Launch of the EU Award for Gender Equality Champions

This new Prize scheme intends to advance inclusive gender equality plans and policies in the framework of the new European Research Area (ERA). It will complement and boost the requirement to have Gender Equality Plans (GEP) as an eligibility criterion for higher education and research organisations applying to Horizon Europe, the EU’s programme for research and innovation.

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said:

The EU is committed to strengthening gender equality in research and innovation. As such, we want to acknowledge and celebrate the universities and research organisations that have demonstrated outstanding commitment in promoting gender equality through institutional change. This new EU Award for Gender Equality Champions aims to reward the achievements of these change-drivers and inspire other organisations into becoming gender equality champions themselves.

Applications to this first edition of the new EU Award for Gender Equality Champions are open to higher education establishments and research organisations from EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe, from today, until 13 October 2022.

Categories of the award and the prizes

There are three prize categories:

1. Sustainable Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that can demonstrate a significant and sustained record of activity and a high level of achievement through the implementation of their GEP
2. Newcomer Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have recently started implementing a GEP and can demonstrate the most progress in its implementation and achieved results
3. Inclusive Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have developed the most innovative inclusive GEP addressing intersections with other social categories such as ethnicity, social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTI+) or disability

Candidates can only apply to one of these three categories. There will be in total 4 prizes awarded, with two winners for prize category one, one winner in the prize category two, and one winner in the last prize category.

Each winner will be awarded with EUR 100.000.

More Information

EU Award for Gender Equality

Rules of contest

Gender equality in research and innovation