Friday, January 29, 2016 - 17:23
Innovation policy makers often discuss the functioning of innovation systems in terms of ecosystems. Innovation ecosystems can be constructed around any subject matter. In this recent article we chose the topic of gender, which we examined as a component of innovation success. Most analyses of innovation systems tend to assume gender-neutral position with regard to identity and roles of participating actors and their activities. However, real-life innovations can often result in (A) different...
Thursday, January 21, 2016 - 12:46
The equal participation of women and men in contemporary science and research is not just an issue in terms of social justice but also in terms of taking advantage of the available talent and improving the relevance and quality of science, technology and innovation. Despite the advances made, gender equality in terms of career choices, paths and outcomes continues to be a challenge for the science community. Highest grade professorships continue to be predominately (up to 80%) held by men (see...
Wednesday, December 23, 2015 - 13:56
Henrietta Swan Leavitt was the astronomer who discovered the relation between the variable brightness of stars and their pulsation periods, a mechanism the laid the foundation for estimating cosmic distances. Although her contributions were crucial for the further advancements in astronomy, she did not receive any public recognition of her achievements during her lifetime. The mathematician Gösta Mittag-Leffler tried to nominate her for the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1926, however...
Monday, December 14, 2015 - 13:29
Are you planning to take part in the next phase of Horizon 2020 programme. Here we list some key resources showing how gender fits into the six societal challenges prioritized in the H2020 programme for 2016-2017. They will help you identify key research question and methods for analyzing gender issues relevant to health, food, energy, transport, climate change and environment, and inclusive societies.Health, demographic change and wellbeingAmeratunga S, Hijar M, Norton R, Road-...
Wednesday, December 2, 2015 - 10:02
Good Willa Hunting?George Pólya, the world famous mathematician said in 1985: „Mathematics is the cheapest science. Unlike physics or chemistry, it does not require any expensive equipment. All one needs for mathematics is a pencil and paper.“ One could add, in one breath – and be a man. Historically, mathematics was socio-culturally perceived as one of the most masculine scientific disciplines. The gender stereotypical image of a mathematician standing by the big green...
Friday, November 27, 2015 - 17:41
On the eve of the 2015 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony (10th December 2015) we want to draw the attention to Marie Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) as the first women who won a Nobel Prize back in 1901. In fact, she was the first person to receive this important scientific award twice: the first in 1901 in Physics and the second in 1911 in Chemistry.With her pioneering research on radioactivity, Marie Skłodowska-Curie demonstrated against the predominant...
Monday, November 16, 2015 - 22:09
There is a simple answer to this question, and a more complicated answer. The simple answer is that gender refers to the different ways in which sexual differences between people appear differently in different times and places, societies, cultures, and across people's lifetimes. Thus, gender is seen as to some extent based on but distinct from sex; even if, confusingly, gender is sometimes used interchangeably with sex. While gender is often still taken to mean women and...
Tuesday, November 10, 2015 - 16:21
Are you interested in research on the reconciliation of family life and work? Are you looking for projects and articles about family-friendliness in academia, researchers' career paths and the issue of the leaky pipeline in science? In this post we introduce a list of key resources touching on various topics regarding the reconciliation of family and work in science. The 11 presented resources are far from being exhaustive – they should rather be understood as an invitation to join...
Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - 16:09
Taking the opportunity of the Ada Lovelace Day (October 11th) we will start publishing a series of posts dedicated to historical women scientists. This will happen in collaboration with the San Francisco based artist Jennifer Mondfrans and her work entitled “At Least I Have You, To Remember Me” - displaying portraits of women scientists accompanied by fictive letters from the past to the present reader – you.To commemorate the international celebration of the...
Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - 12:41
This week is the Europe Code Week, an initiative launched by Neelie Kroes’ Young Advisors with the support from DG Connect at the European Commission. The Europe Code Week aims “to bring coding and digital literacy to everybody in a fun and engaging way”. More than 2.000 events have been organized from the 10th to the 18th of October 2015, including a video contest or challenges and certificates in coding literacy for schools, among others. It is not by chance that during this...
