The caliper project: linking research and innovation for gender equality
The CALIPER project aims at driving a structural change process and implementing Gender Equality Plans in 7 Research Performing and 2 Research Funding organizations, involving the highest and middle management levels since the beginning to impact the whole institution. The project goal is to make research organizations more gender equal by increasing the number of female researchers in STEM, improving their careers prospects and integrating a gender dimension in research. CALIPER is featured by a broad geographic focus and an innovative approach based on engaging national and regional innovation ecosystems in the partners’ countries with a quadruple helix approach: the project will trigger and make internal changes and gender equality policies sustainable by orchestrating the core inward auditing/internal assessment and GEPs design with outward actions engaging external stakeholders to activate synergies at all different junctions of the ‘education-research- transfer to market of STEM research results’ chain. CALIPER will adopt an intersectional approach to gender equality issues, paying attention to the ways gender inequalities are linked to and intersected with other discriminations. CALIPER will ensure its successful implementation by adopting a holistic methodology featured by capacity building support to build and sustain internal gender knowledge and expertise, mutual learning among partners, a participatory co-design of GEPs as well as 2 iteration levels for implementing and refining GEPs and a thorough monitoring and evaluation mechanism, leading to durable institutional changes. Thanks to the presence of a pan- European Professional association in the consortium and further dissemination actions such as the Caliper Charter and Code and awareness raising sessions on gender in research open to external stakeholders and other RPOs/RFOs , Caliper results have strong potentials to be multiplied both nationally and in other EU28 countries.