In Quest of Scientific Excellence
Presentation of the Final Report of the EU Expert Group on “Gender and Excellence” 2009
2 July 2009
dbb Forum Berlin, Atrium IV
10:30-12:00
“Excellence” is one of the key words for the implementation of the European Union’s Lisbon goals, aiming at establishing a European Research Area and at making Europe the world’s most competitive knowledge-based economy.
But how is excellence being defined and how to be measured in science and research?
Existing procedures to measure and establish the scientific excellence of candidates and their research cover a variety of activities, in particular the appointment and recruitment of researchers, but also grant awarding systems.
Are these criteria transparent and the evaluation procedures without bias?
The European Commission embraced the topic and in 2008 set up an international Expert Group on “Gender and Excellence” to provide recommendations on the improvement of transparency and accountability of procedures used in selection committees for grants and fellowships awards, and access to research funding in general – an important starting point also regarding the creation and provision of
equal opportunities for women and men scientist in selection processes.
The final Report of the Expert Group, titled “The Gender Challenge in Research Funding – Assessing the European National Scenes” containing the most important recommendations and published in May 2009, will for the first time be presented and discussed at national level by members of the Expert Group Dr. Rossella Palomba, Director of Research at the Institute of Population and Social Policy at the National
Research Council in Rome, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Hinz, Professor for Empirical Social Research, Focus Opinion Survey, University of Constance.
Dr. Palomba will present the background and aims of the Expert Group on Gender and Excellence as well as the major findings and recommendations of the Report. Prof. Dr. Hinz will present the situation in Germany and situate the German state of affairs in the international context of the Report. A discussion with the audience will follow.
Read The Report “The Gender Challenge in Research Funding – Assessing the European National Scenes”