The Redesigning Equality and Scientific Excellence Together (RESET) project involves seven large multidisciplinary universities from Europe. RESET will address the challenge of Gender Equality (GE) in Research Institutions, with the objective to design and implement a user-centered, impact-driven and inclusive vision of scientific excellence and to achieve a structural and cultural change in partner universities. For this purpose, RESET experiments with and develops a “co-design approach”, an innovative approach for addressing gender equality in higher education institutions. Co-design enables the RESET consortium to politically frame and sustainably implement gender and diversity-friendly practices in the work environment. Mainstreaming the co-design approach as an institutional practice for efficient gender equality policy-making and greater stakeholder engagement and support will underpin high-quality and high-impact actions. This deliverable contains the co-design starter kit (D9.2), part of Work Package 9 – Manage RESET and ensure the quality of its implementation. The purpose of the deliverable is to introduce co-design, including its theoretical background, principles, and practices as well as to offer support for its implementation. The latter is achieved by discussing aspects relating to how to take the context into account in co-design in different contexts as well as by offering a set of tools (example methods) to use within different co-design practices. This starter kit is based on decades of research on participatory, userand human-centered design with different computing and design disciplines. Initial empirical research has also already been conducted in RESET partner universities on contextual factors shaping co-design of gender equality, from which some empirical insights are presented. In Part A, this starter kit contains a conceptual framework that discusses the background, principles, and practices of co-design as well as its context-sensitivity. Part B contains altogether 16 tools derived from the literature on co—design, categorized into different practices of co-design: 1) Understanding and sensitizing with the topic; 2) From insights to ideas; 3) Creating design solutions; and 4) Reflecting on and evaluating the designs. For each practice, four example tools are provided, aiming at showing versatility in the method repertoire than can be used. These are complemented with a section on considerations of context. For each method, it is emphasized that tailoring and modification can be done whenever needed. For each method, it is important to acknowledge that familiarizing with the method in more detail is always needed before its use. This document contains only a limited overview of each method. After the tools, a set of questions with which to reflect on and prepare for the contextual aspects intermingled with co-design of gender equality are presented. This co-design starter kit is a workin-progress and closely interwoven with the ongoing work of the RESET project. It will be enriched as the project evolves during the next three years timespan.
Mainstreaming the gender dimension in research activities and outcomes is a topical challenge related to excellence. The gender dimension in research activities requires an ethically sound process in creating highquality results. Major research funding organisations are increasingly interested in analyses of the gender dimension in research, thereby challenging researchers to review their research plans accordingly. The Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) aims to tackle this challenge. The GIA is not a strict methodology but rather an approach to be further co-designed by local GIA communities of practitioners (CoPs) to ensure its fit into each academic research setting in aiming to improve equality and quality of the knowledge produced. The GIA approach also effectively supports Horizon Europe’s mission-oriented work, in which European research and innovation missions have the objective of delivering solutions to some of the greatest challenges that our world is facing, all of them having gender impact.
The GIA of research content is facilitated with a GIA checklist and a GIA consultation session arranged by the institutional grant writing support staff. Based on experience and collected feedback, the local GIA CoP will finetune the GIA checklist as well as the local institutional consultation practices. In order to ensure the sustainability of the GIA as an institutional and operational function, a specific GIA protocol will be tailored for the university with the assistance of the GIA CoP. The ultimate version of the GIA protocol must define the institutional structures, processes, resources, and conditions for GIA services, as well as tools that are available for researchers to conduct a proper GIA for mainstreaming the gender dimension in research. The responsibilities of the local GIA CoP will be specified in the GIA protocol, which describes the institutional engagement, and will seek prior approval from middle and top management of the university.
Mainstreaming the gender dimension in research activities and outcomes is a topical challenge related to excellence. The gender dimension in research activities requires an ethically sound process in creating high-quality results. Major research funding organisations are increasingly interested in analyses of the gender dimension in research, thereby challenging researchers to review their research plans accordingly. The Gender Impact Assessment (GIA) aims to tackle this challenge. The GIA is not a strict methodology but rather an approach to be further co-designed by local GIA communities of practitioners (CoPs) to ensure its fit into each academic research setting in aiming to improve equality and quality of the knowledge produced. The GIA approach also effectively supports Horizon Europe’s mission-oriented work, in which European research and innovation missions have the objective of delivering solutions to some of the greatest challenges that our world is facing, all of them having gender impact. The GIA guidelines introduce the approach as an institutional and operational set-up. They describe the institutional structures, processes, and resources needed for successful application of the GIA approach, and identify the key stakeholders within a university that are central for its institutionalization and operationalization — the GIA CoPs. Further, the guidelines propose institutional structures needed for gender impact assessment operations to make them standard procedures in an institution. Local GIA CoPs are in a central position to ensure a perfect fit of the GIA within a particular institutional setting as well as its sustainability.
This Toolbox for gender-neutral, diversity-oriented institutional communication (D. 5.4) is developped by RUB as part of Work Package 5 – Ensure a sustainable and cultural change by establishing a gender and diversity-friendly environment of the RESET project. This toolbox is the output of Task 5.4 – Promoting a unique standard of gender neutral, non-discriminatory, positive forms of communication. The toolbox builds on the insights and achievements that are reflected in the Guidelines for gender-sensitive communication in research and academia (2021) of the project SUPERA - Supporting the Promotion of Equality in Research and Academia. Additionally, this toolbox enriches the focus on gender-sensitive communication with the notion of gender-inclusive forms of communication as well as an intersectional perspective on further dimensions of diversity. For this, the Toolbox contains with a conceptual framework, that has a purpose to provide valuable information and knowledge around the necessity of gender-neutral, gender-sensitive as well as diversity-oriented forms of communication. Here, RESET’s intersectional perspective, and its understanding of diversity in the context of HEIs are explained. Information on social psychological and socio-linguistic aspects of communication are interpreted in relation to gender and diversity. Against these backgrounds the opportunities and challenges of visual aspects of communication are reflected. Part B contains the tools that have been developed in the context of the toolbox-creation, aligned with the conceptual framework, and based on institutional queries, interviews, and discussions within RESET consortium. They are meant to provide a starting point for making communication at our universities more inclusive, both in terms of gender diversity and other diversity factors. The Toolbox is a work-in-progress and closely interwoven with the ongoing work of RESET project. It will be enriched as the project evolves. At this stage, the toolbox has a strong focus on the aspect of gender-inclusive communication. In the future, it is going to entail more tools that emphasize the diversity aspect to a greater extent and that are going to be co-designed with our communities at our universities, to create safe and diversity friendly environments.
