Last few months were very busy at our Community of Practice with the meetings and tasks of working groups, general meetings, update of an online map and sharing experiences with other CoPs and wider public.
Three working groups started operation in March 2021. The working group on policy brief developed the idea of publishing the results of the GEAM survey conducted in the GEinCEE CoP member organisations. A policy brief with the summary of results on gender equality state-of-play and recommendations for further actions in research organisations and higher education institutions will be published in Autumn 2021. The working group on edited book designed the concept of a collection of chapters presenting various experiences with implementing gender equality policies and measures in universities and research institutes from Central and Eastern Europe. The first draft of the book is planned to be ready this year. The working group on sustainability revised GEinCEE CoP’s values, mission, goals and aims and discussed the possible options for having the CoP operating after the end of the ACT project. The group decided to apply for external funding and started to build a project consortium.
Since March 2021 CoP members have had four general online meetings devoted to sharing experiences on institutional change and good practices, revision of aims and actions and planning new activities, as well as discussion on the challenges and opportunities linked to the introduction of GEPs as a Horizon Europe eligibility criterion.
The CoP members were also invited to share their experiences with the other ACT CoPs and a wider public. On June, 6th we were invited to speak at the Strategies CoP meeting. Dr Marta Warat and Ewelina Ciaputa from the Jagiellonian University presented GEinCEE and discussed the challenges on GE and GEP in Central and Eastern Europe, and Prof. Virginija Šidlauskienė representing Šiauliai Academy and Vilnius University presented on the distribution of Structural Change projects’ in research organizations in EU and CEE Countries. On June, 16th we participated in the Alt+G CoP meeting on the GEAM tool. Dr Paulina Sekuła from the Jagiellonian University and dr Eng. Hossein Ghaemi from the Gdansk University of Technology shared experiences in preparing and conducting the GEAM survey in the GEinCEE CoP member organisations. Three CoP members (dr Anna Knapinska, dr Ewa Krzaklewska and prof. Aurelija Novelskaitė)were as well invited as experts to a public webinar “Gender Equality Plans - a new criterion in Horizon Europe”, organised on July, 1st by one of the Polish research founding organisations, the National Centre for Research and Development. The event was very popular with few hundred participants, which indicates to growing interest in the topic in the light of introduction of GEP criteria in Horizon Europe.
After a summer break we will continue with carrying out our agenda, including discussions, trainings and reaching wider public with the results of the GEAM survey and good practices. The GEinCEE CoP Event, accompanied with trainings, is planned for 24 of September 2021. Also, we will be discussing our policy brief in the ACT Synthesis Event, 30 of September 2021, you may register here: https://www.genderportal.eu/act-synthesis-event#.