For the first time in a Romanian University, a public event for celebrating, in a special day ceremony, the women in science and academics with prestigious careers and international scientific visibility was organized at the UAIC. Similar public events are planned to be annually organized for the next years, in order to establish a tradition of celebrating women in academics and research at UAIC.
Program of the first edition: Opening speech by Prof.dr. Vasile Isan, Rector of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University Iasi. * Women and Scientific excellence: a brief overview by Prof.dr. Doina Balahur.* The official ceremony "Women's Annual Science and Technology Exclence Award 2010" and Women's Annual Science and Technology Distinction for Young Researchers 2012".* The UAIC Women in Science. Film presentation: Prof. dr. Liliana Mitoseriu and the young researchers group from the Faculty of Physics.

The scientific personality who received "Women's Annual Science and Technology Excellence Award 2012" was prof. dr. Liliana Mitoseriu, from Faculty of Physics (see the CV on the UAIC Profiles of Women in Science). Three young researchers from the group leaded by the professor Mitoseriu were awarded with "Women's Annual Science and Technology Distinction for Young Researchers 2012": dr. Lavinia Curecheriu, dr. Cristina Ciomaga and dr. Felicia Gheorghiu.(see the photo gallery on this website/home )

The TV report covering the public event organized at UAIC on 29 March 2013 was transmitted by TVR Iasi (TV channel with regional audience) on 2 April, and then by TVR 3 (with national audience) on 6 April. (play the video)

This second open source database aims at bringing to public attention the young women researchers who have remarkable results in their scientific communities and to encourage them in career development by increasing their visibility. It will be permanently filled in and actualized with new profiles from different research groups of the UAIC.

This meeting took place at DPO, the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Roma, Italy. (see www.projectstages it/index.php/documents-en/meetings)

From the program: On the 15 May, Senate Hall, Plenary session. Introductory speech, by Prof. univ. dr. Vasile Isan, Rector of the University Alexandru Ioan Cuza of Iasi. Scientific communications: Prof. univ. dr. Doina Balahur (UAIC, STAGES project coordinator): Is science a women thing? Where is Romania standing? Prof. univ. dr. Teresa Maria Lago (University of Porto, Founding member of the European Research Council, Former Chair of the ERC Scientific council Gender Balance working Group): Integrating Gender Equality Recommendations into Practices at the European Research Council. Dr. Brigitte Ratzer (Technical University of Vienna, Director of the Center for Promotion of Women and Gender Studies): How to fix the Leaky Pipeline? Prof.univ. dr. Ovidiu Gabriel Iancu (Vice-rector of the UAIC): Encouraging and supporting early career researchers at the UAIC in the framework of the doctoral programme POSDRU funded by European Social Fund, Romanian Government and Al. I. Cuza University of Iasi; Conf. univ. dr. Adrian Iftene (Dean of the Computer Science Faculty): Women and computer science at the UAIC. On the 15th May, Building R, Room 317: Q&A session 1: Competitions and applications for the ERC grants and Q&A session 2: Strategies for stimulating young female and male researchers' excellence in scientific research. On the 16th May, Building R, room 317: Seminar: Human Resources Management and Gender Equality in Science.

Participants: 170 professors, researchers, administrative staff members, PhD students, MA students and undergraduate students from the UAIC.

Within this session, 28 young researchers from the UAIC's Doctoral School and post-doctoral researchers met Prof. univ. dr. Teresa Maria Lago, from University of Porto (Portugal), and Dr. Brigitte Ratzer, from Technical University of Vienna (Austria), invited experts of the STAGES project at the UAIC, who talked about the European competitions for the ERC grants and the strategies for stimulating young researchers' scientific excellence.

Training Seminar given by Dr. Teresa Ratzer, Director of the Center for the Promotion of Women and Gender Studies from the Technical University of Vienna (Austria), invited expert of the STAGES projet at the UAIC, with the participation of the managers and staff members of Human Resources Department of the UAIC Iasi.

The young female and male students who recently graduated MA in Sociology and Social Work have been informed on the career perspectives in their scientific and professional fields by Prof. Dr. Doina Balahur, the coordinator of the two master programmes (European Master on Children's Rights and, respectively, Probation, Mediation and Social Protection of Crime Victims), together with Dr. Roxana Necula, representative of The National College of Social Work, Georgiana Onici, representative of the Probation Agency Iasi and Dr. Catalin Fedor, from Social Sciences Institute of Romanian Academy, branch Iasi. The event, attended by more than 60 participants, has been organized within the frame of the Master Graduation Ceremony of the 2013 generation of MA graduates in Social Sciences from the UAIC.

This Conference 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?"

For the first time in a Romanian University, the theme "Gender Equality in Science" is proposed for the PhD studies in the competition call for the admission session September 2013 of the UAIC's Doctoral School. Prof. dr. Doina Balahur, scientific coordinator for PhD in Sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences, announced the topics and the bibliography on "Gender, Career and Performance in Scientific Research" and "Structural Transformations in Universities and Research Institutes for Achieving Gender Equality in Science". The research on these themes will be carried out in cooperation with the FP7 European project STAGES at the UAIC. (link).