Periodic Reporting for period 1 - REWIRE (REinforcing Women In REsearch)
Reporting period: 2020-06-01 to 2022-05-31
Statistics published in the European Commission’s “She Figures 2015” clearly demonstrate that women are under-represented in academic careers. Societies, however, need well-educated talent of each gender to drive research and innovation as well as the economy. This makes the advancement of women in research, and ensuring that their potential is realised, a societal priority as well as an institutional responsibility. A large, comprehensive research university with high international visibility, the University of Vienna understands that research is a global challenge, but also faces a gender imbalance among its top-level academic staff.
The aim of the MSCA COFUND Programme, Reinforcing Women In Research (REWIRE), is to address these disparities through the establishment of a sustainable support scheme for excellent female postdoctoral researchers, which fosters their scientific development, nurtures their expertise and makes a profound impact on their future careers. REWIRE’s primary purpose is to recruit and then support 16 outstanding women postdocs through individual 36-month fellowships, enabling each to undertake cutting-edge research to build on their expertise and increase their networks and international exposure, and alongside to receive comprehensive non-scientific and transferable-skills training opportunities that will further enhance their future career prospects. Furthermore, through its execution (and learning as it progresses), the REWIRE programme is not only establishing best practice in attracting, selecting and empowering female postdocs, it will also influence the development of sustainable postdoctoral training and support structures for researchers regardless of gender, and advance the fellowship initiative as an exemplary model within and beyond the University.
In line with COFUND objectives to stimulate regional, national or international programmes that foster excellence in researchers' training, mobility and career development, and spread the best practices of the MSCA actions, the REWIRE fellows comprise a highly internationally-diverse group representing countries from within the EU (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Italy, Spain, Poland, Slovenia, UK) as well as outside it (USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Africa). Their fields of interest cover a similarly wide range of research disciplines, ranging from East European history, digital humanities, political science, social and cultural anthropology and musicology to food chemistry, mathematics, physics, physical chemistry and microbiology, and they are hosted in 13 different departments across the University.
The aim of the MSCA COFUND Programme, Reinforcing Women In Research (REWIRE), is to address these disparities through the establishment of a sustainable support scheme for excellent female postdoctoral researchers, which fosters their scientific development, nurtures their expertise and makes a profound impact on their future careers. REWIRE’s primary purpose is to recruit and then support 16 outstanding women postdocs through individual 36-month fellowships, enabling each to undertake cutting-edge research to build on their expertise and increase their networks and international exposure, and alongside to receive comprehensive non-scientific and transferable-skills training opportunities that will further enhance their future career prospects. Furthermore, through its execution (and learning as it progresses), the REWIRE programme is not only establishing best practice in attracting, selecting and empowering female postdocs, it will also influence the development of sustainable postdoctoral training and support structures for researchers regardless of gender, and advance the fellowship initiative as an exemplary model within and beyond the University.
In line with COFUND objectives to stimulate regional, national or international programmes that foster excellence in researchers' training, mobility and career development, and spread the best practices of the MSCA actions, the REWIRE fellows comprise a highly internationally-diverse group representing countries from within the EU (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Italy, Spain, Poland, Slovenia, UK) as well as outside it (USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Africa). Their fields of interest cover a similarly wide range of research disciplines, ranging from East European history, digital humanities, political science, social and cultural anthropology and musicology to food chemistry, mathematics, physics, physical chemistry and microbiology, and they are hosted in 13 different departments across the University.
During the first reporting period, the work performed by the dedicated REWIRE programme management team of the University of Vienna has focused, successfully, on achieving REWIRE’s aim of attracting a wide range of excellent fellowship candidates, recruiting the best 16 from among them and beginning to support their career development.
This period thus comprised preparation and then launch and dissemination of REWIRE’s two competitive application calls (July-September 2019; February-April 2020) that together attracted 303 applications from 61 different countries, running an evaluation and selection process, and onboarding the successful fellows. By the start of September 2021 all fellows were in post.
The programme’s emphasis then shifted toward supporting fellows’ career development during their research projects. REWIRE fellows are actively enhancing their scientific skills, accessing excellent scientific networks, attending conferences (48 to date, many of them international) and publishing in high impact journals and series (21 journal articles, 1 book chapter, 2 conference proceedings and 1 edited volume so far). Leadership, mentorship and teaching competencies have also been enhanced through fellows’ supervision of Masters and PhD students, teaching and arranging research-related. To consolidate their transferable skills, the fellows have already received three dedicated trainings, and have the ongoing opportunity to take other courses based on individual needs (for example, language learning, project management, programming, grant writing, academic writing etc.).
The first annual REWIRE retreat took place in September 2021, delivering substantial input and training on Responsible Research and Ethics, Communication and Presentation skills and ERC applications, and enabling rapport-building among fellows and with the programme management team. Since commencing their fellowship, each fellow also has an individual 6-monthly Career Development Meeting with the programme manager and submits an Annual Review Report, ensuring that individual career development remains foregrounded.
REWIRE fellows are also transmitting to the Host institution their existing research knowledge and skills. This two-way transfer enables the University and its researchers to gain directly from the fellows. The fellows are also exposing the University to novel international networks and contacts, generating new opportunities to bring research talent to Austria and Europe, to develop fresh collaborative research projects involving early career researchers, and to exchange best practice on developing research potential.
REWIRE’s website (https://rewire.univie.ac.at/) and Twitter account (@rewire_network) went live in April 2019. Both platforms have been focal points for promoting and disseminating information about the programme, from recruitment through to ongoing communication, including publishing interviews with fellows (https://rewire.univie.ac.at/fellow-of-the-month/).
This period thus comprised preparation and then launch and dissemination of REWIRE’s two competitive application calls (July-September 2019; February-April 2020) that together attracted 303 applications from 61 different countries, running an evaluation and selection process, and onboarding the successful fellows. By the start of September 2021 all fellows were in post.
The programme’s emphasis then shifted toward supporting fellows’ career development during their research projects. REWIRE fellows are actively enhancing their scientific skills, accessing excellent scientific networks, attending conferences (48 to date, many of them international) and publishing in high impact journals and series (21 journal articles, 1 book chapter, 2 conference proceedings and 1 edited volume so far). Leadership, mentorship and teaching competencies have also been enhanced through fellows’ supervision of Masters and PhD students, teaching and arranging research-related. To consolidate their transferable skills, the fellows have already received three dedicated trainings, and have the ongoing opportunity to take other courses based on individual needs (for example, language learning, project management, programming, grant writing, academic writing etc.).
The first annual REWIRE retreat took place in September 2021, delivering substantial input and training on Responsible Research and Ethics, Communication and Presentation skills and ERC applications, and enabling rapport-building among fellows and with the programme management team. Since commencing their fellowship, each fellow also has an individual 6-monthly Career Development Meeting with the programme manager and submits an Annual Review Report, ensuring that individual career development remains foregrounded.
REWIRE fellows are also transmitting to the Host institution their existing research knowledge and skills. This two-way transfer enables the University and its researchers to gain directly from the fellows. The fellows are also exposing the University to novel international networks and contacts, generating new opportunities to bring research talent to Austria and Europe, to develop fresh collaborative research projects involving early career researchers, and to exchange best practice on developing research potential.
REWIRE’s website (https://rewire.univie.ac.at/) and Twitter account (@rewire_network) went live in April 2019. Both platforms have been focal points for promoting and disseminating information about the programme, from recruitment through to ongoing communication, including publishing interviews with fellows (https://rewire.univie.ac.at/fellow-of-the-month/).
The success of REWIRE will be measurable based on 2 main outcomes that, in turn, create significant results and impacts.
For the fellows, participation in REWIRE is a key phase in their research career: each laying the groundwork for their next step as an independent researcher and group leader; REWIRE’s success will be judged by fellows’ readiness to successfully compete for prestigious grants and positions thereafter.
Secondly, through its own success, REWIRE is expected to influence general recruitment practices at the University of Vienna and make impact at regional, national and international levels. Lessons learnt during the programme will also help influence the establishment of sustainable support structures for postdocs regardless of gender, and promote the fellowship initiative as best practice beyond the Host institution.
These outcomes and potential impacts lie beyond the end date of REWIRE, however we expect some fellows to gain major grants and/or permanent academic positions during the programme’s lifetime, potentially within their fellowship periods, and we confidently anticipate sharing such successes in the next report.
For the fellows, participation in REWIRE is a key phase in their research career: each laying the groundwork for their next step as an independent researcher and group leader; REWIRE’s success will be judged by fellows’ readiness to successfully compete for prestigious grants and positions thereafter.
Secondly, through its own success, REWIRE is expected to influence general recruitment practices at the University of Vienna and make impact at regional, national and international levels. Lessons learnt during the programme will also help influence the establishment of sustainable support structures for postdocs regardless of gender, and promote the fellowship initiative as best practice beyond the Host institution.
These outcomes and potential impacts lie beyond the end date of REWIRE, however we expect some fellows to gain major grants and/or permanent academic positions during the programme’s lifetime, potentially within their fellowship periods, and we confidently anticipate sharing such successes in the next report.