Named after their first meeting in Helsinki in November 1999, Helsinki Group was set up by the European Commission to bring together national representatives from all the EU Member States and countries associated to the Framework Programmes.

The Group aims to promote the participation and equality of women in the sciences on a Europe-wide basis. They meet twice a year and provide an important forum for dialogue about national policies. The main tasks of the Group are set up in the Mandate voted in 2007.

The Helsinki Group also helps the Commission build a clear picture of the situation on the ground at the national level. It has, in particular, appointed national statistical correspondents to help the Commission gather and compile sex-disaggregated statistics and build gender-sensitive indicators.

• The Helsinki Group members have produced national reports on the situation of women scientists in their respective countries in 2002.
• A report entitled ‘National policies on women and science in Europe’ (2002) describes and analyses different national contexts and policies based on these national contributions.
• The report "Benchmarking policy measures for gender equality in science" published in 2008 updates the previous report and provides an analysis of the correlation between gender equality policy and women's participation in research.