Advanced Training for Women in Scientific Research

It has been shown that there are significant differences in the career paths of male and female scientists. The road towards a faculty position not only takes longer for women, there is also a significant portion of female candidates who drop out before re aching their goal, a phenomenon appropriately referred to as "leaky pipeline".

The ADVANCE project addresses the issue of gender equality in science and research and intends to contribute to plugging the leaky pipeline by supporting female scientists in acquiring research and career management skills as well as tools that help them build up their careers. By providing expertise in structural and organisational aspects of scientific career promotion, by enhancing skills relevant in the scientific academic and industrial context and by experiencing a mentor-mentee relationship with senior researchers functioning as role models, female scientists will receive a broad repertoire of skills relevant for career development.

The ADVANCE objectives will be reached through the following activities: 1. Systematic training provided within the frame of a Summer School in order to equip female researchers with the necessary skills at the respective stages of their careers (pre-, postdocs and beyond). ADVANCE will target e specially scientists in natural sciences and technology, both in academia and in industrial research (Track 1).
2. Mentoring and Coaching Program (Track 2) will be developed within the frame of ADVANCE. This track will be one of the key factors in supporting female scientists in their career development both in academia and industrial research.
3. The Training and Mentoring Program will be amplified by supporting other organisations on a European level to build up similar training programs in their institutions. For this purpose "Transfer Models" based on the consortiums experience will be developed. All resources will be available free of charge for interested organisations.