Gender equality is a key issue in modern society which affects all aspects of life, from labour and the economy to health, education, and domestic life. One of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, reflecting the global importance of gender equality.

Further information on Gender Balance issues can be found on:

• European Research Council Gender Balance Working Group https://erc.europa.eu/thematic-working-groups/working-group-gender-issues
• Gender Equality in Academia and Research - GEAR tool https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/toolkits/gear
• Finding Success as a Dual-Career Couple https://www.cost-nqo.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/dual-career-article_OPN_02_16.pdf
• UK Royal Society’s YouTube video with some advice about counteracting unconscious bias https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/publications/2015/unconscious-bias/
• Project Implicit – test for unconscious bias https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
• GENDER-NET ERA-NET http://www.gender-net.eu/?lang=en
• Information about Women's participation in COST Actions - video on COST's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb5SL1OlsHs
• Launching on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science – 11 February 2021. Woman Scientist of the month Interviews 2018-2020 - Portraits of 23 distinguished women scientists, committed to gender and European issues, from different countries, disciplines, and ages: https://epws.org/

At MechSustInd we aim to nurture gender balance by ensuring equal opportunities across the network for participation, mobility, and training. MechSustInd’s contribution to achieve gender balance during the execution of the Actions, as one of COST Programme’s policies, is as follows:

• The Action Chair and Vice Chair, Dr. Evelina Colacino and Prof. Lucia Maini, are female researchers.
• The Core Group of the Action are gender balanced, close to the 50%-50% target foreseen by the European Commission.
• Male researchers are more represented as critical mass of the Action and within the Working Groups.
• The participants in the Activities of STSM were mostly female researchers, whereas in Trainings Schools the participation is more gender balanced.

Taking this statistical data into account (see pie charts below), MechSustInd will continue to make all efforts to achieve better gender equality ratios.

Upcoming Gender Balance Activities

Online and free event "Perspectives on Gender Balance in STEM", February 11 – 4:00 p.m. (CET).

Download the flyer

Whom to contact for more information?

Gender Balance Coordinator: Dr. Clara Gomes – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Gender Balance Co-Leader: Dr. Mafalda Sarraguça - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Past Gender Balance Activities