European commission – directorate-general for research – unit scientific culture and gender issues

24 Jun 2009

Written by: Vera Fehnle

European commission – directorate-general for research – unit scientific culture and gender issues

Written by Vera Fehnle

Newsletter n° 26 on scientific culture and gender issues
Contact: Vera Fehnle (vera.fehnle@ec.europa.eu)

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

CONFERENCE RESULTS:

The international conference “Changing research landscapes to make the most of human potential – 10 years of EU activities on Women in Science, and BEYOND” organised in collaboration with the Czech EU Presidency in Prague on 14 and 15 May 2009, was attended by some 320 persons coming from all over Europe, US, Korea and Australia. The conference brought together human resource managers from universities and other research institutions, school-level science education experts, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders.

The presentations as well as the conference conclusions are available at the following website:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/index.cfm?fuseaction=public…

GENDER TOOLKIT IN EU-FUNDED RESEARCH

To further promote gender equality in scientific research within the 7th Framework Programme, the European Commission’s Research DG has decided to develop a gender toolkit and training activities which will provide the research community with practical tools to integrate gender aspects into FP7 research.

The leaflet is available at: http://www.yellowwindow.be/genderinresearch/

Before the training activities begin, four half-day information seminars on the project are scheduled to take place in Brussels between June and November 2009. These information seminars follow a dynamic format: short presentations (max 45 min) on the toolkit alternating with glimpses into the actual training sessions in different fields are run through the afternoon.

First half-day information session, 24/06/2009 from 13.00 to 17.00.
Second half-day information session, 11/09/2009 from 11.00 to 15.00.
Third half-day information session, 21/09/2009 from 12.00 to 16.00.
Fourth half-day information session, 16/10/2009 from 11.00 to 15.00.

For more information about the training activities:

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

MENTORING

After successful completion of the FP6 supported project, eument-net – the European network of mentoring programmes for women academics and researchers, is now organised as legal association.

Recently, eument-net has published Policy recommendations, based on project results. The recommendations are addressed to European and national policy makers, scientific and research institutions, but also the industry and the civil community.

eument-net Policy recommendations can be downloaded from: www.eument-net.eu.

The eument-net Guideline manual: “Establishing mentoring in Europe”, is available in English and Bulgarian. On the homepage, you also find the eument-net statutes, portrait and up-coming events, among which the pre-announcement for an International Workshop on Mentor Training.

Mentoring programmes and stakeholders are encouraged to register on the eument-net platform, in order to strengthen mentoring as tool to enhance gender equality in academia and research in Europe.

COMMISSION CALLED FOR “EQUALITY BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN IN A TIME OF CHANGE”

On 15 and 16 June, the European Commission hosted an event in Brussels to discuss current challenges and map future strategies for gender equality in Europe.

The conference on “Equality between women and men in a time of change” was an opportunity to take stock of the achievements of the current EU Roadmap on equality between women and men, coming to an end next year, and to discuss future priorities. With overall unemployment rising and no immediate solution to the current recession, the debate focused also on the repercussions of the economic crisis on gender equality. This two-day event featured speeches by ministers from the Czech Republic, Spain, Austria and the United Kingdom, Commissioner Spidla and Commissioner Wallström, EU representatives, European social partners, experts as well as NGOs.

The conference discussed how to make further progress for gender equality in a time of change.

Shared efforts over recent years have helped reduce gender inequalities across Europe, particularly in female employment. But overall progress is still too slow in most areas and gender equality is far from being achieved. Women still predominate in less valued jobs and sectors; they are on average paid less than men and they occupy fewer positions of responsibility.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

1st European Conference on Gender and Diversity in Engineering and Science

Organised by VDI (German Engineers association), this international conference will be held on 11-

13 September 2009, Düsseldorf, Germany.

The conference aims to bring the gender and diversity arguments from the gender sciences to industry and to those people who can make a change: HR managers, employers, scientists and managers in engineering; both male and female. With this aim in view, there will be presentations of best practice all over the world, results of studies showing the benefits of diversity and gender conscious management, and information on worldwide work-life balance concepts in sciences and engineering.

For more information: http://www.fib-conference2009.de/

2nd International PROMETEA Conference:

“The scientific and technological careers of women and men

Private temporalities, professional temporalities; public and corporate policies”

November 26-27, 2009

Maison de l’UNESCO, Paris (France)

In the wake of the 2007 International PROMETEA conference, the participants expressed the desire

to reflect on the question of the scientific and technological careers of women and to pursue the

dialogue between Human and Social Sciences on the one hand, and the preoccupations and reality

of corporate life on the other hand.

The 2009 Prometea conference will attempt to meet this demand:

To create opportunities of exchange between researchers in HSS and corporate managers
To take stock of the situation of women in these jobs and evaluate the impact of public policies and of new corporate practices on their careers: more flexibility, development of teleworking, blurring of the border line between private life and work, gender-neutral parental leaves, day care services etc.
To encourage the emergence of new social models better adapted to the reality of contemporary social life. Also to consider new paths for men in order to make all jobs and functions equally accessible to women and men

Conference languages are English and French.

This conference is organised in the framework of the European network Prometea, by the CDEFI (Conference of the Heads of French Engineering Schools) and ECEPIE (Equality of opportunities in engineering careers in Europe) with the support of the European Commission and French

institutions.

General information about the conference and detailed programme are available on www.prometea.info/conference2009)

GOING DIVERSE: INNOVATIVE ANSWERS TO FUTURE CHALLENGES

International conference on Gender and Diversity in Science, Technology and Business
Organised by RWTH Aachen in cooperation with Imperial College, ETH Zürich and TU Delft
Aachen (Germany), 29 – 30 October 2009

“Going Diverse: Innovative Answers to Future Challenges” is the final event of the project TANDEMplusIDEA; an international programme that fosters gender equality in science and implements international mentoring as an instrument of gender-fair human resources development.

Further information about the conference is available at the following webpage:

http://www.idealeague.org/tandemplus/conference

EPWS Annual conference 2009

The European Platform of Women Scientists EPWS

will hold its Annual Conference:

Scientific Culture, Communication, Gender – An Innovative Challenge for Women Scientists

in Brussels, Belgium, on 25-26 June 2009.

The Conference is organised in collaboration with BeWiSe – Belgian Women in Science.

For more information, please see the following website: http://www.epws.net/2009/03/epwsannual-

conference-2009.html

21st edition of the European Union Contest for Young Scientists – 11-16 September

2009 – Paris, France

Every year, the EU celebrates its best young scientific talent at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists.

This high profile event is open to young people aged between 14 and 20, who are winners of a first prize in their national competitions. This way, the Contest gives these potential future scientists the opportunity to compete with the best of their contemporaries at European level. The Contest aims to reward scientific achievement but also to demonstrate to a wider audience that science is fun.

This year’s edition of the Contest will be hosted for the very first time by France, and will take place at the prestigious Palais de la découverte in Paris from 11-16 September. About 140 talented students from 37 different countries are expected to compete for the top prizes and honorary awards.

For more information, please send an e-mail to: contact@eucys09.fr

More details on the EUCYS can be found at: www.eucys09.fr and

http://ec.europa.eu/research/youngscientists/index_en.cfm

PUBLICATIONS

Women in Science and Technology – Creating sustainable careers

http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/wis…

report_en.pdf

The Gender Challenge in Research Funding – Assessing the European national scenes

http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/the…

funding-report_en.pdf

The report will be represented on 2 July 2009 in the dbb Forum Berlin, Atrium IV from 10h30 –

12h00. For more information, please see: http://www.epws.net

She Figures 2009, leaflet, presenting some preliminary results of the She Figures 2009 data collection. The She Figures 2009 booklet will be published in September 2009 and uploaded on the DG Research Women in Science website.

http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document_library/pdf_06/pre…

figures-2009_en.pdf

Women and Science – The march towards equality, research*eu, special edition April 2009

http://ec.europa.eu/research/research-eu/women/index_en.html