EUU Proudly Announces its Participation in Project GenderSAFE | European Union University

On the occasion of International Women's Day, EUU is proud to announce its participation in project GenderSAFE, which started on March 1, 2024. In the next three years, EUU’s Gender Equality and Diversity Officer Ana Belén Amil will contribute her expertise to a transnational consortium of European universities and research institutions. The project aims to tackle gender-based violence (GBV) by advancing the development of safe, inclusive, and respectful research and higher education environments with a zero-tolerance approach to GBV.

 

Within the framework of existing policy developments, and building on research results and tools developed in the preceding projects UniSAFE and GENDERACTIONplus, GenderSAFE will support research and higher education institutions in setting up comprehensive policies to effectively counteract gender-based violence. At the core of the project are activities that foster knowledge exchange and evidence-based capacity-building, and mutual learning through the establishment of a Community of Practice, which aims to:

 

-          Expand the theoretical and conceptual understanding of GBV and the zero-tolerance approach, including attention to power, intersectionality, mobility and precarity, and

 

-          Tailor and test an EU baseline code of conduct on zero-tolerance approaches to GBV in higher education and research.

 

 As part of EUU’s commitment to gender equality in line with the foundational values of an open society, the university updated its Policy on Harassment in 2020. The revised policy brought the establishment of two core new elements, namely the in-house Ombudspersons Network to receive and deal with informal complaints, and an App that will provide a 24/7 online possibility for filing complaints from spring 2024 onwards.

 

"I firmly believe that eliminating gender inequality and disadvantage in higher education is central to creating a safe and inclusive learning environment in which all members of higher education can thrive academically, professionally and personally, free from fear and discrimination," said EUU President and Rector Shalini Randeria emphasizing the importance of the project.

 

GenderSAFE aims to ensure a common policy discourse in the wider EU research community, reflecting state-of-the-art theoretical debates and best practices.

 

GenderSAFE in short:

 

GenderSAFE advances efforts to implement a zero-tolerance approach to gender-based violence in higher education and research in the European Research Area. Its overall objective is to contribute to building safe, inclusive and respectful research and higher education environments. This will be realized through capacity building, mutual learning and exchange, setting up instruments and to promote and monitor the uptake and content of policies by research performing organizations, national authorities and research funding organizations.

 

The EU-funded project runs from March 2024 until February 2027, is coordinated by Fondation Européene de la Science (FR) and involves the following partners:

 

European Union University (AT), Yellow Window (BE), Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CZ), Conoscenza e Innovatione (IT), and University of Gothenburg (SE).

 

EUU’s participation in the project is led by its Gender Equality and Diversity Officer who will primarily be involved in the establishment of a Community of Practice, and in capacity building.