Institutions and individuals across Europe are being invited to sign a Call for Action to end gender-based violence in academia. It includes specific recommendations for research performing organisation and their leaders; research funding organisations; EU Member States; and the European Commission, and highlights the need for institutional change, particularly addressing organisational culture, and ensuring the prevention, early detection, and effective handling of cases.
The Call is an outcome from a conference on Ending Gender-based Violence in Academia: Toward gender-equal, safe and inclusive research and higher education held on 24-25 November in Prague as part of the Czech EU Presidency. The conference brought together representatives of national authorities, research funding organisations, research performing organisations, student and early- career organisations and other relevant stakeholders in the European Research Area, to advance the debate on the actions needed.
Gender-based violence is a societal, institutional, policy, educational, academic, and ethical issue.
At the conference, it was announced that the Call had been endorsed by the Czech Minister of Education, as well as the Spanish Ministry of Universities and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.
The EU-funded GENDERACTIONplus project provided input into the call, including gathering the needs and experiences of representatives from student and early-career researcher organisations across Europe through an online workshop. The consultation workshop, held in September, was organised by VA (Public & Science) as part of the project’s stakeholder engagement activities.
The Call – Working towards Safe and Respectful Higher Education and Research for All: Call for Action to End Gender-Based Violence – is currently being disseminated across Europe and endorsements will be collected until the end of March 2023. The Call can be viewed here and can be endorsed by completing an online form.
