Science with and for Society SUCCESS No

Science with and for Society SUCCESS No. 5 Funded by the European Union Project details

Project title: Institutional Transformation for Effecting Gender Equality in Research STORIES Project acronym: INTEGER Project URL: www.integer-tools-for-action.eu Project coordinator: Dr. Anne Pépin (CNRS, France) Project contact: [email protected] Project duration: 03/2011 - 06/2015 EU contribution: 2 247 705 EUR No. of partners: 4 Type of activity: Coordination and Support Actions Programme: Science in Society, Seventh EU Framework Programme for Research (FP7) Area: Gender Equality

The INTEGER Project: Changing the INTEGER website (integer-tools-for-action.eu) © CNRS institution, not the women scientists

The INTEGER project partner, GESIS - Leibniz Institute and funded by the Science with (INstitutional Transformation for the Social Sciences (Germany). and for Society programme. for Effecting Gender Equality INTEGER was one of the very first But why is institutional change in Research) aimed to foster projects to be funded by the Science fundamental when it comes to gender equality in research in Society (SiS) Programme of the strengthening gender equality in institutions through so-called 7th Research Framework Programme research and innovation on an insti- “Transformational-Gender to promote institutional change in tutional level? A number of initiatives Action Plans” (T-GAPs) which research organisations and univer- to promote gender equality had been functioned as drivers for sities in order to strengthen gender developed over the years. But often systemic structural change. equality. It signified a new approach they focused mainly on “helping” or At three institutions - a large re- and a rethinking of what is needed “fixing” individual women scientists search organisation, the National to achieve gender equality in re- to fit the predominant structures Center for Scientific Research search and innovation. Due to its without any real effect on the institu- (CNRS, France), and two universi- particular importance, funding for tional processes and structures that ties, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) this approach to structural change contribute essentially to inequality. It and Šiauliai University (Lithuania) – first introduced in the SiS pro- became clear that in order to foster - an institutional transformation gramme in 2010 - has become part gender equality a comprehensive and was initiated through the INTEGER and parcel of the Science with and sustainable systemic approach was project to improve the career for Society Programme in Horizon needed which allowed to identify and progression of the institutions’ 2020. More than a dozen “sister adapt deeply embedded structures women scientific researchers. projects” of INTEGER have received that lead to gender inequality in funding so far and the demand institutions. This is how the institu- Each implementing partner insti- for such projects remains high. tional change approach was born. tution established its own T-GAP, A major cornerstone of this devel- tailored specifically to its needs and Fostering gender equality opment at EU level has been the specific context, since a “one size fits through the institutional change report “Structural change in research all”-approach will not achieve real approach institutions: Enhancing excellence, and sustainable institutional change. The still unequal situation between gender equality and efficiency in re- Another important factor for success women and men in research and search and innovation” (2011). The was the continuous monitoring and innovation has been documented importance of the institutional change comprehensive evaluation of the im- impressively, e.g., in the extensive approach has also been recognised in plementation of the T-GAPs. This task data collection “She Figures (2015)” the context of the European Research was taken over by the fourth project which is updated every three years Area (ERA). “Gender equality and

SiS.net is the international network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for Science with and for Society (SwafS) funded by the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 under grant agreement no. 635656. http://www.sisnetwork.eu Contact Success Stories: Randi Wallmichrath, [email protected] Science with and for Society

Funded by the European Union

SUCCESS Get more information about the Horizon 2020 programme part Science with and for Society here.

Read further Success Stories here.

Find more projects on the different SwafS areas such as RRI, STORIES No. 5 gender equality or science education on Cordis.

gender mainstreaming in research” indicators. The evaluation of the institutions seeking to improve the is in fact a key priority of the ERA project proved that substantial position and progression of women and fostering institutional change to progress had been made at each researchers through the imple- increase gender equality constitutes partner institution. Ongoing commit- mentation of gender action plans an inherent part of this priority. ment of senior management within in a well-reasoned process. The these organisations, which is a pre- toolkit is based on good practices Four key areas of intervention requisite for sustainable change, was identified within the project. At its and analysis stated as one of the major results1. core are the four main steps “Plan”, In order to develop gender- “Do”, “Check” and “Act”, which build Embedding change into your sensitive organisational practices on one another. Templates and institution: Use the INTEGER and culture the INTEGER project how-to guides for specific actions toolkit based their gender equality plans, are provided for every step. the T-GAPS, on four key areas Even though the runtime of INTEGER The project consortium’s commitment of analysis and intervention: has ended, its impact has not. The to gender equality in research and implementation of the T-GAPs has • engagement of decision-makers, innovation is still strong. INTEGER triggered a process of change in • improvement of organisational partner Trinity College Dublin is the participating institutions that structures, currently coordinating the structural continued after the final day of • career progression, development change project SAGE in which they the project. The consortium has and support, share their knowledge of gender worked on embedding gender good • work-life balance. equality plans with partners who are at a starting stage of setting up gender equality plans. GESIS - Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences will monitor the implementation progress in the institutional change project GEECCO. And the INTEGER coordinator CNRS also coordi- nated the GENDER-NET ERA-NET which has recently published the IGAR online tool to assist organisations in the integration of sex and gender analysis into research policies, programmes and projects.

The annual Science with and for Society call always includes a topic that supports research organisations in implementing gender equal- INTEGER team, © CNRS ity plans to stimulate institutional change. If you are looking for funding The implementation of the T-GAPs practice to step up sustainability. to follow the path of INTEGER allowed flexible adjustment whenever Furthermore, the project’s impact is and similar projects – examples needed. A simultaneous top-down not reduced to the consortium. One of current projects are GENERA, and bottom-up approach was uti- of the main achievements of INTEGER LIBRA, BALTIC GENDER, EQUAL-IST lized. Additional support came from is the development of a toolkit – check out the call information on the specifically established network (http://www.integer-tools-for-action. Science with and for Society in the of INTEGER ambassadors to benefit eu) which provides guidelines to Participant Portal. Work on change! from practices tested in other institu- peer research and higher education tions. Implementation was monitored through a set of key performance 1 More concrete project results are available in the final report