http://home.epws.org European Platform of Women Scientists Wed, 09 May 2012 10:25:40 +0000 http://home.epws.org en http://home.epws.org/Number-of-Physics-Faculty-Members-AIP http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/Number-of-Physics-Faculty-Members-AIP Wed, 09 May 2012 10:25:40 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 3369790 American Institute of Physics | April 2012 <img src="http://payload53.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3369790/masthead_AIP940.jpg" border="0" width="625" height="70" width_o="625" height_o="70" src_o="http://payload53.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3369790/masthead_AIP940_o.jpg" align="left" data-mid="17318785" /> This report presents the findings of the Academic Workforce Survey of 2010, and it concerns all departments in the USA that offer at least bachelor's degree in physics or astronomy. The number of physics faculty members continues to grow reaching 9,400 during the 2009-10 academic year. The average number of faculty members per department is at or near decadal highs. Simultaneously, the percent of full-time equivalent (FTE) physics faculty employed in temporary or non-tenure track positions increased in 2010 to 19% overall; this level was last seen in 2004. This report also examines bachelor degree production per FTE. Read the Full Report http://home.epws.org/A-note-on-girls-in-science-US-data http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/A-note-on-girls-in-science-US-data Wed, 09 May 2012 10:12:06 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 3369524 Created by: EngineeringDegree.net <img src="http://images.engineeringdegree.net.s3.amazonaws.com/girls-in-stem.jpg" alt="Girls in STEM" width="500" border="0" /> References 1. http://www.aauw.org/learn/research/upload/whysofew.pdf 2. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/03/22/stem#ixzz1oCyMCV00 3.http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/201010/girls-are-more-intelligent-boys-men-are-more-intelligent-w 4. http://www.michaelinzlicht.com/research/research_articles/inzlicht%20&%20ben-zeev,%202000.pdf 5. http://www.esa.doc.gov/Blog/2012/02/06/state-our-union%E2%80%99s-21st-century-workforce 6. http://schmader.psych.ubc.ca/publications/Gender%20Identification.pdf 7. http://web.mit.edu/wi/home2.shtml 8.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46489915/ns/business-press_releases/t/bridging-engineering-gender-gap/#.T1fJeJfC5JE 9. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/where-are-the-women-executives-in-silicon-valley/ 10. http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/2011/09/education-stereotypes-are-dangerous-for-girls-self-esteem-and-academic-achievement/ http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/reports/documents/womeninstemagaptoinnovation8311.pdf http://home.epws.org/Survey-on-Childcare-IOP http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/Survey-on-Childcare-IOP Wed, 09 May 2012 10:12:05 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 3369597 An Institute of Physics report | November 2010 A report into childcare responsibilities of IOP members <img src="http://payload53.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3369597/img_mid_45279.jpg" border="0" width="199" height="180" width_o="199" height_o="180" src_o="http://payload53.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3369597/img_mid_45279_o.jpg" align="left" data-mid="17317662" /> The Institute of Physics’ Women in Physics Group initiated an online survey of IOP members in the summer of 2009, to find out more about the barriers or issues that members had with regard to childcare responsibilities and what issues in particular they may have had in accessing and funding out-of-hours childcare. Overall, 1544 Institute members responded to the questionnaire. Of these, 641 indicated that they currently had childcare responsibilities and 577 of these had children under 16. 67% of those responding were male (470) and 33% were female. 90% of respondents worked in the UK. The majority of respondents had younger children (59% of respondents had at least one child in “early years” [i.e. pre-school]). Although more than 80% of respondents worked full-time, almost 50% of women respondents worked part-time compared with only 3.5% of men. However, a significantly smaller proportion of women with childcare responsibilities worked part-time in permanent university roles than in other areas. A possible explanation for this is that university staff may feel that they have relative flexibility to organise their commitments enough and work at home when the need arises. However, there might also be an issue regarding the perception that your career may be “over” if you work part-time and that may mean people see working part-time as too much of a risk. More work might need to be done in this area. Respondents were asked about the childcare arrangements that they normally used during working hours. The most popular forms of childcare reported during working hours were a private nursery (34%) and one’s partner (33%), with similar numbers of instances of these reported. However, a significant difference was found between men and women in using a partner or spouse, with women being significantly less likely than men to report this, clearly reflecting the fact that men are much more likely than women to have a partner who takes a career break to look after children. Read the Full Report http://home.epws.org/Academic-Physics-Staff-in-the-UK http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/Academic-Physics-Staff-in-the-UK Wed, 09 May 2012 10:12:02 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 3369656 An Institute of Physics report | January 2012 <img src="http://payload53.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3369656/img_mid_53616.jpg" border="0" width="146" height="199" width_o="146" height_o="199" src_o="http://payload53.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3369656/img_mid_53616_o.jpg" align="left" data-mid="17317994" /> This report presents an overview of academic physics staff in UK higher education institutions (HEIs) and a number of selected other cost centres. The data source for the report is the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). HESA is the central source for the collection and dissemination of statistics about publicly funded UK higher education. Read the Full Report http://home.epws.org/Breaking-the-vicious-cycle-of-gender-stereotypes-and-science http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/Breaking-the-vicious-cycle-of-gender-stereotypes-and-science Wed, 09 May 2012 10:11:59 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 3369700 by Flavia Zucco and Francesca Molfino (Associazione Donne e Scienza) | March 2012 <img src="http://payload53.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3369700/personal2.png" border="0" width="616" height="122" width_o="616" height_o="122" src_o="http://payload53.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3369700/personal2_o.png" align="left" data-mid="17318166" /> Over the last thirty years many scholars have claimed that any form of knowledge and culture has been accomplished by a western male gender subject and this idea inherently conveys self-reinforcing codes strictly related to how the male subject has defined himself in organisations and related institutions. Hence, if a female gender subject wishes to share, for example, scientific knowledge, it is necessary to determine what excludes her in the institutions, identifying the areas of science that are common to both. For example, the laboratory and everything directly connected to experimentation, theory and most technologies belong to human beings, whereas the selection of research fields, application of technologies, funding, access to scientific knowledge, academic institutions and the same scientific organisations come under the umbrella of a “scientific culture” that is connected to other forms of culture and contains the same forms of gender discrimination. The issue of stereotypes in gender discrimination is a very crucial one, because their roots are deeply embedded in the history, culture, education and psychology of individuals in western countries. In scientific research, stereotypes are also present because social roles and values are not influenced by the features at the roots of this activity: objectivity and scientific rationality. In fact, data have shown that gender horizontal discrimination in disciplines, vertical discrimination in career progress and exclusion from decisional boards are widely present in science and technology areas. Social models explain that most gender differences result from the adoption of gender roles which define appropriate conduct for men and women. Gender roles are shared expectations of men's and women's traits and social behavior, and are internalized early in development. But there is a ongoing controversy over whether they are purely cultural creations or whether they reflect preexisting and natural differences between the sexes in abilities and predispositions, as they have been present in most cultures for many centuries. The issue of stereotypes has been discussed in detail by us (Molfino,2006), by European Researches (see Prages (2009), Meta- Analysis (2010) and genSet (2011), thus this paper will only highlight the ongoing tendency to inadvertently reproduce them today and the difficulty to build others that can sink long-lasting roots and not be merely efficacious, but short lived, slogans. Moreover, we believe that “gender stereotypes” in science go hand in hand with “scientific culture stereotypes” and that it is ineffective to change stereotypes unless the traditional way of conceiving and working in science is changed. In this sense, the articulations of such culture in the different organizational structures have to be looked at in detail. Read the Full Article http://home.epws.org/EPWS-Position-Paper-on-Horizon-2020 http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/EPWS-Position-Paper-on-Horizon-2020 Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:03:03 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 3086651 Brussels, 26 March 2012 Introduction The European Platform of Women Scientists EPWS, the voice of women scientists in EU research policy, is an umbrella organisation bringing together networks of women scientists and organizations committed to gender equality in research in all disciplines in Europe 27 and the countries associated to the European Un-ion’s Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development. EPWS currently counts more than 100 member organizations, together working for more than 12.000 women researchers all over Europe active in academia and in industrial research. EPWS constitutes a new strategic instrument in European research policy, complementing various initiatives taken at the European level to ensure a better participation of women scientists in research and in the research policy process as well as the inclusion of the gender dimension in research. The European Platform of Women Scientists EPWS welcomes Horizon 2020, the EU’s new programme for research and innovation and financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe’s global competitiveness. “Designed to support the Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative "Innovation Union", the basic principle of "Horizon 2020" and [its] rules is to adopt a much more strategic approach to research and innovation.” Horizon 2020 is part of the drive to create new growth and new jobs in Europe; we will need at least one million more researchers by 2020. To ensure and achieve scientific excellence and technological innovation in this upcoming research effort, the European Union must significantly increase the number of female researchers among these one million additional researchers. That means, a key for the realization of Europe 2020’s Flagship initiative “Innovation Union” is the use of the full potential and scientific excellence of women scientists. Therefore the EU has to make major efforts to open the programme to more participants, especially to more women scientists from across Europe. To reach this goal the preconditions of the new programme have to be free of gender-blindness. This is indeed recognized in Horizon 2020 which states in particular that: “Gender equality shall be promoted in particular by supporting changes in the organization of research institutions and in the content and design of research activities – that means structural changes, changing the science culture”. “Gender will be addressed as a cross-cutting issue in order to rectify imbalances between women and men, and to integrate a gender dimension in research and innovation programming and content. Horizon 2020 includes specific provisions to incentivize such cross-cutting actions”. “Horizon 2020 shall ensure the effective promotion of gender equality and the gender dimension in research and innovation content”. These general statements must be supported by practical actions to become reality. In the present position paper, we first stress that excellence requires women participation and gender research. Then we propose targets for women participation in Horizon 2020. This has consequences on the Rules of Participation in Horizon 2020, particularly on Articles 12 (Proposals) and 15 (Evaluation). Finally, we analyze the difficulties experienced by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), such as the European Platform of Women Scientists EPWS, when they want to participate in European projects and we propose improvements. Excellence includes women participation and gender research Excellence definition and women scientists In the scientific work assessment, scientific excellence is the only criterion. But excellence is multidimensional: scientific excellence is inseparable from the social, technical and financial opportunities available in scientific work; unequal opportunities play an important role in this context. Consequently the definition of excellence only based on mathematical indicators, like the number of publications, is not objective and not suitable for instance for women who take care of family, who may have career breaks. Therefore it is in the interest of any future oriented research policy to encourage a revised gender-sensitive notion of excellence as a guideline for future reference. In this process, a diverse composition of research groups as well as gender awareness and multidimensional evaluators are preconditions to excellence. Consequently, the gender bias in current ways of defining and evaluating of scientific excellence needs to be genuinely examined, the objective being to create a more open and inclusive, gender-sensitive sense of excellence by improving the scientists’ assessment. Excellent research and its gender dimension An excellent research has to include gender aspects in its content. As recommended in the Marie Curie Actions work programme, « In addition, in research projects where human beings are involved as subjects or end-users, gender differences may exist. In these cases the gender dimension in the research content has to be addressed as an integral part of the proposal to ensure the highest level of scientific quality. » This is of course true in the medicine-related research, where neglecting to test drugs effects on women may lead to accidents, but also in business-driven activities, where not taking into account the women’s points of view allows to fulfil the needs of only half of the customers. Consequently, the Gender issue should be present in the three Horizon 2020 priorities: Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership, Societal Challenges, and in all identified societal challenges as an axis integrated to fundamental and action research and to Human Resources. In each challenge, the work programme should target a call in which Gender is an important issue, or even propose a gender call in the problematic such as Gender and Security, Gender and Energy, etc. Administrative simplification should not be detrimental to gender issues One of the objectives of Horizon 2020 is administrative simplification. Now gender aspects in the proposals should not be a complication, especially if the application file is properly organized. A space should be left in the file to explain clearly how gender would add quality to the proposal. All this implies a gender-sensitive evaluation of the EU proposals scientific quality, and a gender training of the evaluators. Women participation in European research and projects Targets for women participation For more than ten years, the European Commission has been advocating a larger participation of women in European research and projects. The objectives are only slowly reached and precise targets have to be decided. We propose the following ones: 40% target for women participation, not only for advisory groups and among evaluators, but also for all structures related to Horizon 2020 (EIT, ERC, JRC, Steering Groups, High-level Groups, Expert Groups, etc.). 40% women target in Marie Curie actions to be reintroduced, as this objective was not reached. These women percentage objectives should be introduced into the performance indicators; constraints should be enforced if these objectives are not reached, like for example nullity for appointments in a group if the women target is not realized. Reasonable conditions for women scientists’ mobility and work conditions We welcome the new Career Restart Panel measure in the Marie Curie actions which help researchers and particularly women, to return to research after a career break. This measure should be widened to an in-depth reflection about mobility for families and to Human Resources in a gender perspective. Questions like maternity and also paternity leave conditions should be analyzed to allow a good work-life balance in research, maintaining the attractiveness of such jobs. Consequences for the rules of participation to Horizon 2020 Article 12: Proposals As explained above women participation and a gender content whenever adapted are a prerequisite to excellent research. These two criteria should be evaluated at the proposal stage and gender should be included in the « Grant agreement ». Article15: Evaluation Gender-balance should be realized among evaluators. They must trained on gender issue to be able to properly judge the proposals and the projects, both on the women scientists participation and, when appropriate, on the gender content of research. Evaluation should downgrade projects that would miss these points. CSOs participation to European projects Civil society consists in the general public and in organized structures like networks or as-sociations. Gathering a wealth of informed suggestions and ideas from grassroot these Civil Society Organisations (CSO) complement the policy initiatives of national governments and EU institutions by bringing a “bottom-up” point of view. As such, CSOs like the European Platform of Women Scientists EPWS constitute an important voice also in the European research and innovation policy debate and should find the appropriate conditions to participate in EU projects. In the framework of the present administrative and financial rules of EU research funding, however, CSOs have great difficulties in participating in such projects in spite of their often high expertise at European level. The emphasis on project- funding, pre- and co-financing requirements and the need for CSOs to secure their running costs often prevent their participation in EU research funding schemes: Smaller CSOs need strong consortium partners when applying for calls and tenders and cannot assume the role of consortium leader. EU funding is tailored towards big institutions with a long-term financial background. Small CSOs have no big institution, like a university or a research organization, backing them to cover part of the running costs or help with co-financing and pre-financing engagements. The contributions to administrative costs which remain within EU grant schemes and other possible grants only finance a very small fraction of an association’s running costs. Now it is almost impossible to secure funding for the running costs of an organization since most resources granted by public or private institutions are funds for projects or particular services. Now for a European association like EPWS, private sponsorship is extremely difficult, due to the lack of law recognizing sponsorship at EU level: a company or foundation based outside the country where the CSO is registered will get no tax return for its donated amount. We suggest the three following improvements: The large amount of voluntary work per annum performed by many CSO members often amounting to a total of over € 100,000 p.a. should be brought into the calculation when applying for grants and projects at European level. Even though the Commission solicits the opinion of CSOs in their consultation and as-sessments processes, the Commission’s feedback mechanism with respect of the entries and opinions received should be greatly improved. To increase active CSO involvement in research at EU level, more explicit interaction with the participants of public consultations is needed to give CSOs a sense that their input is valued and taken into consideration. A law on CSOs private sponsorship at EU level should be passed at the EU Parliament, it would greatly help strengthening the voice of CSOs at European level. The ambitious objectives of Horizon 2020 will only be reached if all European scientists, including women, and all the European organizations, including CSOs, are able to cooperate. The 12.000 women scientists represented by the European Platform of Women Scientists EPWS are willing to help in this process, if the European Commission gives them adequate possibilities to participate in this great project. Contact details for further correspondence: Dr. Brigitte Mühlenbruch President <img src="http://payload39.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3086651/BM.png" border="0" width="220" height="20" width_o="220" height_o="20" src_o="http://payload39.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3086651/BM_o.png" align="left" data-mid="15752910" /> Prof. Claudine Hermann Vice President <img src="http://payload39.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3086651/CH.png" border="0" width="270" height="20" width_o="270" height_o="20" src_o="http://payload39.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/3086651/CH_o.png" align="left" data-mid="15752926" /> European Platform of Women Scientists Rue d’Arlon 38 B-1000 Bruxelles epws.org Download the PDF version of this paper http://home.epws.org/DG-Research-Survey-future-options-for-Science-in-Society http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/DG-Research-Survey-future-options-for-Science-in-Society Tue, 20 Mar 2012 11:05:06 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 3041411 "The DG Research & Innovation of the European Commission is running a public consultation process within the study “Interim evaluation and assessment of the future options for Science in Society (SiS) Actions” The public consultation process is based on a prospective analysis that aims to identify future policy options for the SiS-Programme regarding topics such as public engagement in science, science communication and education, ethics, gender, or open access. This survey is open to experts and the interested public alike. We hope that both groups will participate as we want to obtain as complete a picture as possible of the interests and opinions in the various communities. The survey consists of seven thematic areas (e.g. gender, ethics, science communication, etc.), each of which contains max. 9 statements which you are asked to assess as an interested individual and / or based on your professional background. It is up to the respondents which topic(s) they want to select. Providing answers to each thematic area should not take more than approximately 10-15 minutes. We kindly ask you to pass on the link to the survey via your respective national networks, newsgroups or personal contacts. Please feel free to post the link in thematically relevant social networks. We would also like you to consider distributing it via your mailing list and newsletters. It is vital that a diverse and geographically widespread audience participates in the survey to help draft the future policy options in the SiS-Programme." The survey can be accessed through this link http://home.epws.org/Green-Paper-Consultation-EPWS-response http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/Green-Paper-Consultation-EPWS-response Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:44:44 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 1983836 EPWS has written a response to the European Commission's Consultation for a Green Paper on a Common Strategic Framework for future EU Research and Innovation Funding. "Gender equality and equal opportunities for women and men in science and research is a pre-condition and a fundamental element for achieving the European Research Area (ERA) and the realisation of sustainable growth in Europe. Against this background, the gender dimension needs to become one of the main factors in marking the performance indicators of EU research and innovation." Read the Full Text http://home.epws.org/EPWS-Debate-in-the-European-Parliament http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/EPWS-Debate-in-the-European-Parliament Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:11:06 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 2687479 “Towards a Gender Balanced Science Culture to Foster Innovation” hosted by Prof. Dr. Leonidas Donskis MEP European Parliament, Brussels, January 31, 2012, 11.00-14.00 "Towards a Gender-Balanced Science Culture to Foster Innovation" was the title under which the European Platform of Women Scientists EPWS organized a lunch debate in the European Parliament in Brussels on 31 January 2012. The event was hosted by Prof. Dr. Leonidas Donskis MEP, Lithuania, and brought together over 60 participants from all over Europe, among them Members of the European Parliament (MEP), officials from the European Commission, representatives of European and international organizations as well as numerous EPWS member organizations. The event set the spark to a dialogue between women scientists and policy makers in Europe regarding the up-coming discussions of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 proposal, reinforcing a cooperation that will allow women scientists to better contribute to European policy-making in the future. <img src="http://payload19.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/2687479/20120131_towards_a_gender-balance_072 Medium.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="445" width_o="1154" height_o="768" src_o="http://payload19.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/2687479/20120131_towards_a_gender-balance_072 Medium_o.jpg" align="left" data-mid="14211610" /> After a welcome by Prof. Leonidas Donskis MEP, emphasizing the need to persistently work towards equal opportunities in science and research, Mr. Gilles Laroche, Head of Unit Gender and Ethics, Directorate General Research and Innovation, outlined the European Commission’s “Current Policy Regarding Gender in Science”. He stressed that there is no trade-off promoting gender equality as well as excellence and innovation and pointed to the need for structural change in research institutions to achieve a gender-balanced scientific culture and to further increase awareness on the gender and science issue throughout Europe. In her speech on “Science Culture, Gender and Innovation”, EPWS President Dr. Brigitte Mühlenbruch elaborated the significance of the contribution of women scientists on the way to reach the ambitious targets of the Innovation Union set forth by the Europe 2020 strategy and as put forward in the European Commission’s proposal for the new framework programme on research and technological development Horizon 2020. The EPWS President pointed to the role of the Platform as structural link between the community of women scientists and policy makers in Europe. She emphasized the need for dialogue and joint action through this year’s discussion process regarding the Commission’s proposal to ensure that Horizon 2020 will contribute to a gender-balanced science culture in Europe and offered the active collaboration of EPWS in this respect. <img src="http://payload19.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/2687479/20120131_towards_a_gender-balance_127 Medium.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="445" width_o="1154" height_o="768" src_o="http://payload19.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/2687479/20120131_towards_a_gender-balance_127 Medium_o.jpg" align="left" data-mid="14212702" /> The speakers’ inputs set the frame for the presentation of six EU and national projects, intended to inform the audience about current research projects addressing the gender imbalance in science, paving ways towards establishing a gender-balanced science culture in Europe and giving the word to women researchers: GENDERA Gender Debate in the European Research Area - Changing the gender balance in research organisations. presented by Dr. Dóra Groó, Association of Hungarian Women in Science, Hungary * Abstract * Presentation gendera.eu GENISLAB The Gender in Science and Technology LAB presented by Dr. Flavia Zucco, Donne e Scienza, Italy * Abstract * Presentation genislab-fp7.eu HELENA Higher Education Leading to Engineering and Scientific Careers presented by Dr. Yvonne Pourrat, Conference des directeurs des écoles françaises d’ingénieurs, France * Abstract * Presentation fp7-helena.org INTEGER Institutional Transformation for Effecting Gender Equality in Research presented by Dr. Anne Pépin, National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) – Mission for the Place of Women, France * Abstract * Presentation theukrc.org/about-us/our-projects/integer SHEMERA she euromediterranean research area presented by Dr. Maria Caprile, Center for European Initiatives and Research in the Mediterranean (CIREM), Spain * Abstract * Presentation shemera.eu LYMOS Lithuanian National project “Promotion gender equality in sciences” presented by Prof. Dr. Dalia Satkovskiene, Basnet Forumas, Lithuania * Abstract * Presentation basnetforumas.eu <img src="http://payload19.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/2687479/20120131_towards_a_gender-balance_011 Medium.jpg" border="0" width="670" height="445" width_o="1154" height_o="768" src_o="http://payload19.cargocollective.com/1/4/141253/2687479/20120131_towards_a_gender-balance_011 Medium_o.jpg" align="left" data-mid="14212742" /> A round table discussion with Britta Thomsen MEP, Denmark, and Edit Herczog MEP, Hungary, informed the audience about ongoing initiatives of the European Parliament and its members addressing the gender imbalance in science. The inputs emphasized the importance of multi-, trans-, and interdisciplinarity in future research and the challenge to foster talents and skills to answer this need. They were followed by a lively discussion with the audience: the participants stressed the vital role of networks of researchers in the European research policy dialogue and pointed out that the need for structural funding for these institutions had to be acknowledged and addressed by the European Parliament as well as by the European Commission. They also pointed to the necessity to provide subsequent funding to those initiatives and projects whose task it was to create databases, e.g. of publications, in order to keep those sources of information up-dated and therewith ensure their added value beyond the project phase. Continuity in funding would also allow structures like EPWS to raise the voice of women scientists at EU level. The lunch debate, moderated by Dr. Maren Jochimsen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, set the spark to a dialogue between women scientists and policy makers in Europe regarding the up-coming discussions of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 proposal, reinforcing a cooperation that will allow women scientists to better contribute to European policy-making in the future. http://home.epws.org/EPWS-Newsletter-December-2011 http://home.epws.org/following/home.epws.org/EPWS-Newsletter-December-2011 Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:57:59 +0000 European Platform of Women Scientists 2456995 The EPWS Newsletter of December 2011 is now available. In this issue you can find out about the upcoming EPWS meeting in the European Parliament, the new Benchmarking Report on EU research, and the most recent news from our Members. Read it now