18th Gender Summit - Africa – Nairobi: Postponement due to COVID-19 – new date to be decided

Agriculture through Gender Lens: From Surviving to Thriving in the Climate Changing World

Following the warning by WHO that risk of infection with COVID-19 in Kenya has risen significantly, the Kenyan Government has imposed severe restrictions on public meetings. Three days before its start date, GS18, which was to take place at the very hospitable Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nairobi, had to be postponed. GS18 attracted 760 registrations and 70 speakers. All partners and supporting organisations have active agendas and programmes for advancing gender equality, diversity and inclusion, which you can see by clicking on their names. Among them are: Portia, AIMS, IDRC, DFG, Elsevier Foundation, UN Women, HLUCE, START, GenderInSITE, ASSAf, and the Kenyan Government.

GS18 will return to Nairobi at the nearest possible date.

19th Gender Summit – Global for SDGs, Seoul, 24-25 June 2020: New date: 20-21 August 2020

The UN SDG Agenda: Research and Interventions Agenda for the next 10 Years

Guest of Honour: Mr Ban-Ki Moon, past Secretary General of the UN

The large number of cases of COVID-19 infections in South Korea compelled the timing of the GS19 event to be moved to a later date, 20-21 August, also in Seoul. The primary goal of GS19 is to bring together key player organisations that are actively advancing knowledge and practice for effective implementation of SDG targets. Whilst there is strong evidence that adopting gender perspectives in research for SDGs will benefit the whole UN Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda, very little such research has been produced so far. Therefore, the goal of GS19 is to examine clusters of SDGs and targets where evidence shows clear benefits to be achieved from adopting gender perspective when planning intervention measures. The output will be a framework to produce gender-sensitive research for SDGs in the remaining 10 years of the SDG agenda.

The main GS19 convenor partners are: GISTeR, Portia, NRF, GTC, STEPI and Elsevier.

20th Gender Summit – Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil, 4-5 November 2020

Enhancing scientific excellence to improve quality, equity, and societal relevance, of research outcomes

The 20th Gender Summit – LAC will take place in Brazil on 4-5 November 2020. The host city will be announced soon. It will be the third GS for Latin America and the Caribbean. GS20 has three ambitions:

• Share knowledge and policy experience of different LAC countries and beyond in developing national frameworks to advance more equal representation of women and men across scientific fields and in decision-making and leadership roles in science and research
• Foster diversity among researches and in scientific approaches especially in health, natural ecosystems, and sustainable development
• Promote inter-institutional and international research collaborations, and inclusive, team-driven, innovative academic culture

The leading convenor organisations are the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication (MCTIC), the British Council, Elsevier, and Portia.

Cross-Cutting Solutions for the Decade of Action. International Conference on Sustainable Development, New York, USA, September 21-22, 2020

Gender-based Innovations for Equitable SDG Outcomes - Call for abstracts

This Call for Abstracts targets researchers and practitioners developing and/or applying gender knowledge for SDGs (all, not just SDG5). The word “gender” is used to denote both biological characteristics and socio-cultural factors that can be shown through evidence as influencing results and differentiating quality of outcomes for women and men. As a cross-cutting issue, gender analyses should be applied across clusters of interdependent SDGs. This session will show what role different stakeholders can play to advance adoption of gender perspectives into inquiries and interventions. The session is convened by Elizabeth Pollitzer (Portia UK), Heisook Lee (GISTeR, South Korea), & Ylann Schemm (Elsevier Foundation, The Netherlands).

Abstract Timeline

• 2 March 2020: Call for Abstracts Open
• 1 May 2020: Deadline for Submission of Abstracts
• 1 June 2020: Abstract Decision Letters Emailed
• 1 August 2020: Full Papers Due (For Accepted Abstracts Only)
• 1 September 2020: Registration Deadline for Presenters

Instructions and on-line submission are at https://ic-sd.org/2020/03/02/2020-conference-call-for-abstracts/

Important new report and research leaders panel at Elsevier

On 5th March, Elsevier published a new report The Researcher Journey Through a Gender Lens, The report provides a data-analytic examination of research participation, career progression and attitudes towards gender diversity across the globe, with extensive references to relevant evidence from gender research. The report demonstrates clear gender differences and imbalances across authorship, publication outputs, grants, and commercialisation of research findings, which are widespread and significant in their impact. The report connects bibliometric analyses to the results from a new survey of women and men researchers’ attitudes to, and perception of gender issues. For countries not involved in, or not ready to adopt the statistical indicator approach of the European Commission, implemented as the EU She Figures, the methodology created by Elsevier for the report offers an alternative but comparative set of indicators for monitoring and advancing gender equality in research and innovation at national level.

Connected to the report, and part of the Elsevier’s commitment to driving gender equity globally, the company has created the Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Board composed of preeminent research leaders. The Board is co-chaired by Kumsal Bayazit, CEO of Elsevier, and Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief of The Lancet.

Gender Roles and their Impact in Academia

EMBL Conference, 13-14 October 2020, EMBL Heidelberg

The aim of the conference is to explore how gender roles may be shaped by biology and by social structures with impact on progression of men and women in academic and related careers. The aim is to explore the linkages between biology, society, and gender roles in the context of science careers. A good example could be the evidence that women (but not men) researchers delay motherhood (parenthood) to pursue their research careers. This makes women’s reproductive biology an issue. Famously, in 2015 Facebook offered to their women employees 20,000 USD to freeze their eggs so that they can continue their career at the company. Another example could be the wide-spread and pernicious (sexual) harassment in academia, mainly senior men on junior women, and the dominance of studies focused on the victim, rather than on the behaviour of the perpetrator, and, equally, overlooking the physical and psychological consequences of harassment on women’s career decisions.

Call for Papers: Diversity and Work Atmosphere in Research Organisations

Papers are invited reporting empirical findings of a qualitative or quantitative nature on the relationship between an individual's diversity characteristics and his or her perception of working environment in research organisations worldwide.

Find out more: https://www.cerri.iao.fraunhofer.de/de/news-uebersicht/call-for-papers--diversity-and-work-atmosphere-in-research-organ.html