Table 2 Examples of positive actions from organisations.
Organisation | Action |
|---|---|
European Research Council | Allows an 18-month extension for each childbirth for the mother, and the time taken for paternity leave for the father Beneficiaries of ERC grants must take all measures to promote equal opportunities between men and women, aiming for a gender balance at all levels of personnel. |
Wellcome | When a Wellcome Career Development Fellow goes on leave, salary will be provided to extend the junior staff on the project to keep things running. |
EMBO, ASCB and others | These organisations run conferences that provide some level of childcare arrangement (e.g. see https://www.embo-embl-symposia.org/info_participants/childcare/index.html). |
Nature conferences, Wellcome conferences and others | These organisations have implemented efforts to ensure better representation in the speaker list of conferences (e.g. see https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03735-5 and https://coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Wellcome-Connecting-Science-courses-and-conferences-Gender-Balance-Policy.pdf). |
Horizon Europe | Uses gender balance as a ranking factor when comparing otherwise similar proposals (see https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020-funding-guide/cross-cutting-issues/gender_en.htm), and will soon require all grant applications to include a Gender Equality Plan (https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/strategy/strategy-2020-2024/democracy-and-rights/gender-equality-research-and-innovation_en). |
Howard Hughes Medical Institute | Postdoctoral sponsors in the HHMI Hannah Gray Fellowships, which aim to recruit and retain underrepresented in the life sciences, are expected to foster a path to independence for the fellow (see https://www.hhmi.org/programs/hanna-h-gray-fellows-program). |
Wellcome Sanger Institute | Employs a Behavioural Competency Framework (https://www.sanger.ac.uk/about/careers/life-at-sanger/) which defines how success is measured and the standards of behaviour necessary to build an inclusive community A number of family-friendly and carer-friendly policies including paid leave for carers, enhanced maternity and shared parental leave, and grants for returning from extended absences (https://www.sanger.ac.uk/about/equality-in-science/working-environment/). |
University College London (UCL) | Programme to mitigate the gendered impacts of COVID-19 on the careers of staff, particularly those with caring responsibilities. |
UCL Cancer Institute | Ringfenced Extended Leave Support Fund to help support personnel and their projects during times of extended leave including parental leave Carers Fund: funding to help support staff and students with caring responsibilities i.e. payments to help pay for childcare to enable attendance at conferences. |
