Ending Gender-Based Violence in Academia

Ending gender based violence in academia: Toward gender-equal, safe and inclusive research and higher education 

A serious and lingering issue facing academia, gender-based violence is one of the areas addressed in the 2021 Ljubljana Declaration on Gender Equality in Research and Innovation, which states that “A cohesive infrastructure and procedures for preventing and tackling gender-based violence and harassment in academia in the Member States and other countries are missing. There is a prominent lack of relevant policies, legislation/regulations, responsible authorities, gender-based violence/sexual harassment experts, gender-sensitive protocols and reporting procedures and up-to-date prevalence data.” The Ljubljana Declaration recognises “there is need for additional policy coordination and action from Research Funding Organisations, Research Performing Organisations and other relevant stakeholders in the European Research Area”. 

Attention to the issue has increased in recent years, with a number of countries having introduced policy instruments to curb gender-based violence and introduce measures and tools to assist victims and survivors. In 2020 the Standing Working Group on Gender in Research and Innovation published a report presenting a mapping of national policies, and in February 2021 a EU-funded project UniSAFE was launched which will establish the prevalence of GBV in European academia, among other things. 

The objectives of the conference are to:

• Showcase how the issue of GBV is embedded in the European Research Area agenda and linked to other concerns related to gender equality in research and innovation
• Present and raise awareness of the need for a comprehensive policy framework (or the 7P framework) to address GBV with the requisite protections and tools
• Move forward the policy dialogue and coordination by the current and the following two presidencies (CZ, SE, ES)
• Present and discuss the experience with GBV policies taken at RFO level to spearhead development of policy at RFO level in the EU