Co-creating better knowledge together: Enhancing diversity and gender balance in research

During the past ten years the European Commission has pushed European universities to remove structural barriers to improve gender equality and diversity within higher education institutions. One of the most significant barriers is related to the accuracy of knowledge and specification of its limits, thus also the usability of the produced knowledge. Based on a bibliometric analysis of EU-28 research publications published between 2015 and 2019, less than 2% of them were gender-sensitive. Explicit references to biological sex or social gender were highest in medical and health sciences (3.79%) and lowest in engineering and technology (0.21%). The bibliometric study about gender awareness in research publications on the goals of the 2030 Agenda, presents that the SDGs are examined to a significant extent in a gender-blind manner. Practically this means that the remedies produced do not take into an account differences that women and men have in their life e.g. due to separate life spheres at home and labor market or physiologically e.g. hormones and bodily functions such as pregnancy.

The GEAR tool by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) explains the importance of gender-responsive information. The academic and scientific knowledge produced through research should increase understanding of the world. It is therefore crucial that the knowledge generated through research and transferred through various levels of education is not gender-blind or contain erroneous generalisations that downplay the significance of gender. Research and innovation activities in particular must be able to critically examine gender, intersecting differences and inequality. Integrating the gender dimension into research and innovation will make it possible to (1) ensure excellence and quality of results and improve sustainability, (2) better adapt research and innovation to social needs, and (3) develop new ideas and foster innovation for building a sustainable future.

European Commission in promoting gender equality

The European Commission (EC) has indicated that it will take the shortcomings in gender dimension into account and address the problem through its main research funding instrument, Horizon Europe (2021-2027). Therefore, in order to apply for EC funding, an organisation must have a gender equality plan in place. If several applications receive the same assessment score, gender balance in the consortium is a decisive evaluation criterion. The project application contains a separate section that requires the content of the research project to be examined from a gender perspective, unless the call for applications specifically mentions that it is unnecessary. Therefore, the gender dimension affecting the granting of funding and the intersecting differences related to it must be taken into account when planning the research project, unless otherwise stated in the application text.

The European Commission’s reports Gender in EU-funded research (2014) and Gendered innovation 2: How inclusive analysis contributes to research and innovation (2020) serve as detailed textbooks for gender mainstreaming in research. They describe how gender should be considered in the composition of the research group, project operations, planning of the research project, formulating research questions, and making decisions on research methods, in data collection and its analysis, as well as in the beneficiaries of the results and their publication. Furthermore, the SAGER guidelines and recommendations concretize how gender perspective can be incorporated into journal manuscripts. The evaluation panels of research funders are able to assess how the above-mentioned dimensions are presented in research project applications with the help of guidelines. Mainstreaming gender dimension into research content has become part of gender-responsible scientific research as well as data generation and research funding policy. Some university research groups are taking the first steps towards incorporating the gender dimension into their research. Multidisciplinary gender studies have an advantage through decades long scholarly experience and expertise in analysing gender and intersectional differences, which may provide useful examples to take a look for.

Experiences at the University of Oulu in promoting a gender perspective

With the help of research support services at the University of Oulu the gender dimension has been included successfully in research applications of the University of Oulu resulting in the European Commission project funding. Here we provide two practical examples of how afore-mentioned issues are raised in relation to research project design for the application preparation and doctoral training.

The RESET project has been focusing on redesigning equality and scientific excellence together since 2021. Top managers of the universities signed a Joint declaration on their engagement for equality, diversity and excellence in research. During the past four years the project has supported higher education institutions in developing gender equality plans. Additionally, the project has developed gender impact assessment (GIA) for research proposals. GIA tools are developed to analyze research plans already in the project preparation phase, and practically the GIA checklist is an aid to gain new insights into own research project by viewing it from gender perspective. The central focus of the GIA is to assist researchers to take biological sex and social gender as well as intersecting differences into account in various phases and tasks of the research. The added value in the GIA is a support ethically sustainable and responsible research process and delivery of exact research results that often imply paying careful attention to and analysis of differences between sexes, genders as well as other intersecting social categories. Researchers from various research fields have been curiously testing and providing feedback on versions of the checklist. The latest version of the GIA checklist is an online version providing brief feedback for the participant.

I4WORLD - Imaging and Characterisation for a Sustainable World (2022-2027) includes mandatory course titled “Diversity and Gender Balance in Science”. The aim is to provide early-stage researchers the capabilities for open and transparent view to recognize and pay attention to diversity and equality aspect on their research and future careers. Altogether for the 25 doctoral researchers 15 male and ten female from nine countries are participating in the programme. The I4WORLD programme includes mainly STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) researchers, so gender perspectives can consider to be important as women continue to be under-represented among doctoral graduates in the majority of STEM fields. Diversity and Gender Balance in Science course serves as a pilot course at the whole university scale, providing an example of the type training that should be offered reaching all programs at the university. As stated in the current University of Oulu equality and diversity plan we have a need to “Ensure the gender sensitivity of research content and the curriculum”, which is the Development action 2: Promoting and increasing discussion, training and communication on equality and diversity. Thus, development work in this area is ongoing, and we remind all study programs to join in to make updates to include gender dimension in their studies. The Royal Technical University in Stockholm Sweden (KTH) has altogether 120 study programmes with gender dimension. This is a result of gender mainstreaming that was led by Vice president for Gender equality and Values, Professor Anna Wahl. The gender dimension in education is included and maintained in all of the KTH study programs.

The advancement of gender-conscious science calls for research environments that are gender aware and actively promote diversity, equity and inclusion. At the University of Oulu, the work on gender equality and non-discrimination is coordinated by the Equality and Diversity Committee chaired by the Vice Rector for Research. The Committee prepares a two-year equality and diversity plan for the university and monitors the implementation of its objectives. The Committee, for instance, has introduced a gender balance objective for all the working groups operating at the University of Oulu. According to the objective, both legal genders (male and female) should have at least 40 % representation in any working group. In the follow-up conducted this year (2024), 45% of the 91 working groups met the objective of balanced gender division. Additionally, there have been – and will continue to be – actions targeted at staff and students designed to increase their awareness of gender equality, diversity and inclusion. Events (e.g. the University of Oulu Equality Week held in March) together with training (e.g. Equality and Non-Discrimination at the University of Oulu online course) will hopefully work towards increasing the visibility and realisation of diversity, equity and inclusion in our academic community – and in research more broadly.

Towards gender-balanced and gender-responsible research and innovation

The gender perspective must be included in the entire process of knowledge production, starting from the composition of the research group, including the preparation of research questions, the conclusion of the research data and its analysis methods, and finally extending to the reporting and publication of the research in such a way that it becomes clear to the reader how biological and social gender and the impact of other differences have been taken into account in the research, so that the limitations of the research results can be accurately taken into account. The call for the gender dimension increases the chances of highlighting gaps in knowledge. The future researchers are receiving their education now, so it is of paramount importance to ensure that the curricula of degree programs include gender dimension as presented in European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) GEAR tool. We must continue our constant work in ensuring that university graduates are able to conduct gender-responsible research, produce gender-conscious knowledge and facilitate gender responsible decision-making, for example in order to make the most to achieve the current Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Authors

Title of Docent, PhD Mervi Heikkinen (Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Oulu) works as a university lecturer in university pedagogy and university researcher in European Commission funded project RESET – Redesigning Equality and Scientific Excellence Together. Her research is focused on sex, gender and intersectionality in knowledge production.

PhD Henna Longi (Nano and Molecular Systems Research Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Oulu) works as a project coordinator of MSCA COFUND I4WORLD doctoral programme and Strategic Research Council funded JustH2Transit project. In her work she is collaborating with researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.

PhD Taina Cooke works a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Specialist (Unit for Strategy and Science Policy, University of Oulu). She is involved in developing and implementing initiatives that foster an inclusive and equitable environment for all students and staff.