EU-LIFE research institutes move towards gender equality

LIBRA – the EU-LIFE alliance project to develop and implement gender equality in research – has just been launched. The kick off meeting of this H2020 funded project is being held on 27-28 October 2015 at Sitges, Spain.

Gathering together the EU-LIFE partners and ASDO, a gender expert organization, LIBRA will evaluate the current status of gender equality in the different institutes; and implement innovative actions to increase representation and participation of women in leadership positions in life sciences in Europe as well as raising science excellence by including sex and gender dimension in their research.

LIBRA will be based on a participatory process of mutual learning that will lead to the design and implementation of harmonised and tailored Gender Equality Plans at the research institutes’ level. The plans will aim to bring about long lasting and profound structural changes to remove institutional barriers and empower women to be equally successful as men in their research careers. Specifically, they will address four main areas of interventions: 1) recruitment policies and procedures; 2) career development and training; 3) work-life balance; and 4) gender dimension in research.

Importantly, this will culminate in the partner research institutes developing sustainable policies that promote the recruitment and retention of women in science, remove any gender biased decision making processes, and integrate the consideration of gender in experimental design leading to a gender aware and unbiased European Research Area.

More information at the project website: http://www.eu-libra.eu/