News
A chance to celebrate female talent
September 2007
With the Dutch Centre for Gender and Diversity in the lead,
EQUAL partners from four Member States have joined forces to organise the
W.I.S.E.R. festival. W.I.S.E.R. stands for more Women in Science,
Education and Research and the event, which will take place on
4th and 5th October 2007 in Maastricht, will be a huge kind of fair promoting
gender equality in these three sectors.
The four EQUAL Development Partnerships (DPs) are supported by sister
organisations, universities, governments and enterprises and operate in the
Netherlands, Belgium,
Spain and the United
Kingdom. However, they have come together create this opportunity for women
scientists, politicians and decision makers in many other European Countries to
meet in an informal but challenging setting.
"Nowadays there are
enough qualified women who can take up key positions in academia", the
organisers stated when they announced the event, but "both the women
themselves as well as the institutions need to recognise the
potential of female talent." However, instead of focusing on the persistent
problem of women's under-representation in the higher echelons of academic
posts, the festival will celebrate women's talent and leadership skills by
spotlighting female scientists and providing them with information and support
to head for the top.
The programme is very
impressive and addresses a multitude of topics. Ministers of Education from the
Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and the UK will lead a political debate about how to
tackle gender gaps in academia. Other panels will focus on gender and scientific
excellence and on strengthening the innovative capacities of research
institutions and enterprises through increasing the participation of women. The
workshops at the festival are extremely practice-oriented and include, for
instance, an international application and career training seminar to prepare
highly qualified women scientists to compete for professorships in several
European countries. A "Research Funding Lab" will also be open during the event
in which funding agencies and experts will be available to give advice on how to
write research proposals and where to look for suitable sources of funding.
Other workshops will present and discuss human resource development methods such
as mentoring and coaching or gender analysis tools and the use of statistics and
indicators. Master classes for young female scientists from different ethnic
backgrounds are scheduled and a TV studio will create a real live situation in
which women scientists can polish up their presentation skills.
In a number of
"Board Room Meetings," decision-makers from
a range of European universities and research centres will be invited to form a
fictional University Board. These board members will be presented with questions
addressing the dilemmas of women in science such as "How to access and survive
in highly competitive male domains?" or "How to balance professional and private
life?" The other participants will be able to follow the progress of the debates
on a large television screen.
Apart from the content of
the programme, a huge meeting plaza where people can showcase their good
practices together with a childcare centre, a colourful cultural programme and a
closing party led by bands, DJs and VJs all help to make the festival a real
attraction.
For more information visit the
W.I.S.E.R. festival's website.
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