Fourth Gender Summit opens in Brussels

The Gender Summit has returned to Brussels, following two European events in 2011 and 2012, and then the first North American edition in 2013.

The conference, for which Pan European Networks is official media partner, aims to bring together experts from research, industry, and policy to share research evidence and explore ways of improving the quality and impact of research and innovation through the inclusion of gender in science knowledge making and application.

The programme for 2014 event focuses on Horizon 2020 and includes contributions from the European Commission’s DG Research, the US National Science Foundation, and the European Research Council, amongst many others.

The expected outcomes of the event include recommendations for improving research practice through the attention of the role of gender specified in H2020 under Article 15, which states: “Horizon 2020 shall ensure the effective promotion of gender equality and the gender dimension in research and innovation content.”

Further expected outcomes are the definition of a standard-based approach for the integration of the gender dimension in research and innovation, including maximising its cross-cutting role, and a recommendation report on effectively monitoring the gender dimension in Horizon 2020.

Following on from the coverage of the 2012 Summit and the subsequent articles from Dr Elizabeth Pollitzer, co-founder and director of Portia Ltd (responsible for the establishment of the Gender Summit series), the next edition of Pan European Networks: Science & Technology will include several interviews with key participants from the 2014 summit in an on-going effort to promote the importance of gender equality.