Gender equality has been defined as one of the cross-cutting principles under Horizon Europe, the main European research and innovation funding programme.
In words of the President Ursula von der Leyen “Gender equality is a core principle of the European Union, but it is not yet a reality”. To overcome this challenge, and aligned with the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, the European Commission is strengthening the commitment in gender equality by taking concrete steps through the Horizon Europe research and innovation funding programme.
In order to eliminate gender inequality and intersecting socio-economic inequalities throughout research and innovation systems, including addressing unconscious bias and systemic structural barriers, Horizon Europe has established three measures:
1. A new eligibility criterion to get access to funding from 2022 calls whereby public bodies, research organisations and higher education establishments will be required to have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in place.
2. The integration of the gender dimension into research and innovation content (i.e. sex and gender analysis) becomes a requirement by default across the whole programme and an award criterion during the evaluation of project proposals.
3. Gender balance among researchers involved in projects is strongly encouraged and is taken into account as a ranking criterion for equally ranked proposals. Particular attention is also paid to ensuring gender balance in evaluation panels and in other relevant advisory bodies, such as boards and expert groups.
Other initiatives in Horizon Europe include specific calls with funding available for actions supporting the development of inclusive gender equality plans in research and innovation organisations across Member States and associated countries under the horizontal sub-programme “Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area”. Also, gender studies and intersectional research to assess how different social factors create different modes of discrimination and privilege will be funded in calls corresponding to the Pillar II Cluster 2 - Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society.
Tackling gender equality Horizon Europe criteria at the ICM
The ICM has taken important steps for a more effective structural anchoring of gender equality. Its involvement in two European projects (LeTSGEPs and RESBIOS) has resulted in a better alignment among societal needs and science from a Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) perspective.
In that direction, several actions aligned with Horizon Europe criteria are under deployment at the ICM to better definition, but more importantly, implementation of gender equality objectives, which include the qualitative improvement of women's participation in projects and teams at all levels. A good example of that alignment is the placement of dedicated human and material resources to put in place the ICM Gender Equality Plan (GEP), a public strategic document conceived to address gender gaps and inequalities using concrete measures and targets.
Among those actions, the Institute has published a guide to promote non-sexist and inclusive communication and provided specific guidelines to include gender dimension in research, since it must be gender-sensitive and gender-responsive to do not fall short of being considered excellent. This inclusion has been considered a mandatory aspect in Horizon Europe, since it improves the quality, rigour, reproducibility and creativity of research. Also, it enhances the social relevance of research and innovation, and promote wider application of research results to the population.
Moreover, several resources have been provided by the Research Support Office to empower all ICM personnel to participate in the funding opportunities within Horizon Europe and foster the creation of balanced teams and equal opportunities. In particular, specific training sessions on Horizon Europe and guidelines are being made available for an optimal capacity building on this funding scheme and to ensure the fulfilment of the eligibility and evaluation requirements, including gender equality criteria.
All those provisions for gender equality in research and innovation under ICM’s initiatives, including the ones related to Horizon Europe, contribute directly to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 “Achieve gender equality empower all women and girls”.
It is time to keep joining efforts and move forward!
