Gender inequality is a major barrier in the R&I area that limit the capabilities and capacities of research and education institutions. Although major efforts to reach gender equality (GE) in R&I have been made in many areas of the world, there are still prominent inequalities in the widening countries. Across the EU, the development of Gender Equality Plans (GEP) intends to address the problems at RPOs; however, the variability in capability, capacity, and expertise hinder the efficient implementation of the institutional GEPs. Additionally, there are specific GE issues within certain fields of study at research and education institutions. In this context, GE issues in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields are well known and specific action plans have been developed. Within STEM, agriculture and life-science focused RPOs face very similar problems, but they lack sector-specific measures and mitigation plans. Furthermore, in agriculture, a large GE sector-specific imbalance exists in developing countries where a relevant proportion of RPOs’ international students come from. The AGRIGEP project, with the joint efforts of six consortium partners, aims to i) perform a responsible assessment of widening RPOs' current status on GEP implementation, ii) improve capabilities through intensive capacity building, and iii) develop and implement an agriculture and life-science targeted GEP with sectorial specific measures and strategies. These results could lead to long-term institutional reforms. Additionally, this project will work to establish the inclusion of GE issues within the RPOs’ educational system and professional training of students. The realisation of these objectives and the implementation of inclusive GEPs will enhance the inclusiveness, reputation, attractiveness, and research excellence of widening country RPOs. Moreover, it will promote the transformation of institutions and advance GE within the ERA as well.

GenderSAFE advances efforts to implement a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence in higher education and research in the European Research Area. Its overall objective is to contribute to building safe, inclusive, and respectful research and higher education. This will be realised through building capacities, mutual learning and exchange, setting up instruments to monitor the uptake and content of Research Performing Organisation (RPO) policies and promoting uptake of policies at the level of the national authorities and Research Funding Organisations (RFOs). This overall objective will be achieved through a five-fold strategy comprising: • Increasing robustness of zero-tolerance policies by building a common policy discourse in the EU reflecting state-of-the-art theoretical debates, including attention to power and intersectionality, mobility and precarity, • Facilitating the uptake and ownership of a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence policies through mutual learning, exchange, and co-design in a Community of Practice, involving multiple circles of various types of stakeholders, • Building institutional capacities to set up and implement gender-based violence policies through training of responsible staff and officers, • Creating a knowledge base on the uptake and contents of zero-tolerance policies at RPOs in the EU through a data collection and monitoring system, • Raising awareness and creating uptake through carefully designed communication, dissemination, and advocacy activities.

The CASPER project, in response to the SwafS-11-2019 call, aims at examining the feasibility of establishing a European award or certification system for gender equality in research organisations. On the basis of an in-depth assessment of existing relevant systems, the project proposes to devise and validate four scenarios, including a no-action scenario, in co-creation with national and international stakeholders. Each scenario will be examined via a walk-through methodology to understand their respective strengths/weaknesses, costs/benefits, other positive/negative impacts or their contextual relevance, and subsequently validated with stakeholders. The project will focus predominantly on gender-related inequalities in research and innovation, and will incorporate an intersectional perspective where possible. It will take place over a 2-year period, and consider not only the EU and its Member States but also relevant countries for gender equality certification/award systems such as NO, IS, CH, US or AU.

The main aim of the SUPERA project is to implement 6 fully-fledged Gender Equality Plans to articulate a structural understanding of gender inequalities, stereotypes and biases in research as a cross-cutting issue to tackle in their complex, multi-layered dimensions and the inclusion of a gender perspective in research and academia, with a holistic set of measures addressing the above-mentioned objectives of the European Commission’s strategy: - Building gender sensitive career management and workplaces; -Transforming decision-making towards accountability, transparency and inclusiveness; and - achieving excellence through strengthening the gender dimension in research and knowledge transfer. Any devised solution to be operationalized through the GEPs should take into account contextual features to reach effectiveness, and that innovative measures or initiatives designed by SUPERA should be brought to the knowledge of relevant stakeholders to feed their own expertise regarding SUPERA’s key areas. Partners within SUPERA’s consortium reflect the ambition of this project: maintaining a dual approach, RPOs are characterized by their size and impact potential, and their multidisciplinarity and vast academic offer (UCM, UNICA, CEU, UC-CES), while RFOs (MINECO, RAS) from the same partner countries as UCM and UNICA, respectively, are integral in maximising outreach and comitment as relevant public entities on a national level. This fact, while adding a complexity layer to GEP implementation, expands the scope of the project and the potential long-term impacts regarding sustainability and institutionalisation. SUPERA will be designed based on four core principles that will tackle the main barriers of implementing GEPs in research organizations: cumulativeness; innovation; inclusiveness and sustainability.

Gender-SMART is about achieving gender equality in Research Performing and Research Funding Organizations operating in the agricultural and life sciences research field. This field, essential to humanity and strongly affected by gender biases, is of specific relevance to implement changes aiming at making research more open to societal challenges. Gender-sensitive institutional strategies and research actions will generate enhanced, relevant and fully inclusive innovation processes. Gender-SMART unites 9 diverse organizations from 8 European countries which will collaborate to address gender inequalities and integrate 2a gender perspective in research. Building a gender equality culture; developing equal career support measures; reshaping decision-making and governance; integrating gender in funding, research and teaching are shared challenges identified by partners which will be tackled as part of one global process of institutional change engaging the whole organization. Transformative, tailor-made Gender Equality Plans structured around these shared challenges will be defined, and operationalized with the help of Professional gender experts. They will provide support in the domains of capacity building to steer change and guide monitoring & evaluation processes. This iterative process towards change is based on four pillars: 1) LEARN from each other and from what exists; 2) INDUCE visible and measurable changes, based on a common understanding of the project impact pathway and by using inclusive and participatory approches; 3) MONITOR AND EVALUATE progress, encompassing external monitoring and self-monitoring actions; 4) SHARE the project results with a broad range of stakeholders and contribute to building a community of practitioners in Europe and beyond. Explicit commitment from senior and middle management in the Partner organisations was secured prior to writing the proposal and is incorporated in the project governance and activities.