Gender Equality Academy

Project Information

GE Academy

Grant agreement ID: 824585

DOI

10.3030/824585

Project closed

EC signature date 23 November 2018

Start date 1 January 2019

End date 31 December 2021

Funded under

• Promote gender equality in particular by supporting structural change in the organisation of research institutions and in the content and design of research activities

Total cost

€ 1 999 800,00

EU contribution

€ 1 999 800,00

Coordinated by

VILABS OE
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GE Academy (Gender Equality Academy)

Reporting period: 2020-04-01 to 2021-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Over the last decades, gender and feminist scholarship has built a significant body of knowledge contributing to our understanding of how gender operates in the social and natural worlds. It has equally developed theoretical and methodological approaches that have benefitted knowledge production processes over the past forty years. However, despite these steady advancements in gender and feminist scholarship, its achievements have rarely permeated mainstream disciplinary canons in academia.

GE Academy offered a holistic approach developing and implementing a high-quality capacity building programme on gender equality in research and innovation (R&I) and higher education (HE). The capacity-building programme was based on state-of-the-art knowledge and composed of a series of tailor-made training materials and different training formats including: In-person trainings, Summer Schools, Workshops, Webinars, Distributive Open Collaborative Courses (DOCCs) and Train-the-Trainer sessions. The programme was executed in more than 15 countries addressing the broad spectrum of topics concerned and supporting the ‘mainstreaming’ of gender expertise in different disciplinary areas and scientific fields, which will implicitly spread gender perspectives and gender dimensions in various organisations. Avoiding a simplistic and binary vision of gender, the approach takes intersectionality into account, meaning the interlocking, complex system of inequalities and differences in which individuals are embedded.

The project strived for increasing skills of those who were implementing measures towards gender equality in their institutions (management, administrators, HR managers, academic staff etc.); deepening the expertise of researchers interested in the gender dimension of their work; further developing skills of gender experts willing to deliver training sessions to research & innovation and higher education communities in Europe and beyond.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The capacity building programme responds to the needs of those who are contributing to and can become involved in institutional change towards gender equality in research and innovation (R&I) as well as in Higher Education (HE), taking into account differences between target groups (in terms of professional profile/position, gender, socio-cultural background, discipline, etc.). The Gender Equality Academy (GE Academy) will both tackle issues of gender equality in research institutions and research teams through structural change, and issues of gender dimension into research contents, following the three main ERA objectives set for gender equality in research. At the same time, a pan-European network of gender trainers, both female and male, is being established. Trainers, practitioners and researchers are trained, coached and upskilled for delivering gender training sessions tailored to the R&I and HE communities all over Europe and beyond.

Since the beginning of the project and up until the end of December 2021, GE Academy conducted a series of training sessions both online and face-to-face:
- 28 in-person training sessions
- 17 workshops
- 14 webinars
- 3 Summer Schools
- 3 Train-the-Trainers' sessions
in different topics including: "Gender action plans: getting them right and making them happen" Dealing with resistances", "How to avoid gender bias in recruitment and promotion", "Towards a gender-aware research organisation: what you need to know (but never dared to ask)", "Gender in Research & Innovation" engaging with more than 445 organisations and 936 participants in various countries (60 nationalities) throughout Europe and beyond.

More than 134,193 views GE Academy's website reached and more than 4000 people reached via the project's social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MailChimp). GE Academy videos on youtube reached more than 5400 views. Additionally, GE Academy participated in 23 conferences and workshops to increase public awareness and share its experience with external experts in the field including activities organised jointly with other EU sister projects. 50 leaflets were distributed in the Zagreb, Presidency conference. GE Academy communicated its results at the final event organised on 18 November 2021 with more than 100 participants. It took place online due to COVID-19 pandemic, therefore no leaflets were distributed. GE Academy produced two policy briefings and had two conference presentations. Last but not least, GE Academy's belongs to a wider community of sister projects numbering more than 30 projects focusing on the promotion of Gender Equality in R&I).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main objective of the GE Academy project was to develop and implement a coherent and high-quality capacity-building programme on gender equality in Research and Innovation as well as in Higher Education Organisations. The project contributed to strengthening gender equality within the R&I community in Europe and beyond. The project built capacity among various stakeholders as well as a self-sustaining network of trainers for GE in R&I and HE. This led to a change regarding the ongoing gender inequality and under-addressed gender dimension within R&I in Europe. Recognition and awareness of this situation were already anchored within the communities, but efforts for remediation were slim. The project, therefore, aimed to push forward to institutional and structural changes towards gender equality within RPOs and HE organisations, including, as an integral part, the diffusion of gender expertise in all disciplinary areas and scientific fields, which implicitly spread gender perspectives and gender dimensions in various organisations. Through this project, we worked towards strengthening institutional capacity for change and promoting broad engagement, across all levels and stakeholder groups, and with particular attention to engage men, too.

The project led to a high-quality capacity-building programme on gender equality in R&I and HE. The large repository of training concepts and materials developed by GE Academy is available for uptake and use beyond the lifetime of the project, as the legacy of the GE Academy.

Project logo

Project flyer (second page)

Project flyer (front page)

GE Academy workshop "Dealing with resistances"