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Research and innovation
News article11 February 2022Directorate-General for Research and Innovation

International Day of women and girls in science

On International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, calls on European citizens to celebrate the remarkable achievements of leading women scientists in Europe and explains how the European Commission is stepping up efforts to increase women and girls’ participation in research and innovation.

The latest She Figures 2021 show that women are still underrepresented as doctoral graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (so-called STEM fields). With the new requirement to have a Gender Equality Plan in place to be eligible for Horizon Europe funding, the EU is aiming to break down structural barriers and advance long-term institutional change at research organisations. At the same time, the integration of the gender dimension in Horizon Europe proposals has become a requirement by default. This will help ensuring that research takes into account sex and gender differences, and thereby makes new products and services more relevant and beneficial to everyone in society. To support this, more diverse and relevant expertise is needed in the pool of experts. Commissioner Gabriel invites women from all fields of research and innovation, including Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, and green technologies, to register as evaluators in the European Commission database of experts.

Finally, to mark the 2022 European Year of Youth, further support is foreseen under the main funding programmes, Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe to support young women in STEM careers and education through a STEAM approach, which applies arts, creative thinking and societal insights to raise the appeal of scientific careers. In addition, the EU is awarding not one but THREE prizes of €50K to promising women innovators under the age of 35. The Women Innovators Prize will be launched on 08 March, International Women’s Day.

Details

Publication date
11 February 2022
Author
Directorate-General for Research and Innovation