H2020 Gender Issues

Guidance and examples for written proposal

Horizon 2020 and Gender Issues

In Horizon 2020, gender is addressed as a cross-cutting issue in order to rectify imbalances

between women and men as far as the implementation of projects is concerned, and to

integrate a gender dimension in the research and innovation content. – reference http://

ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/cross-cutting-issues/gender_en.htm

Gender in research is considered from 3 different objectives:

Gender balance in decision-making Gender balance in research teams at all levels Gender dimension in research and innovation (RIA) content

Legal background

The Horizon 2020 Regulation The Rules for participation The Specific Programme implementing Horizon 2020

Gender Equality in Horizon 2020 Vademecumon Gender Equality

Please read HOW SHOULD THE GENDER DIMENSION BE ADDRESSED AND EVALUATED IN PROPOSALS? (Guidance for evaluators of Horizon 2020 proposals)

Specific legal background on gender issues, please refer to.

Obj1: Gender balance in decision-making

Advisory GroupsAt least 1 expert with gender expertiseGender experts should meet regularly

Evaluation Panels and Expert Groups40% of under-represented sex

Taking into account the situation in the field of the action

Obj2: Gender balance in research teams at all levels

Work Programme

• Encourages balanced participation in research teams/management

Proposal

• Indicate gender of person responsible for carrying out the project R&I activities

Evaluation

• If same score? gender balance in team = ranking factor

Grant Agreement

• Equal opportunities and gender balance at all levels

Monitoring

• At various stages of the funding process

Applicants to Horizon 2020 are encouraged “to promote equal opportunities in the implementation of the action and to ensure a balanced participation of women and men at all levels in research and innovation teams and in management structures”.

Obj3: Gender dimension in research and innovation (RIA) content (i)

Work Programme

• Flagging topics with explicit gender dimension

Proposal

• Where relevant describe how sex and/or gender analysis is taken into account in the project’s content

Evaluation

• If relevant, as other parts of the proposal

Grant Agreement

• n.a.

Monitoring

• If relevant, as other parts of the proposal

The Gender dimension is explicitly integrated into several topics across all the sections of the Work Programme.

“A topic is considered gender relevant when it and/ or its findings affect individuals of groups of persons. In these cases, gender issues should be integrated at various stages of the action and when relevant, specific studies can be included.”

NOTE: These topics are flagged to ease access for applicants. This should not however prevent applicants to a non-flagged topic from including a gender dimension in their proposal if they find it relevant!!

Work Programme

Gender Equality in Work Programme

Specific topics on gender Equality – 2014-2015

Topic Funding scheme

€ Budget

GERI.3.2015 – Evaluation of initiatives to promote gender equality in research policy and research organisations

RIA 2

GERI.4.2015 – Support to research organisations to implement gender equality plans: continues support for the implementation of institutional changes in universities and research institutions

CSA 7

Deadline 2015 calls: 16 September 2015

Work Programme

Gender dimension in the proposal

Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), under Excellence (1.3 Concept and Approach)

Where relevant describe how sex and/or gender analysis is taken into account in the project’s content

Sex and gender refer to biological characteristics and social/cultural factors respectively. For guidance on methods of sex / gender, and the issues to be taken into account, please refer to:http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/genderedinnovations/index_en.cfm

Under ‘Members of the consortium’, applicants are asked to specify the sex of the persons who will be primarily responsible for carrying out the proposed research and/or innovation activities.

Gender dimension in the proposal (ii)

Expertise and professional experience on gender should be adequately detailed and documented, e.g. by indicating specific studies or researches on gender, degree in gender studies, publications on gender.

Briefing of evaluators: briefings should include a tailored component on gender in research content. Scientific officers should also inform the evaluators on how to deal with gender issues during the evaluation, especially for the flagged topics.

Checklist on gender effect & research questionResearch Design:

Design studies that are sufficiently powered to answer research questions both for males and females (or men and women) if the topic being studied occurs in both sexes/genders.

Indicate (if sex or gender analyses were performed post-hoc) that these analyses should be interpreted cautiously because they may be underpowered (leading to a false conclusion of no difference). If there are many such analyses, indicate that they may lead to spurious significance, and an erroneous conclusion of a sex- or gender-related difference.

Data collection and analysis:

Provide sex- and/or gender-specific data where relevant (behavioral, clinical, basic science, and epidemiological studies).

Analyze the influence (or association) of sex or gender on the results of the study, or indicate in the why such analyses were not performed, and consider this topic as a limitation to cover in the Discussion section. Readers need to know whether the results generalize to both sexes/genders.

Examples of Gender issues in written proposal

NOTE: Examples should be modified to fit it to the proposal. If you can make some things specific (in the gendered innovation section or in the impact section or dissemination section) that would make it stronger and get the proposal extra points.

Example Gender Aspects (Consideration of gender aspects, Ensuring gender equality….Mentoring programme for female-researchers, Gender aspects for dissemination and communication, Gender aspects in research)

Sample txt for non specific topics

General sample text for non specific topics:

The consortium is aware that women are clearly under-represented in science in general. This balance for the participating scientists in this project are as follows:

If relevant, or SHOULD be added elsewhere, when relevant

Women directly involved [tick box]:

Women directly involved YES NO

- in the scientific management of the project?

- In the scientific partnership as scientific team leader in the project?

% of women scientists involved in the project [XX]%

Sample txt for non specific topics continued

Sample txt may be extended, e.g. with a table like this:

 

COORDINATOR

PARTNER 1

PARTNER 2

PARTNER 3

PARTNER 4

PARTNER 5

PARTNER 6

PARTNER 7

PARTNER 8

TOTAL

female staff 1 2 2 4 0 3 0 1 2 15

total staff 4 5 4 9 1 4 2 3 3 35

female (%) 25% 40% 50% 44% 0% 75% 0% 33% 67% 43%

Another, the table can also be organised in % with specification of women in management positions in the consortium!

Sample txt for non specific topics continued

You can insert a short text to strive for diversity in the project team. For example:

“Specific gender issues will be thoroughly monitored throughout the project. Even though in this project we do not work with organisms or human subjects we are sensitive to possible gender effects on research and innovation and dissemination and impact. We strive for diversity in the project team. We have a gender balance of [%-%] in the work package leaders who will be making important decisions on the research design, impact and dissemination. For the latter two we will take into account specific channels and ways to reach the different group of stakeholders or end users (such as young female scientists). We will appoint a gendered innovation officer from the project team to support the consortium for gender issues and place gendered innovations on the agenda throughout the project.”

NOTE: Be aware of Obj1, Gender Balance in decision-makingNOTE: Please never copy, but use your OWN WORDS!

Sample txt for non specific topics continued

You can insert a short text to stress the positive aspects of female participation in the consortium and/or to explain less positive aspects. For example:

“Note that for the % of female scientists involved vacancies (see [SECTION]) have been partially (50%) counted as women in the above calculations, since gender issues will be taken into account when filling these, as far as this does not compromise the quality of the research. Women roles throughout the projects’ hierarchy, including management. [NUMBER] out of [NUMBER] ([%]) of the WP Leaders are female. Furthermore, [%] of the Management Team members is female ([NUMBER] out of [NUMBER]). These aspects give the whole consortium a feminine touch.”

NOTE: Please never copy, but use your OWN WORDS!

Sample txt for non specific topics continued

You can insert a short text showing the awareness of gender equality under-represented in science in general (and in the consortium, if applicable). For example:

“The consortium is aware that women are clearly under-represented in science in general, although this is not the case for this project. [ACRONYM] will keep stimulating female participation in future projects of consortium members at all levels. The current consortium will serve as an example for the scientific community and on the [ACRONYM] website the high percentage of female participation in this ambitious project will be stipulated to inspire both consortium members and stake holders to steer the selection of members for future consortia and management positions. ”

NOTE: Please never copy, but use your OWN WORDS!

Sample txt for non specific topics continued

If the consortium is also willing to commit to more active stimulation of female equality, an example is given:

“The consortium is aware that women are clearly under-represented in science in general, although this not strikingly apparent within this project. [ACROYNM] will nevertheless take gender issues into account, by more ways than by hiring preferably females for vacancies. Mainly female consortium members will be invited to take a seat in an ad hoc Gender Action Committee to develop an action plan that will stimulate female participation at all levels of the project. This might result in additional measures to further stimulate female participation in later phases of [ACROYNM] and in future projects of consortium members at all levels. It should be stimulated that the action plan will be used by the consortium members to steer the selection of members for future consortia.”

NOTE: Please never copy, but use your OWN WORDS!

Sample txt with ….. (i)This example shows when an consortium is undertaking fieldwork and not all participants can ben involved and it later underlines attention when using different organisms:

“Specific gender issues will be thoroughly monitored throughout the [ACRONYM] project not only with respect to balanced teams and female leadership but also with respect to gender effects on research and innovation and gender effects on dissemination and impact. We commit to examine possible male- or female-specific phenomena in this project. In the field of [FIELDNAME], members of the female gender are not well represented within those groups of engineers and scientists that undertake activities at …… Every effort will be made to ensure that appropriate opportunities and facilities are made available to ensure full participation of all genders in such activities. Long periods of fieldwork, especially at …..., can also prove difficult for those with caring responsibilities for others. Strong efforts will be made to ensure that those colleagues unable to take part fully in fieldwork are involved in the planning and design of field operations. In this project the female gender, and diversity with respect to nationalities and social backgrounds are well represented within the project team and the consortium will seek to achieve gender balance in all aspects of its work.”

NOTE: Please never copy, but use your OWN WORDS!

Sample txt with ….. (ii)This part of the text underlines attention when using different organisms:

“Working with different organisms in this project will require attention of a possible gender effect on the research question, research design and data collection and analysis. We do not yet know what aspects of gendered innovation we will come across during the project but from the start of the project a gendered innovation officer will be appointed to inform and support the consortium for gender issues and place gendered innovations on the agenda throughout the project. The possible gendered innovations results of the project will be specifically showcased for example in GENport and taken into account in the dissemination material of the project.”

NOTE: Please never copy, but use your OWN WORDS!

Examples of gender issues in researchIf gender aspects in research has not been (sufficiently) elaborated elsewhere, it should be addressed where relevant!

Think of issues like: (Mis)alignment of gender distribution in experiments in relation to target audience (Why only

male mice used? With certain studies it may be misaligned or the other way round, understandable. Selection of clinical trials.)

Presence or absence of relevant genetic differences (X/Y-chromosome)

Hormonal differences with an effect on (or affected by) certain drugs

Physical differences of relevance (such as: when designing protective clothing)

Psychological differences (such as: when designing games, websites and questionnaires)

Environmental/natural resources (such as: water management research is mostly male oriented, but in practice, like in India it is the women who are associated with water. Think about washing and fetching water.)

Evaluation process

Evaluation

Gender dimension: for flagged topics, evaluators shall check how sex and/or gender analysis is taken into account in the project’s content (as requested in the application form).

In case gender issues have been developed for a non-flagged topic, they become fully part of the project and evaluators will deal with it as they will with the other relevant parts of the proposals.

Gender balance comes into play as a ranking factor to prioritise ex aequo proposals: “gender balance among the personnel named in the proposal who will be primarily responsible for carrying out the research and/or innovation activities”.

Signing the Grant Agreement

While signing the Grant Agreement, beneficiaries must:

(i) take all measures to promote equal opportunities between men and women in the implementation of the action

(ii) aim, to the extent possible, for a gender balance at all levels of personnel assigned to the action, including at supervisory and managerial level.

The Commission will assess the implementation of the abovementioned obligation along with other commitments of the Beneficiaries.

Grant Agreement

Monitoring

The Commission will monitor the implementation of gender as a cross-cutting issue, at various stages in the funding process.

The following are Specific Performance Indicators for Horizon 2020, starting to be collected in 2016, on an annual basis:(i) Inclusion of gender in the content of research (number of projects including gender analysis in

the content of research-products, instruments, methods, technologies, prototypes);(ii) Workforce statistics by gender (number in FTEs and gender of projects' staff), technicians,

administrative staff (including legal);

The following Indicators will be used on an annual basis to determine the prevalence of gender as a cross-cutting issue: % of women MSC Fellows, starting to be collected in 2015. % of women as ERC principle investigators, starting to be collected in 2015. % of women in advisory groups, expert groups, evaluation groups and panels, starting to be

collected in 2014. % of projects with gender dimension in the project design, starting to be collected in 2015.

Monitoring

Resources on gender issues/expertise (i)

• Vademecum: Vademecum on Gender Equality in Horizon 2020 (mandatory)

• GenPort: a online community of practitioners, made up of organisations and individuals working across the globe for gender equality and excellence in science, technology or innovation. It covers all sciences - natural and social sciences, and humanities.

Gendered Innovations: You can find methods, terms used and checklists in sex & gender analysis in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering and Environment.

Resources on gender issues/expertise (ii)

Gender Toolkit: by Yellow Window Management Consultants Toolkit Gender in EU-funded research.pdf

genderSTE: is a policy-driven targeted network funded by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). Specific fields are: cities, transport, energy, climate and industrial innovation.

Contacts

For questions related to gender in Horizon 2020 send an email to RTD-GENDERINRESEARCH@ec.europa.eu

or

contact the Diversity Office at the University of LeidenContact person: mw. Dr. I. Hoving, i.hoving@hum.leidenuniv.nl / +31 71 527 3176

Poortgebouw Noord

Rijnsburgerweg 10

2333 AA Leiden

+31 (0)71 5 26 55 73

luris@luris.nl

www.luris.nl

v.1. last updated 16 December 2014

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