Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI)

Towards more gender-balanced research in QT

QuantERA acts towards supporting the promotion of gender equality aiming at more balanced participation of women and men in research.

QuantERA II Gender Equality Statement initiated in the Call 2021 Announcement (see Annex 2) was highlighted in the GENDERACTION project’s policy brief “How to promote gender in partnerships” as a promising practice.

The GENDERACTION project (GENDer equality in the ERA Community To Innovate policy implementatiON) is an initiative aimed at creating an innovative political community to meet the gender priority in ERA. Considering that QT is a field with a traditional gender imbalance, such recognition is particularly appreciated.

The QuantERA II Call 2021 and Call 2023 addressed the issue of gender equality through encouraging a fair representation of female researchers in consortia, considering gender balance in the evaluation panels formation and setting-up gender equality as one of the tie-breaking criteria.

The recognised Gender Equality Statement acknowledged the key role of Research Funding Organisations, physics institutes and physics community in promoting gender equality and called all of them to:

  • create a gender-sensitive environment and organisational culture,
  • create an equality standard regarding the management structure,
  • acknowledge that diversity is beneficial for scientific excellence,
  • encourage women to apply for PhD in physics and QTs and provide them with adequate career support, and
  • acquaint STEM students with female role models in QTs.

Following the Commission’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, the network pursues objectives of achieving gender balance in terms of scientific career development and R&I. QuantERA emphasises the importance of such objectives and strives to apply them in network activities whenever possible.

The QuantERA consortium is convinced that further actions are essential to achieve more gender-balanced research in the area of QT. We believe that dissemination of strong gender equality principles is the first favourable step. We are open to mutual education in this field and are eager to exchange good practices within European Partnerships.

Women leaders in quantum: a series of interviews with QuantERA projects coordinators