these countries. Older member states: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Austria and France, faced in the past the problems of immigrant women and now collaborate with mentoring and counseling, [1]-[11]. ESTIA-Earth targets young women as students deciding their future education and career, women executives who need postgraduate education on new sciences and technologies, women professionals and women immigrants, graduated from universities, who restart in new jobs after interrupts because of family needs, or business reengineering, or mobility of population.

Maria G. Ioannides National Technical University of Athens,  School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Heroon Polytechniou 9, Zografou Campus,  15773, Athens, Greece, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This presentation aims to share some results and conclusions from the evaluation of the first training initiative at University of La Laguna on how to apply sex and gender analysis in research process.

Ana Puy & María del Carmen Barrera Universidad de La Laguna. La Laguna (Tenerife). Spain. E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The objectives of the work programme are to:

• ensure that equality and diversity in relation to research staff is understood, visible and prioritised within HEIs (Higher Education Institutions)
• build a network of HEI ‘champions' who are informed and experienced in equality and diversity for research staff
• provide mechanisms to share good practice and increase the knowledge base on equality and diversity provision for research staff within HE (Higher Education)
• increase the knowledge, expertise and capacity of trainers and developers working with research staff
• build capacity within the HE sector through providing high quality targeted resources relating to equality and diversity for research staff.

Vitae aims to achieve these objectives by:

• providing leadership to mainstream equality and diversity as part of HE research workforce development
• building on existing structures and mechanisms to embed equality and diversity within Concordat-related activities
• developing a strategic partnership with ECU, and other key stakeholders with an interest in equality and diversity relating to research staff
• making excellence visible through sharing practice and developing resources.
• equality and diversity specialists within HEIs to raise their understanding of the challenges relating to building the capacity of the research staff workforce Vitae will work with a range of stakeholders within HE to achieve these objectives, specifically:
• staff supporting researchers, including staff developers, HR specialists, careers advisors, to raise their understanding of the equality and diversity requirements and challenges relating to the development of research staff
• principal investigators and senior academic staff to raise their understanding of the equality and diversity requirements and challenges relating to the management and leadership of research staff

http://www.vitae.ac.uk/policy-practice/355881/Every-researcher-counts-equality-and-diversity-in- researcher-careers-in-HEIs.html

Diversity monitoring is an instrument which aims on the implementation of gender and diversity in organisations. By screening structures, offered activities concerning gender and diversity can be brought together and can be made visible for actors and target groups of measures. The presented approach of diversity monitoring extends the frequently quantitatively oriented application of monitoring instruments towards a qualitative dimension. The gender and diversity monitoring approach of RWTH Aachen University contains three dimensions to picture gender and diversity in universities as organisations. Beside the structural dimension of institutions and activities gender and diversity are also analysed in their statistical representation of university member groups. Beyond these quantitative dimensions the presented concept includes a qualitative level which focus on the evaluation of the degree of inclusion of gender and diversity aspects on a conceptual level.

www.igad.rwth-aachen.de

This is a project which investigated a Norwegian initiative on regional innovation with a gender perspective.

http://nordlandsforskning.no/publikasjoner/rapporter/1095-kjog-innovasjon

The conference will take place in Vienna: Wednesday, 16 November 2011 FFG - Austrian Research Promotion Agency, Ground Floor 1090 Vienna, Sensengasse 1. The conference focuses on “gender dimensions in science and research” at the European level. During the last years several studies were carried out within the Science and Society-Programme. What happened? What kind of strategies towards gender equality were pursued? Do more women take part in EU-funded projects, are there more female project coordinators? Are gender-related perspectives implemented within the projects? What kind of part do approaches towards gender equality play within the discussion concerning HORIZON 2020? These and other questions will be discussed with coordinators of EU-funded projects, representatives of European Commission and interested researchers and stakeholders.

The one-day training sessions (in English) introduce the practical toolkit. A session comprises an overall introduction into gender and research and shows how gender is interwoven with all aspects of research. It examines how the gender dimension of research content contributes to excellence in research. It also analyses case studies based on concrete examples drawn from nine specific research fields: health; food, agriculture and biotechnology; nanosciences, materials and new production technologies; energy; environment; transport; socio-economic sciences and humanities; science in society and specific activities of international cooperation.

http://www.yellowwindow.be/genderinresearch/

In our project we develop target group appropriate media modules to build up gender awareness among students of the Technical University of Ilmenau. Gender Issues are uninteresting and not relevant for female and male student, often even highly rejected these days. Various equal opportunities measures are not harnessed and have a negative image. In order to achieve gender equality in all areas of society, we have to motivate young people to build up gender awareness so they are able to make a difference. In the context of a qualitative study in 2010 we investigated the knowledge and attitudes of n=41 students (n=20 female) towards gender topics. In seven group discussions, categorized and mixed by field of study and gender, n=22 engineering (n=10 female) and 19 social science students where discussing not only current political gender issues but also stereotypes of gender and study cultures. On one hand our results showed how highly uninformed and full of stereotypes students are when it comes to gender topics. On the other hand we reveled deep level stereotypes among the different engineering and social science study culture groups, especially related to women (e.g. female engineer students vs. female students from social sciences). The findings have been incorporated into the development process of five Web 2.0 Gender Modules (Quiz, YouTube Video, Website, Postcards etc.). In those media modules we address topics like gender sensitive language, knowledge about gender issues and stereotypes in a funny, non-dogmatic way. With this we are planning a Campus Gender Campaign in the end of 2011.

www.bunterkaffee.de

The project highlights the representation of women and men in scientific, technical and engineering areas, and focuses on an essential, but up to now rather unexplored, part of the media: websites as well as popular and public-related information material (e.g. leaflets and brochures). Analysis methods, like gender screening of selected media and focus-group interviews, are being carried out. The project will develop ready-to-use results, specifically a written guideline as well as a website written with web accessibility standards in mind. When developing these results feedback from relevant professionals (e.g. public relations, media, press agents) will be incorporated in the process.

From 2010 onwards, the GENDERA partners will collect, systemize and analyze existing strategies and programmes in order to identify best practices that are already having a positive effect on ensuring that women’s participation in R&D increases and that they achieve higher and decision- making positions.

www.gendera.eu

Pan-European research infrastructure Open access data source to answer gender related societal challenges 
The GGP, initiated in 2000, is a system of nationally comparative surveys and contextual databases which aims at improving the knowledge base for policy-making in Europe and developed countries elsewhere. Central survey topics are fertility, partnership, transition to adulthood, economic activity as well as the intergenerational and gender relations between people expressed in care relations or the organization of paid and unpaid work.

http://www.ggp-i.org/

The Genis Lab project is a support action - type project funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme. Genis Lab is a synergy among six European scientific organisations and technical partners providing innovative tools. Four years of activities for implementing structural changes in order to overcome the factors that limit the participation of women in research. Scientific partners present a focus area on nanotechnologies and an already set network. Besides, two other STEM areas (physics and ITC) are represented in order to provide a comparative assessment as well as best practices. • CSIC - (Spanish Superior Council for Scientific Research) - Institute for Polymer Science and Technology, Spain • IPF - Leibniz-Institut für Polymerforschung Dresden e.V., Germany • INFN - National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Italy • BTH - Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden • FTM UB - Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Serbia • NIC - National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia These are supported by a group of experts who provide and share innovative methodologies for gender mainstreaming in science: • FGB - Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini • ITC/ILO - International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (Gender Unit), UN Agency • ADS - Associazione nazionale Donne e Scienza (Women and Science National association)

http://www.genislab-fp7.eu/

Teams of teenage participants, in different gender mixes, took part in a participatory design challenge in a high school. The study found that the girls were dis empowered in the mixed gender groups whilst the boys were advantaged in these groups as opposed to being in single gender groups. In the design outcomes, boys were more likely to add features and gadgets whilst girls added embellishments and aesthetic touches.

Greenlightforgirls.org is a Brussels-based international NGO -- working in Europe, North America, Africa and Central Asia, promoting Science, Technology, and Engineering & Mathematics to girls of all ages and backgrounds.

http://www.greenlightforgirls.org/

"Iwouldliketobealeader" is an e-training tool available free online in 6 languages, on the competences and skills that a person in a leadership position should have. It is the results of collaboration among universities, companies and female students in Engineering. University students and young recruited employees are the target of the training. It is built with a gender perspective. The training is provided in an innovative way, in order to catch and keep the attention of young persons. The English version is available at:

http://www.fepic.eu/iwouldliketobealeader

The INTEGER Project is a partnership of five organisations in five European countries, working to improve the career progression of women scientific researchers through sustainable structural change with top-level leadership and commitment within each institution.

http://www.theukrc.org/about-us/our-projects/integer

The Heart for Women program of the Dutch Heart Foundation to stimulate, facilitate and necessitate awareness on cardiovascular diseases in women.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death among women in the Western World, including the Netherlands. Mortality trends in the last three decades decreased significantly more for men (58%) than for women (48%). A final explanation for this trend has not been provided yet, however research points out that women (participants) are underrepresented in cardiovascular research, are under diagnosed, diagnosed later, undertreated and are treated less accordingly to medical guidelines. This evidence, combined with the urgent demand of the Dutch cardiovascular patient organization and the Netherlands Society of Cardiology (NVVC) to the Dutch Heart Foundation made it evident that the time was set for an integrated approach to improve the cardiovascular care for women in the Netherlands. This resulted in a program with three interrelated project lines.

• Awareness of the general public: Increasing awareness of the Dutch citizens and society that women can -as well as men- die of CVD, that CVD is the leading cause of death in women, and that (funds for) more research is necessary.
• Awareness in health care providers: Increasing awareness of health care professionals that improvement in the cardiovascular care for women is necessary and that they play a crucial role in this.
• Gender research: increasing awareness among researchers, the research society and funding bodies (national and European) that more research on gender differences in cardiovascular diseases is necessary and integrating gender structurally in our grant applications. Regarding gender research; starting 2011 all research proposals submitted for funds of the Heart Foundation have to adequately address gender issues. It should state how gender differences are taken into account in the research projects, or if not, to provide a plausible explanation. A specific budget is reserved for these gender issues. Results of this approach will be evaluated at the end of this year. 

www.hartstichting.nl

RWTH Aachen has been the first German university to establish a strong and sustainable structural framework for the realisation of a coherent gender and diversity strategy. In order to ensure the quality of high-level research and teaching as well as to promote the internationalisation of a competitive university of the future, RWTH Aachen has to attract and retain diverse people. The university needs people who perceive their diversity as chance and potential for themselves and the university. The scientific unit Integration Team – Human Resources, Gender and Diversity Management (IGaD) - situated at the rector’s office - supports and accompanies the university in this comprehensive process. The IGaD, which consists of a team of scientists from different disciplines, works in the areas of Human Resources and Organisational Development, Work Life Balance, Research and Teaching. Therefore its main objective is to contribute to the establishment of equality and diversity as fundamental principles at all levels of decision-making.

http://www.igad.rwth-aachen.de/engl/

The Commission on "Women in Science, Technology, and Medicine” (DHST/IUHPS) is preparing a conference about Gender and Science Policies in 2011-2012. The aim of the conference is identifying current policies and initiatives about gender and science, discussing burning issues and defining research questions for the coming years. The conference will gather scholars from Europe, the United-States and other countries in order to exchange on existing policies and current initiatives.

I am creating a not-for-profit organization based in Paris (France) and focused on encouraging more young students to get into science, research and technology. I'd like to organize 5-day long workshops and invite small groups of French-side students to welcome their counterparts from countries from the Middle East and also Bulgaria. During the workshops, students will work to get to know the domain a bit better, by creating mini-projects and by meeting a few current well-known researchers. They will also get to know the caveats and various gaps that exist in the domain..

This project proposes three major subjects to work on in three years. The first subject is “Cultivation of women scientists”, the work includes the following items:

(1) Organizing International Female Scientist Conference in 2013.
(2) Organizing activities involving the academic research of female scientists, such as

(i) EMPOWER Program for women scientists in 2011 and 2012,
(ii) Professional conference for female scientists in 2012,
(iii)Film series for recording women scientists in Taiwan (30-min recording film for four Characters in three years),
(iv) G-Review (gender equality assessment) workshop at campus of Science of Engineering Universities (held in 2011 in North, south, east, and middle Taiwan),
(v) 「Who cares about gender 」 summer/winter camp in 2012 in south and north Taiwan ),
(vi) “How to infuse gender equality into textbooks for middle-school science courses” workshop in 2013 in south, north, east and middle Taiwan, and
(vii) Workshop on the progress of the present project for all group members (twice for each year);

(3) Science camps for high school girls in 2011 and 2012, for junior high school girls in 2011 and 2013 (four runs each year), Female scientists visit rural areas for lectures on daily sciences (five times each year), Lectures on gender and science for publics (ten lectures per year) and various exhibitions related to gender and science, which will be an collective effort with other institutes or organizations.

The second subject is “Gender and technology policy study”, the work involves data collection from Taiwan and other countries about government policies and research results on gender and technology, hoping to develop the sharing mechanism. The third subject is “Establishing local data bank for gender and science studies in Taiwan”. The work includes data collection, up-date, statistics and analysis.

http://www2.tku.edu.tw/~tfst/index.htm

The purpose of the study Meta-analysis of gender and science research was to collect and analyse research on horizontal and vertical gender segregation in research careers, as well as the underlying causes and effects of these two processes. The objectives of the study were to: – Provide an exhaustive overview and analysis of research on gender and science carried out at the European, national, and regional levels. – Make the study results accessible to researchers and policy-makers via an informed bibliography (online database) and a set of reports. – Steer policy-making on gender and science and define future research priorities within the Framework Programme, in particular through good practice examples and gap analysis in the various research topics. For the purposes of the study, ‘science’ was understood in its broadest meaning, including social sciences and humanities as well as research and technological development. The study covered the research on gender and science produced between 1980 and 2008, in all European languages, in 33 countries: the 27 EU Member States as well as 6 Associated Countries to the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) (Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey). The online database (Gender and Science Database, GSD) and the reports are available at the website of the study: www.genderandscience.org

The National Contact Centre for Women in Science is a research, support and advocacy project which has worked, since 2001, to improve the position of women and young people in science and to develop gender equality in academia in the Czech Republic. Our goal is to support gender equality in science and bring to attention cases of discrimination and breach of equality. We offer analyses of gender inequality, stimulate change among the responsible bodies and offer solutions that improve the professional advancement of women scientists. We turn concrete issues facing women scientists into proposals for structural measures. We are actively involved in international networks and creation of science policy. In terms of disciplinary affiliation, we are located in sociology of knowledge and public policy. We strive to stimulate discussions and implement measures leading to the elimination of discrimination and gender inequality in science. We are after transparent, open and fair science.

We work to:
- Increase the number of women in decision making positions in bodies responsible for research and development policies and public research and higher education institutions;
- Set eligibility rules for grants from public providers that do not discriminate on the grounds of parenthood;
- Achieve structural solutions to work-life balance issues;
- Initiate the collection of sex-disaggregated statistics, especially in institutions and bodies that distribute public funds for research and development;
- Achieve openness and transparency in the research environment and in the creation of science policies;
- Stimulate critical debates about the role of science in contemporary societies;
- Increase the visibility of women researchers and their work.

The project is funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports under the EUPRO programme for support of international cooperation in research and development (project no. OK08007).

http://www.zenyaveda.cz/html/

The objective of the programme is to enable the best researchers who are raising young children to return to advanced research work and to enable pregnant women to conduct research projects financed from external sources. The programme provides for two types of support:

1) the return grant is directed to researchers who hold at least a doctorate and work in a Polish research unit or have obtained a promise of employment for at least the duration of the project. Applications may be filed by women with a child up to age 4 (or age 7 in the case of adoption or multiple birth) as well as by men who have taken leave or interrupted their work in connection with having such a child for a period of at least 6 months. Financing includes a research grant as well as stipends for up to three researchers supervised by the principal investigator (students or PhD students) selected by competition. Their stipends are 250 € or 750€ respectively. The project may last from 1 to 3 years and it may be carried out on a part-time basis. There are two calls for applications pro year.

2) Support for women conducting research projects during pregnancy, where the nature of the work could affect their health. This form of support is addressed to women who hold at least a master’s degree, take part in research projects financed from external sources of the employing institution, and are working under health-sensitive conditions. Financing of support for pregnant women covers primarily costs of hiring (or delegation) of a researcher to take the place of the pregnant woman for tasks necessary to carry out the research project which she is unable to perform herself. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis (closed on 30th June 2011).

http://www.fnp.org.pl/programmes/overview_of_programmes/grants_and_scholarships/parent_bridge_programme

Photonics4Life (P4L) is the European Network of Excellence for Biophotonics. More than 50 top-research institutes, all active in the broad domain of Biophotonics, have joined forces to establish a European platform on Biophotonics for both academia and industry. Our aim is to provide a coherent and interdisciplinary framework for research in the strongly fragmented field of Biophotonics in Europe. The network bridges the gap between basic research in physics and chemistry, evaluation of methods by biologists, application oriented development of biophotonic components and systems by engineers and medical or biological research and applications by medical doctors. With this strategy P4L spans across the value chain from photonic components to applications and from fundamental to applied research – enabling a close cooperation of academia and industry and thus being a driving force for innovation.

http://www.photonics4life.eu

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Project REACH is the signature program of the Ohio State ADVANCE institutional transformation grant, Project CEOS, Comprehensive Equity at Ohio State.  The goal of Project REACH is to provide an opportunity for women faculty in the science & engineering fields to envision their research outside traditional pathways through commercialization and licensing of their inventions.  Women are less likely than men to assume the risk that accompanies entrepreneurial activities.  This coupled with the perception of little reward from academic leadership results in missed opportunities.  Project REACH is a series of four workshops designed to provide vital information to women inventors in a comfortable environment.

Design, negotiation and approval of a unitary legal instrument to combat mobbing, sexual harassment and harassment based on sex in Academia: Protocol for the prevention, detection and treatment of sexual harassment and harassment based on sex in the University Jaume I of Castellón.

Queen's Gender Initiative (QGI) was formed in 2000 and works to support women's career opportunities across the University, with particular focus on women in science and medicine. The strategy, solution and the successes of QGI endeavours are presented. The policy to achieve a more representative proportion of female staff in senior positions is embedded in the University’s corporate plan.  Over the past five years, the proportion of females in the professoriate has risen from 11% to 22%.  Activities underpinning this success include an in-house mentoring scheme open to all female staff, seminars on promotion procedures for academic staff and on career planning for postgraduate students and postdoctoral staff, and events to showcase role models and leadership.  A recent initiative is introduction of the research-only semester for women returning to work after maternity leave. Queen’s was named this year in The Times Top 50 Employers of Women list.

www.qub.ac.uk/qgi

Supporting researchers during a highly critical phase of their career development

- professional integration of spouse/partner - academic and non-academic positions

- social integration of the whole family - housing, child care, schools a.s.o

Aimed at those who have previously studied or worked in SET, this 10-week online course, Return to Science, Engineering & Technology offers the chance to develop new directions and to plan a route back into SET employment. The first part of the course is spent reflecting on precious achievements and developing the participant’s CV using the Open University’s electronic portfolio system. The next section explores the employment trends and opportunities within specific industry sectors, including accessing support from industry experts and mentors. During the final section an action plan is produced to help achieve your future goals. The course includes development of techniques and skills to help with networking, finding job opportunities and writing successful applications. The course is studied entirely online and many of the activities are carried out collaboratively with other participants in our unique virtual learning environment.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/course/t161.htm

Gender inequality in post-Soviet countries stems from the assimilated sex stereotypes. They are a main obstacle in promoting the policy of female and male equality on different societal levels – from the family function to policy making to government. Men’s and women’s social roles are closely connected to their self-perception, or the degree to which gender stereotypes are incorporated into the self-concept. Thus, via gender education we are likely to activate core social motives for personal development: self-discovery, self-enhancement, and self-growth. This research demonstrates exploration of the Gender Self in educational interactions on the level of primary and secondary school in Ukraine.

SESTEM is built on the premise that the study of the uptake of Science Technology and Mathematics (STEM) studies by girlds and their retention in the field can benefit from investigation into the triagulation of family - individual and school factos. Under this scope SESTEM aims to conduct four interrelated comparative studies engaging students, pupils, parents and teachers (both secondary and teritiary levels). Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be applied.

http://sestem.iacm.forth.gr

The overall objective of SHEMERA is enhancing research cooperation on gender and science between the European Union and the Mediterranean countries. Research cooperation is aimed at better understanding the roots of gender inequality in science in the area, taking into account cultural diversities and traditions, and analyse how the Mediterranean countries are addressing this issue. The project is led by CIREM and the consortium consists of 17 partners - 6 from Member States and Associated States, and 11 from the Mediterranean countries from the list of International Co-operation Partner Countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian-administered areas, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia. SHEMERA is funded by the European Commission under the Science in Society Programme of FP7. The project will collect data and generate state-of-the-art descriptions and relevant comparative analysis on gender and science in all the Mediterranean countries, focusing on three key themes: statistics on women in science, gender equality policies, and research on gender inequalities in science careers. The results will be made accessible to the research community and policy makers via an online database but also through publishable reports and workshops. In an effort to enhance networking and to steer policy-making on gender and science in the years to come, the project will offer recommendations to policy-makers aimed at increasing the presence of women in scientific research and technological development at all levels, and at ensuring an improved integration of the gender dimension in research policy.

http://shemera.eu/

The “Status of Women at ESO” is a project that as a start aimed at evaluating the gender distribution at ESO (European Southern Observatory), thus providing a snapshot view of the status of women at ESO. After a significant hiring peak in the early 2000, it was felt important to see how this peak had influenced our gender distribution. We are now in the process of looking again at some of the numbers (with a clear focus on the scientific/research staff in the early career stages). Preliminary results will be presented in the report.

http://www.eso.org

 An online resource to promote equality and diversity in science, technology, engineering, maths (STEM) subjects and careers for schools and colleges.

 www.stem-e-and-d-toolkit.co.uk

In October 2009, Ghent University (Belgium) started a mentoring program for young female researchers. The mentors were male and female professors, the mentees female researchers with a PhD. They met several times to talk about topics of the mentee’s choice. The coordinators also organized workshops about networking, work/life balance and career planning. The first mentoring year ended in September 2010. The mentees were very positive about the impact of the program on their career. Some of them were just happy to have been able to talk about their uncertainties, others made real career changes. Male mentors said they had learned a lot about how women experience the difficulties of an academic career. The main criticism was that some potential mentees and mentors had not wanted to participate because the program was restricted to female researchers. They stated that women do not need special help and that they would participate only if the program was open to male researchers as well. A new mentoring year has started in March 2011. Although the program’s focus remains on gender, it is now open for both male and female researchers.

http://www.ugent.be/diversiteitengender

The BCSWomen Lovelace Colloquium is an annual one-day conference for women students of computer science and related disciplines. The aims of this are threefold: to introduce the students to high-flying women in technology; to provide the students with an opportunity to present and discuss their own research; and to provide the students with an opportunity to network and meet with women students from other universities and with industry representatives. The day involves a series of invited talks from industry and academia (we have had speakers from Google, Microsoft and IBM amongst others) which showcase what successful women in IT are actually working on. Student work is presented in the form of a poster competition, with cash prizes provided by corporate sponsorship. Sponsorship also covers student travel to the event, lunch, and an evening reception: speakers stay for the entire day giving the students the opportunity to talk to them about the students' own work, and about the speakers' experiences of working in the technical sphere. Graduate recruiters also attend, which has an obvious practical benefit for some of the students, but which also helps the students to realise that they are a sought after group. This event is now entering its fifth year and thus far over 300 young women have benefited from attendance; it moves around the UK and in 2012 will be at the University of Bath.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/cs/employability/lovelace-colloquium/

Investigators: Juliet Webster, Cecilia Castaño, Mila Sáinz and Rachel Palmé

This project is concerned with an analysis of women’s professional ICT careers and of policy responses to their under-representation in two countries, Spain and the UK. It has three main elements, organised into three project phases. First, it examines the position of women in Spain and the UK in ICT education and ICT professions, drawing on quantitative data supplied by Eurostat. Second, it reviews and compares the insights of existing qualitative research into the reasons for their low levels of participation in both countries. Third, it analyses and compares selected practical interventions designed to address women’s under-representation in the two countries. The project takes the perspective of women’s lifecourses as they navigate through ICT studies and work, rather than the widely-used ‘leaky pipeline’ approach to gender attrition from ICT. Women’s lives and careers are understood in the context of the social, economic and policy environments within which these are lived. The education systems, welfare regimes, gender regimes and family structures are all analysed as context for the under-representation of women and for the policy responses which must tackle this in different societies. The project is funded by the Spanish Instituto de la Mujer and runs from 2009 to 2012. Project contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Since 1997, the Instution has tried to raise the number of female technical student. With different kinds of project, as Mentoring, carrer service, the new Assesment-Center TasteMINT, Sommeruniversity for girls, and a round trip through eight University we accompany and support young girls during their study.

The TWIST project focuses on the stereotypes and biases on societal roles of men and women and their career paths. The main objective is to create and develop innovative activities and exhibitions in science centres targeting students, their teachers and parents as well as the general public to create debates and ignite on-going discussions on gender issues. The activities involve exhibitions in several European science centres, interactive drama, teacher trainings, scientist speed-dating and much more. A new way of focusing on the gender theme in each partner country has already been established via the “Gender Day” on the 8th March (International Women’s Day). The main emphasis of these activities is on helping girls to see themselves as scientists of tomorrow through role models and interactive activities. An important aspect of the project is a collaboration with schools to develop new methods of approaching gender issues in schools and to ensure that the project’s results are sustained after the end of the project period

www.the-twist-project.eu