The ERC published its third gender equality plan striving for a gender balance at all levels and throughout its processes.
On 7 June, the European Research Council (ERC) Scientific Council adopted its new Gender Equality Plan (GEP) for the duration of the Horizon Europe Programme from 2021-2027. The plan is already the third of its kind, as a first GEP was adopted in 2008 shortly after the start of the ERC. The ERC Scientific Council’s Working Group on Gender Issues drafts the GEPs and is also in charge of monitoring gender balance in ERC calls.
Gender equality is enshrined in the core documents establishing the Horizon Europe Programme, of which the ERC is part. It is one of the important crosscutting elements covered by the Strategic Plan. To put this into action, the ERC GEP is addressing structural gender differences. The new GEP has seven particular objectives. It aims to: i. continue raising awareness about the ERC gender policy among potential applicants; ii. improve the gender balance among researchers submitting proposals; iii. raise awareness on the benefits of gender balance within ERC research teams; iv. identify and remove any potential bias in ERC evaluation procedures; v. monitor possible differences in gender specific careers and academic posts following ERC grants; vi. embed gender awareness within all levels of ERC processes while keeping a focus on excellence; and vii. strive for gender balance among ERC peer reviewers and other decision–making bodies, aiming at a level of at least 40% of the underrepresented gender. Activities in order to reach these goals will intervene at several different levels, awareness and submission rates, evaluation processes and granting, and gender balance among peer reviewers.
According to Barbara Romanowicz, Chair of the Gender Issues Working Group, the ERC has already achieved gender equality in success rates since the first GEP. The percentage of women applicants has increased from 25% in FP7 to 28% in H2020, while the percentage of female grantees has grown to 27%. The success is mostly due to the ERC’s measures, as the number of women in research overall has not significantly changed. According to Romanowicz, maintaining the balance will need continuous monitoring, since the pool of female applicants to the ERC remains limited. Increasing this pool lies outside the remit of the ERC and would have to be addressed at a much earlier educational level.
At the level of Horizon Europe, consideration of gender will be mainstreamed and apply at three stages of a proposal. At the stage of eligibility, the programme will request gender equality plans (GEP) from the institutions of participants as a self-declaration with a grace period of one year from 2022 deadlines onwards. Whether these institutional level GEPs will also be required for the ERC is not yet clear. Further, the integration of a gender dimension in the research plan is an award criterion under excellence for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA) and Innovation Actions (IA). The gender flagging, as we know it from H2020 will no longer exist. Last, the gender balance among project participants will be a ranking criterion.