1. TEMPORALITIES OF CHANGE:
GEPS ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA AND BEYOND
Marcela Linková, PhD
Centre for Gender and Science
Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

2. GENDER EQUALITY
•A core European value
•At intersection with other axes of inequality, one
of the priority areas for joint action in research
and innovation
Affirmed in EU Pact for Research and Innovation and the Ljubljana Declaration

3. TIMES OF CRISIS
•COVID-19 pandemic
•War in Ukraine
•Mental and emotional strain
•From gender fatigue to all-round fatigue

4. HIGHLY OPPORTUNE TIME FOR GENDER
EQUALITY IN RESEARCH AND HIGHER ED
• Policy documents
• Political support
• European Commission: the GEP eligibility criterion as a game changer
• EU-funded sister projects
• New tools
• New networks and communities of practice
• New knowledge
• New policy coordination
• Old new topics

5. HISTORY REPEATING?
• FP6 (2002-2006): Gender Action Plans in Integrated
Projects and Networks of Excellence
• 40% target for women’s participation in EU projects
• Gender dimension in research content
• Horizon Europe (2021-2027):
• The GEP requirement with the mandatory building blocks
• Gender dimension as a default requirement

6. GEP REQUIREMENT IN HORIZON EUROPE
• Risk of policy churn (Monios 2017)
• GEP checks
• Information on these checks must be published immediately
• Significant numbers of checks performed
• Robust and done by GE institutional change experts
• Harness expertise of GEP and other sister projects and build a
community
• Make them matter – sanctions

7. THE GEP REQUIREMENT IN EUROPE
SWG GRI Report on Gender in
Research and Innovation on
Gender Equality Plans as a
catalyst for change (2021)

8. EU COUNTRIES BY EMM CLUSTER:
THE HEADLINE INDICATOR
Wroblewski, A. 2021. D3.3 Monitoring of
ERA Priority 4 Implementation – update
and final assessment. GENDERACTION.

9. CHANGE AND UNINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS
• The effects of the GEP requirement
• A window of opportunity
• Challenges
• Window dressing
• Competing allegiances
• Competing power structures when structures, rules and remits
are layered
• Effects of projectification
• Institutional structures and handover issues

10. NON-LINEARITY
• Political time
• Institutional time
• Sustainability

11. FIRM AND UNAFRAID
• Courage and ownership
• The Velvet Triangle for advocacy, mutual support and learning
• European Commission – national authorities in MS and AC
• National authorities – gender scholars and practitioners
• Cross country communities of scholars and practitioners
• Stakeholders and CSOs

12. marcela.linkova@soc.cas.cz
@marcela_linkova
nkc@soc.cas.cz
www.genderaveda.cz
@NKC_CZ
@NKCgenderaveda
nkc_gender_a_veda
Supported by the CZERA project funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and
Sports of the Czech Republic (identification code MS2103).
THANK YOU