Conference on Gender and Excellence: the challenges are undiminished

Conference "Gender and Excellence: Challenges in Research Funding I", October 2014

On 21 June the SNSF, including the members of the Gender Equality Commission, will hold the conference "Gender and Excellence: Challenges in Research Funding II" - a necessary follow-up to the first conference of the same name, held in October 2014.

Much has been done to improve the gender balance in science – but the challenges remain formidable. Men continue to hold a disproportionately high proportion of decision-making positions in science. Women have fewer opportunities to influence the research agenda. There are different reasons for this, as a large number of studies have shown.

Two panels: gender bias and gender perspectives

The second international conference of the SNSF on Gender and Excellence will focus on a potential gender bias in the perception and evaluation of excellence as well as on the inclusion of the gender dimension in specific research areas. The first panel, on gender bias, will examine how the perception and evaluation of excellence are linked to gender. In this context, the results of new studies will be presented and discussed. The second panel, on gender perspectives, will investigate to what extent gender analysis needs to be integrated into research. The conference language is English.

Award of the Marie Heim-Vögtlin (MHV) Prize

The conference will be followed by the award ceremony for the Marie Heim-Vögtlin Prize 2016. The prize is awarded by the SNSF in recognition of outstanding research work conducted by an MHV grant holder.