Working Groups

Working Groups

To ensure progress beyond the state of the art and encourage novel approaches and methods, EUGAIN has established 5 Working Groups (WGs) addressing the challenges of each transition (from School to University; from Bachelor/Master studies to Ph.D.; from Ph.D./Postdoc to Professor). Specifically, EUGAIN’s WGs are:

Leaders

Objectives

Update and design a new set of measures on how to promote the education and participation of more female students in Informatics higher education; increasing the number of applications and ensuring that students who started will thrive, make their voices heard, and complete their studies.

Tasks & Activities

(i) to collect and evaluate current initiatives existing in the COST Countries and institutions part of the Action, including targeted recruitment initiatives, activities for students (from primary to high school), mentoring and career programmes in academia and industry;
(ii) to organize workshops to share promising and best practices in recruiting and retention;
(iii) to collate examples of how female students voice can be encouraged across universities in generating information and ideas;
(iv) to organize short-term exchange/cross visits;
(v) to develop a Handbook chapter with guidelines helping university departments to recruit and retain female students;
(vi) to draft policy recommendations for local, national and international institutions.

Deliverables

(i) contribution of content, guidelines, links and tools to the Action website;
(ii) chapter contribution to a Handbook of intervention methods;
(iii) contribution to a policy recommendation document relevant to the creation of National and European policy;
(iv) booklet with best practices for recruiting and retaining female students (directed to university departments);
(v) booklet(s) about the advantages of studying and choosing Informatics as a career (directed to students at different school levels, from primary to high school);
(vi) seminars/workshops for partners and stakeholders;
(vii) presentations/seminars at external conferences and events;
(viii) peer-reviewed publications.

Members

The list of this Working Group’s members can be found on e-COST.

To apply for a Working Group, please first register at e-COST and apply here: https://e-services.cost.eu/action/CA19122/working-groups/apply. Your application will be assessed by the Working Group Leader and the Action Chair. We aim to respond to you within 3 weeks.

Leaders

Objectives

Update and design a new set of measures on how to promote the education and participation of more female students in Ph.D. programs in Informatics; increasing the number of applications and ensuring that students who started will thrive, make their voices heard, and complete their Ph.D. studies.

Tasks & Activities

(i) to collect and assess cross-national action plans/guidelines (national or regional) to inform about research activities and role models in research and education;
(ii) to collate current interventions/tools to inform about actions both in general terms and specifically regarding gender and diversity issues;
(iii) to collate examples of how female Ph.D. student voices’ can be encouraged across universities in generating innovative research projects and ideas;
(iv) to gather evidence on their effectiveness across different groups and with regards to gender and age systematically reviewing completeness of the information, degree of usage, local evaluations carried out, and sustainability;
(v) to organize short-term exchange/cross visits, (vi) to develop a Handbook chapter with guidelines helping university departments to recruit and retain female Ph.D. students;
(vii) to draft policy recommendations for local, national and international institutions.

Deliverables

(i) contribution to the website;
(ii) seminars/workshops for partners and stakeholders;
(iii) contribution to the policy recommendations document;
(iv) chapter contribution to the Handbook;
(v) seminars/workshops;
(vi) booklet with best practices for retaining and supporting the transition of female students to Ph.D. positions (directed to university departments);
(vii) presentations/seminars at external conferences and events;
(viii) peer-reviewed publications.

Members

The list of this Working Group’s members can be found on e-COST.

Leaders

Objectives

Identify successful practices to recruit more female professors in Informatics; to limit the dropout rate of women along the path to professorship and leader positions in academia; to help
increase the proportion of women in international research projects.

Tasks & Activities

(i) to collect experiences from ongoing initiatives in COST Countries universities and assess evidence;
(ii) to identify HR policies and recruitment strategies aimed at increasing female recruitment and retention within Departments, Institutes/Faculties/Schools, Universities;
(iii) to organize short-term exchange/cross visits;
(iv) to design protocols for collaboration between the management and the employees at the faculty, with a focus on gender equality;
(v) career development programme for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers;
(vi) to develop a mentor scheme for women at the master’s level to associate professor level; (vii) to create international mentoring schemes between women in scientific positions at different levels and in different COST Countries;
(viii) to develop a strategy for recruiting women in externally funded projects, especially for EU funding.

Deliverables

(i) workshops for Deans and Department Chairs and for partners and stakeholders;
(ii) chapter contribution to the Handbook;
(iii) contribution to the website;
(iv) contribution to the policy recommendations document;
(v) booklet with best practices for supporting the transition of Ph.D. and postdoctoral researchers into faculty positions (directed to university departments);
(vi) presentations/seminars at external conferences and events;
(vii) peer-reviewed publications.

Members

The list of this Working Group’s members can be found on e-COST.

Leaders

Objectives

Assure that cooperation with stakeholders in industry and other sectors exists at a local, regional, national and EU level and that particular issues existing in each country are taken into consideration; to analyse what practices have been put in place for university departments, institutes/faculties/schools to deal with external cooperation with a focus on gender issues; to evaluate what assessment exists for these practices.

Tasks & Activities

(i) to collate evidence of successful industry-university collaboration across partners and countries;
(ii) to gather and assess evidence of best practices on how collaboration with industry and other sectors have had positive impact on gender balance in Informatics/ICT;
(iii) to collate action plans/guidelines on integration from national and regional authorities for policy evaluation;
(iv) to engage with the IT/ICT sector to improve the integration of gender balance in their research portfolio and recruitment strategy.

Deliverables

(i) chapter contribution to the Handbook with guidelines to university departments for cooperation with industry and to industry on how to develop career networks and events involving Informatics students to tap on their employability and leadership potential;
(ii) contribution to the website;
(iii) seminars/workshops for partners and stakeholders;
(iv) presentations/seminars at companies and events.

Members

The list of this Working Group’s members can be found on e-COST.

Leaders

Objectives

Raise awareness about the gender imbalance and bias in Informatics; advocate and lobby for change, to disseminate the Action results to all partners and national networks and reach out to all external stakeholders (listed in section 2.2.2).

Tasks & Activities

(i) execute the Dissemination Plan (described in section 3.2.2) assuring the main activities, events, outcomes, deliverables of all WGs have the most optimal visibility and reach the relevant stakeholders;
(ii) face to face meetings with relevant policy officers at the EU level and at the National level (involving then the partner(s) in that country);
(iii) organization of an Annual European Workshop on gender balance in Informatics/ICT (during the project duration and on the longer term, annually, after the end of the project);
(iv) organization of an European Award for best practices in departments/institutes/schools/faculties of European universities and research labs that encourage and support the careers of women in Informatics research and education (selected by a review panel of international experts).

Deliverables

(i) contribution to the policy recommendations document;
(ii) chapter contribution to the Handbook;
(iii) contribution to the website;
(iv) presentations about the Action at Informatics departments across Europe and at external conferences and events;
(v) proceedings from the Annual Workshop;
(vi) Award Ceremony where the winners of the European Award for best practices will be publicly announced (a strong publicity campaign about the winners and results will follow to maximize exposure and outreach);
(vii) newsletter and press releases.

Members

The list of this Working Group’s members can be found on e-COST.

Leaders

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Leaders

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Leaders

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Leaders

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See Also

01

Management Committee

02

Core Group

03

Working Groups

COST

ACTION CA19122

Action Details