The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) launched in Brussels on 25 June 2015 the updated version of the Gender Equality Index (GEI). The official presentation of the 2015 version of GEI took place at the high level conference organized at the Belgian Royal Museums of Arts and History in the presence of Vera Jourova, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, representatives of the European Parliament, of the Council of Europe, of the Fundamental Rights Agency, as well as numerous policy makers from different Member States and invited gender experts. A general overview of the new data on gender equality in the European Union for the period 2005-2012 was presented by Virginia Langbakk, Director of EIGE, who emphasized that the results of Gender Equality Index show that there have been visible, albeit marginal improvements between 2005 and 2012 in the domains covered by GEI. With an overall score of 52.9 out of 100 in 2012, the EU remains only half way towards equality, having risen from 51.3 in 2005. An analytical presentation of the six core domains of the Gender Equality Index (work, money, knowledge, time, power and health) and of its two satellite domains (violence and intersecting inequalities) has been given by Dr. Jolanta Reingarde, senior researcher and analyst at the EIGE. The UAIC Network of Women in Academia and Research and the Centre for Gender Equality in Science has been represented by Prof. Dr. Doina Balahur.

The Conference has been organized by the Policy Research Centre on Equality Policies (PRECEP), an interuniversity consortium of the University of Antwerp, Hasselt University, KU Leuven, Ghent University and the Vrije University Brussels. The 4 thematic sections of the conference have been focused on LAW (The Relationship between law and social policy), POLITICS (Re) shaping (in)equalities in and through policies and politics), WORK (Diversity and (in)equality in work and organizations) and LIFE COURSE (Equality, Policy and the life course). The conference included plenary sessions and 16 panels bringing together prestigious gender experts from the Universities and research institutes from Europe and not only (among them, Professor Sylvia Walby, from Lancaster University, Professor Jeff Hearn, from University of Huddersfield, Professor Dagmar Schiek, from Queen's University of Belfast). Attending the conference, Professor Doina Balahur remarked novelties in communications from several panels, and especially Panel 15, entitled "Inequalities in the organization and the production of knowledge", chaired by Professor Mieke Verloo (Radbound University Nijmegen) and Professor Liisa Husu (Orebro University), with very interesting contributions of young gender experts like Dr. Marieke van der Brink (Radbound University), Dr. Rosalind Cavaghan (University of Edinburg), Dr. Uta Klein (University of Kiel), Dr. Jasmina Crcic (University of Marburg), Dr. Katharina Kreissl, Dr. Angelika Striedinger, Dr. Johanna Hofbauer and Dr. Birgit Sauer (Universities of Vienna). More info at www.equalisnotenough.org.

The European conferences on gender equality in higher education already represent a prestigious tradition for the academic and research community from Europe and beyond. Since 1998, when the first edition was organized in Finland by the University of Helsinki, the conferences have itinerated across Europe to Zürich (2000), Genoa (2003), Oxford (2005), Berlin (2007), Stockholm (2009), Bergen (2012), and now in 2014, at the 8th edition, in Vienna. By bringing together hundreds of gender equality practitioners, researchers and administrators from the academic world, the conferences were conceived to provide an international forum to discuss and exchange information and experiences and share research results on the changes and challenges related to gender in academia, gender equality promotion and interventions in higher education and research institutions. This year 377 participants from more than 30 countries have attended the conference held at the Vienna University of Technology, on the 2nd-5th September. Almost 150 speakers have approached, in plenary and parallel sessions, workshops, panel discussions and poster session, such topics as “Gender Equality in Higher Education: Next Steps to Go”, “Strategies for Institutional Change”, “Gendered careers in universities: Challenges for theory and equality policy”, “Creating Gender Equal Workplaces in Academia”, “Recruitment policies” and “Early career” issues, “Gender-sensitive teaching”, “Gender Content in Disciplines”, “Explorations & Interventions in Work-Life-Balance and Academic Working Cultures”, ” Cultural change in academia: starting points, challenges and success factors” and so on (see: https://gender2014.conf.tuwien.ac.at/programme/). In the session titled Change Processes, Professor Doina Balahur presented the communication “Promoting the “co-operation paradigm” for gendering the universities and science organizations. A model of real transformation to achieve gender equality in science”. At the same session Dr. Anke Lipinsky (Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, Germany), Prof. Uta Klein (University of Kiel, Germany) and Prof. Uduak Archibong (Bradford University, UK) have presented results of their gender research.

The last 4 years, Gender Summit has become the among the largest and most representative forum that brings together experts from research, academia, industry and policy who are interested to exchange knowledge on gender equality in science, by considering gender research evidence and the ways of improving the quality and impact of research and innovation through the inclusion of gender in science knowledge making and application. After expanding to North America in 2013, this year the 4th edition of Gender Summit returns to Europe, but with more than 400 experts from all the continents who have been present in Brussels on 30 June - 1 July 2014 (in the EC Charlemagne Building), the event really had a global dimension. The generic theme of GS4EU 2014 was "From Ideas to Markets: Excellence in mainstreaming gender into research, innovation, and policy" and the key aim, so formulated by the organizers, was "to promote a standards-based and systematic operationalization of gender in research and innovation process as a core quality condition in study design, research content, and processes, in order to foster smarter, sustainable, and effective European science endeavour". By focusing Horizon 2020, the current EC funding programme, which states, under Article 15, that: "Horizon 2020 shall ensure the effective promotion of gender equality and the gender dimension in research and innovation content", the debates have underlined the major implications of the cross-cutting role of gender and have developed ideas about how gender can be integrated within the different calls, through actions enhancing gender equality as well as through theoretical and practical approaches aiming to include the gender dimension in research and innovation content. Read more on www.gender-summit.eu.

Organized by the Consortium members of the European Project GenPORT, this workshop (that took place in Brussels, on the 2nd July 2014) intended to present the project's objectives and to share knowledge and ideas on the role of GenPORT with participants from other FP7 European projects focused on gender equality in science as STAGES, FESTA, GESIS Lab, GENDER-NET, INTEGER, GARCIA, TRIGGER. The role of GenPORT project is synthetically expressed by the slogan: "Your gateway to gender and science resources". The discussions on various topics orienting the project actions but being at the same time the common questions for all the participants at this workshop have been moderated by Juliet Webster (GenPORT project co-ordinator), Elisabeth Pollitzer, Sara Grunenberg, Jorg Muller, Rachel Palmen, Anke Lipinsky and Henrietta Dale (members of the GenPORT consortium). Among the participants: Dr. Anne Pepin (GENDER-NET, INTEGER), Prof. Doina Balahur (STAGES), Mario Conci (FESTA), Barbara de Micheli (GESIS Lab), Barbara Poggio (GARCIA), Anna Mittnerova (TRIGGER).

The Conference organized by the European Platform of Women Scientists (EPWS) had this year the title "New perspectives for Women Scientists Careers in Europe". After the opening speech given by Genevieve Fiorasco, French Minister in charge of Higher Education and Research, two presentation sessions have been held. The first one, on Gender in the new European Framework Programmes Horizon 2020, was chaired by Yvonne Pourrat (CDEFI), and included presentations by Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (Member of the European Parliament, President of the European Union of Women), Viviane Willis-Mazzichi (Head of Sector "Gender", European Commission, DG Research and Innovation), Nadine Heller- Genath (Contact Point Women into EU Research) and also of the representatives of current gender-related EU projects: Anne Pepin (INTEGER), Maxime Forest (EGERA), Anne-Sophie Godfroy (GENDER TIME), Ilenia Picardi (GENOVATE) and Marino Di Nardo (STAGES). The second session, focused on Up-skilling Women Scientists Careers - European and French Perspectives, has been chaired by Claudine Hermann (EPWS), and shared contributions of Nicky Le Feuvre (University of Lausanne), Marie Baudry de Vaux (IRD), Marie-Stephane Pefferkorn (Airbus Group), Collette Guillope (Paris Est-Creteil University), Helene Fueger (University of Fribourg) and others. After the end of the Conference, the EPWS members have participated at the General Assembly of this European organization that has been set up in 2005. The event took place at the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Paris, on the 11th of June 2014.

The main aim of this workshop (that took place in Brussels, on the 25th of March 2014) was to present the first results of the project and to open a public debate on new policies and instruments to promote structural changes in order to achieve gender equality in science. The presentations have been given by the STAGES team leaders of the five research institutions that are partners in the Project's Consortium: Daniela Falcinelli (University of Milan, Italy), Jürgen Wilke (Fraunhofer-IAO, Stuttgart, Germany), Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt (University of Aarhus, Denmark), Doina Balahur ("Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi, Romania) and Inge Blejenbergh (Radboud University of Nijmegen, Netherland), and also by Marina Cacace (ASDO, Italy). Some representatives of the similar FP7 European projects on Gender in science have shared their experience in a "Dialogue on the structural change": Uduak Archibong (Genovate Project), Silvana Badaloni and Yvonne Pourrat (Gender Time Project), Pat O'Connor (FESTA Project), Anne Pépin (Integer Project), Flavia Zucco and Barbara De Micheli (GenisLab Project). Gilles Laroche (Head of Unit, DG Research and Innovation) and Viviane Willis-Mazzichi (Head of Sector) as well as preeminent gender-and-science experts like Caroline Bélan-Ménagier, Inés Sanchez de Madariaga, Virginia Valian, Jadranka Gvozdanovic, Alice Hogan, Claudine Hermann, Katrien Maes and Paul Walton have also contributed to this scientific event.

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), located in Vilnius, Lithuania, has organized on the 24th-25th February 2014 a two-days working meeting with 33 representatives of European Universities and academic institutes from almost all EU countries in order to explore and decide how to collaborate further in the area of quality of research and how to strengthen the dissemination of each other working results. The meeting had an intensive working character, each one of the 4 working groups approaching a focused theme respectively: Engaging researchers and academia in EIGE's research (WG 1), Synergies in the dissemination of study results (WG 2), Co-operation with EIGE's Resource and Documentation Centre (WG 3) and Co-operation with academia to enhance gender mainstreaming (WG 4). Romania was represented by Prof. Dr. Doina Balahur, Director of the UAIC Centre for Gender Equality in Science. More info on the meeting here.

Organized by the European Research Council Executive Agency, the workshop had as main theme "On the way to the top: providing equal opportunities for men and women in science and technology" and the presentations and discussions focused on the policies and strategies that could improve gender balanced representation in top positions of the scientific and managerial decision-making boards. Among the speakers have been: Pablo Amor, Director of the ERC Executive Agency, Prof. Isabelle Vernos, Chair of the Gender balance working group, ERC Scientific Council and gender experts Prof. Curt Rice, Prof. Londa Schiebinger, Sarah Dickinson (Athena Swan), Prof. Gerd Bjorhovde, Dr. Claartje Vinkenburg, Barbara Limanowska, Viviane Willis-Mazzichi, Prof. Teresa Rees, Dr. Gerlind Wallon and Prof. Alison E. Woodward.The workshop has been held in Brussels, on the 2nd December 2013.

The high-level conference "Structural Change Promoting Gender Equality in Research Organizations" was organized, under the auspices of the Lithuanian Presidency of the European Union, by the University of Vilnius, on 21-22 November 2013. The President of the Republic of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaite, who was present at the opening ceremony, has addressed a welcome message to the participants - over 200 representatives of research institutions, funding agencies, scientific associations, researchers and policy makers from the EU countries. The Conference was a successful event by the opportunity offered to the European gender experts to exchange ideas and to share experiences on good practices in order to identify new models, strategies and methods to promote gender equality in R&I.

Organised by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Parliament, this seminar (held on the 9th July 2013 in Brussels) was the occasion for the final report of the research project on "Gendered Innovations in Science, Medicine and Engineering" to be presented. The Chairperson of the seminar, Rudolf Strohmeier, Deputy Director-General, from the DG for Research and Innovation (European Commission), professor Londa Schiebinger (Stanford University), project director, and professor Ineke Klinge (Maastricht University), rapporteur of the experts group on Innovation through Gender presented the main objectives and relevant results of the research under the title "Gendered Innovations. How Gender Analysis Contributes to Research". The research project was structured around the idea that gender analysis can serve as a resource to stimulate scientific research and new knowledge. More about the project

This Conference (held in Brussels, on the 13 June 2013) launched Gender Equality Index, a rich report of the statistical survey carried out by European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in order to evaluate and present the state of gender equality in the EU. The first Gender Equality Index reveals that the EU reached only half way towards a gender-equal society, with an average EU score of 54 (where 1 stands for no gender equality and 100 for full gender equality). Then, the main question raised by the report is: "If there are no urgent and effective measures introduced, how long will it take the EU to achieve a gender-equal society?"

Why is the Commission launching this campaign?

Women continue to be under-represented in research at a time when Europe needs more researchers to foster innovation and bolster its economy. The goal of the campaign is to attract young women to research careers in order to increase the total number of researchers in Europe. The European Union has set itself the goal of increasing R&D spending to 3 per cent of GDP by 2020, compared with around 2 per cent now1, and will need an extra 1 million researchers to make this a reality. Some businesses already complain about a lack of researchers and skilled technical workers.

There is a growing pool of female talent in Europe from which research and innovation should benefit. There are many factors at work explaining the lack of women in research in general and in some sectors in particular. Some are linked to the practices of research institutions and others to persistent stereotypes which affect the culture and image of science. The campaign intends to address these stereotypes. Read more

The 2012 European Gender Summit was held at the European Parliament, Brussels, on the 29th - 30th November 2012. It joined the excellence and equality agendas in science, as a strategic approach for enhancing full realization of the research and innovation potential in Europe. Read more