DRAW THE LINE! Cultural boundary making in everyday academic work life

Announcement of the UPGEM conference , May 30-31, 2008

Research in academia shows that competent female and male scientists follow different career paths in different national contexts. Some countries are better than others at attracting female scientists to a research career in physical science. Even so, in these countries female scientists never reach top positions to the same extent as their male colleagues. The results presented at the UPGEM conference unveil the complex and intricate cultural historical patterns behind these facts.

The project offers a multifaceted picture of the diversity of the everyday life at universities in five European countries; Italy, Poland, Finland, Estonia and . To capture this complexity, the project has developed a ‘Culture Contrast Method’ that draws analytical lines across the vast empirical data. This method sheds light on problems of e.g. retaining competent researchers in academia or problems of perceived gender categories hindering female researchers reaching the top. We have found these problems to be related to culture; i.e. diversity in historically and socially created boundaries between practices in nation states, between males and females and between those who stay in academia and those who leave because they are pulled out by more rewards in other workplaces or pushed out for reasons spanning from harassment, sexual harassment, low pay, unfair competition or fired following changes in the political climate.

The conference has three roundtable debates and a number of work shops on selected themes where specific findings will be presented. The actual results of the research will be presented for the first time at the conference itself, but you can learn more about the UPGEM project: www.upgem.dk

Preliminary programme

Friday May 30th

9.30-10.00 Coffee and registration

10.00- 10.20 Welcome: Dean of the Danish School of Education, Lars Qvortrup, University of Aarhus

10.20-11.00 General presentation of results: Associate Professor, Dr. Cathrine Hasse, Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus

11.00-12.15 Roundtable discussion with physicists, politicians and researchers on ‘Women and universities as workplaces’*: Vice Rector for Academic Affairs University of Aarhus, Professor Nina Smith

Vice-chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and member of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, Britta Thomsen

Head of Department Learning Lab, DPU, , Professor Hans Siggaard Jensen

Professor Anne Kovalainen, The Turku school of Economics and Business Administration, Turku, Finland

12.15-13.00 Lunch

13.00 – 16.00 Workshops**

Saturday May 31st

10.00-11.00 Roundtable discussion with physicists on ‘Women in Physics’*

Physicist, Dr. Dragana Popovic, Belgrade Women's Studies Center, Belgrade

Physicist, Dr., Pia Thorngren Engblom, PhD, Docent in Nuclear Physics Department of Physics, Stockholm University

Associate professor, Anja C. Andersen, Dark Cosmology Center, and Chair of Network for Women in Physics in Denmark

11.00-12.30 Workshops**

12.30-13.15 Lunch

13.15-14.30 Summary of workshops

14.30-15.30 Roundtable discussion with physicists and researchers on recommendations: A group of specialists discuss UPGEM-results and reported recommendations from the workshops

Policy Recommendations will also be discussed in all of the workshops.

*The invited speakers in the panel will first give a 10 minute comment each on findings in the UPGEM-project and then discuss recommendations.

** In the workshops UPGEM partners and assistants give papers based on UPGEM results. Participants are not expected to give papers but to discuss results and recommendations.

Workshop themes: Academic Structure and Changes Science Policy Career Path Workplace Environment Family and Work Identity and Stereotypes

(The programme might be subject to changes and a regularly updated version is available on: www.upgem.dk)

Responsible for workshops are UPGEM senior partners, consultants and assistants:

Senior partners: Dr. Endla Lõhkivi, University of Tartu, Estonia Dr. Kristina Rolin, Helsinki School of Economics, Finland Professor Anna Maria Ajello, University La Sapienza, Italy Dr. Merja Helle, University of Helsinki, Finland Dr. Cathrine Hasse, Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Consultants: Agata Heymowski, Polish representative and consultant, Poland Lone Svinth, Consultant of Quantitative studies, Denmark

Assistants: Katrin Velbaum, University of Tartu, Estonia Jenny Vainio, Helsinki University, Finland Giulia Califiore, University La Sapienza, Italy Cristina Belardi, University La Sapienza, Italy Stine Trentemøller, Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark Anne Bjerregaard, Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark

Conference location The conference will be held at the Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus. The School of Education is situated in Copenhagen

Important dates! • Conference May 30-31, 2008 • Registration will be possible from December 15th 2007 • Deadline for Registration April 15th, 2008 Early registration is strongly recommended due to a limited number of participants

Danish School of Education University of Aarhus Tuborgvej 164 2400 Copenhagen NV DK - Denmark