Conference on the Gender Dimension in Research
Conference on the Gender Dimension in Research
On the 17 of May 2023 Universities Denmark, hosted a conference on Gender Dimension in Research, at Aalborg University in Copenhagen.
As an applicant for the Horizon Europe framework program for research and innovation, you must decide on and describe how you will work with gender aspects in the professional content of research or innovation projects in the excellence section of the application. The conference focused on this new excellence criterion, and enlightened university management and other stakeholders on the importance of the Gender Dimension in research as a way to raise research quality.
Ineke Klinge, president of the Dutch Society for Gender and Health, delivered the keynote speech “Improving excellence by integrating inclusive sex and gender analysis into research and innovation”, laying down the history of Gender Dimension and showing different examples of how gender affects research in the most unexpected ways.
Women’s health and diversity in teams and research
Afterwards researchers from different fields talked about their considerations of sex and gender dimensions in their research projects, and associate professor Mathias Wullum Nielsen from University of Copenhagen delivered a tour de force on the relationship between representation and relevance. He highlighted the inevitable link between diversity on research teams and diversity research questions and methods and the ability to disrupt research and innovation and foster new scientific breakthroughs.
Innovation Manager from BioInnovation Institute Foundation Cathrine Nygaard Christensen gave a presentation on “The challenges and opportunities of creating start-ups in women’s health”. She spoke of women’s underrepresentation in clinical trials e.g. that between 1977 and 1993, women were excluded from participation in clinical trials in the US.
Leadership and foundations perspective
Prorector for Research at University of Copenhagen David Dreyer Lassen gave a leadership perspective on the Gender Dimension in Research and talked about gatekeeping and scientific culture.
Vice President Jesper Svejstrup presented the ERC’s bottom up approach to excellence in science, and the day ended with a panel from some of the largest Danish research foundations discussing the possibility of including the gender dimension in their research calls and their evaluation processes. All of the foundations have made efforts to improve the representation on research teams and the diversity among grant-recipients, and they consider the continued attention and the conversation about the Gender Dimension in Research to be pivotal.
Universities Denmark look forward to continuing the conversation about the Gender Dimension in Research in the coming years to improve the quality of research and ensure that it benefits all citizens.
See the full conference programme
Introduction by Professor Tomas Brage
Presentation by Professor Ineke Klinge
Presentation by Professor with special responsibilities Eleni Tsingou
Presentation by Associate Professor Stefan Jänicke
Presentation by Professor with special responsibilities Signe Sørensen Torekov
Presentation by Prorector for Research David Dreyer Lassen
Presentation by Associate Professor Mathias Wullum Nielsen
Presentation by ERC Vice President Jesper Qualmann Svejstrup
Presentation by Innovation Manager Cathrine Nygaard Christensen
