Many believe it is difficult to reconcile demands for gender equality and measures such as moderate quotas with academia’s conception of quality. This is according to a new master’s thesis on assessments and gender in hiring processes for senior-level positions.

Right-wing populism has infiltrated the EU and is challenging gender equality values in European research, according to the Czech sociologist Marcela Linkova. She wants to put gender on the map in the new research programme Horizon Europe.

Academic freedom is threatened by authoritarian right-wing populism in countries in Europe and Latin America. Listen to a podcast discussing why this matters to women's rights.

Counting the number of women and men is considered to be rather unproblematic. But how do you measure diversity?

Ever wondered what it takes to achieve a gender balanced and diverse staff? In academia, the most knowledge-intensive sector in society, the answers are hard to find. In this podcast, the experts discuss barriers and offer solutions.

Both the new members and mandate are in place for the Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research for 2018–2021. The current committee members will serve until the end of 2017.

The winner of this year’s Gender Equality Award, Simula Research Laboratory, is applauded for its outstanding progress and well-integrated plans for gender equality. But the institute could have an even higher level of ambition, according to the KIF Committee’s recommendation. 

“I’ve never met a female associate professor who says that she doesn’t want to be a full professor,” says Curt Rice, the new chair of the Committee for Gender Balance in Research.

“Having a system for how to handle complaints about sexual harassment has a preventive effect. Most organizations don’t have the expertise or systems in place to deal with cases like these,” says Ståle Einarsen.

For the first time the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud will review all the cases from six years of work to combat sexual harassment. The report will be ready in early January.

The percentage of immigrants and people with an immigrant background has increased in all position categories and subject areas in Norwegian research. This is one of the findings from the first official diversity statistics for academia.

The University of Agder is now requiring its new upper-level managers to have competency in gender equality, based on a model from NTNU – and other institutions are considering following suit.

Gender equality is one of six priority areas in the new ERA Roadmap for research – and there will be regular follow-up of progress in this area in all European countries.

Both the University of Oslo and the University of Bergen are hoping that the Gender Equality Act will be amended. It is the only way they will get their wish to use gender quotas to admit men to professional studies in psychology.