Final Report Summary - ENCOUWOMSCI (Encouragement to Advance - Training Seminars for Women Scientists)
Women are still underrepresented in leading positions in science and research. Although half of the student population in the European Union is female, only 13.2% of women scientists are senior academic staff. The project ENCOUWOMSCI aimed at encouraging and empowering women scientists to apply for professorships. ENCOUWOMSCI intended to raise the proportion of female scientists in senior positions at universities and in research.
Encouraging women scientists for further mobility in the European Research Area (ERA) is also an objective of the project and thereby raising the chances towards a supranational career. Interdisciplinary contacts between women scientists from different European countries are enhanced, facilitating cross-discipline, and cross-national research projects. The project targets at indicating potential funding in FP7 as well as providing advice on resources and funding possibilities for female scientists. To encourage and sensitise the women scientists for their participation in the European Research Policy Debate background information on policy making processes in the European Union were provided.
ENCOUWOMSCI constitutes a novel and unique approach for female post-docs intending to apply for senior positions in academia, as career support for women scientists mostly focuses on national structures and are carried out on a national level. As a first time project, ENCOUWOMSCI aims at encouraging and empowering female post-docs to apply for professorships on a European level, gathering experts and knowledge from six selected European countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland) and thereby striving to enhance mobility in the ERA.
Career trainings have long been used in the fields of economics, politics and society to encourage women for further career development, while the field of academia and research has long neglected this instrument of career support. This situation has started to change in the last years as some European countries have developed specific training programmes on a national level for women in academia.
The project was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. Data was collected in different steps: participants applied for the project by submitting an application form containing data on personal and professional development and a letter of motivation. Directly at the end and additionally four months after the seminar participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire (paper and four months later online; response rates 88% resp. 79%), covering the assessment of the training seminar, their application activity resp. their plans for future career progression, and their attitude towards mobility. Participants assessed their taking part in the project to 99% as worthwhile and 94% stated that they felt encouraged by the seminar.
Assessing single items of the training, the simulation of the interview with the appointment committee as well as the personal consultation with a trainer were rated most attractive both in the seminar and the online questionnaire. 89% stated that they would recommend participation in the project to other women scientists in a comparable situation.
Despite the short duration of the project the outcome in terms of encouraged women scientists was high: 68% of the participants from humanities, social and cultural sciences and 48% of the participants from natural sciences and medicine stated that they applied either further or for the first time for professorships after taking part in the training. They felt empowered by being trained in essential parts of application processes and well informed about appointment procedures in different countries.
To support and extend the quantitative data, qualitative telephone interviews were carried out with a sample of 10 participants. Here, the women scientists reported in detail about their activities and attitudes after participating in the project, whether they felt encouraged and how the further career development had proceeded. Furthermore, the qualitative interviews allowed additional insights and assessments of participants previously not covered by the quantitative evaluation. The interviewed participants felt highly encouraged after the training seminar, the application activity among the sample was high: 7 out of 10 applied for one or more professorships since their participation in the project.
Considering the short duration between participation and date of evaluation, the encouragement expressed in application activity can be regarded as high. In order to extract items of the seminars most important to the scientists, the qualitative evaluation as well asked for assessing single items of the training, but without closed questions. Months after the participation, the simulation of the interview situation was still the most frequently mentioned item. According to the evaluation's results, rehearsing the talk and interview with the appointment committee in the group helped the participants to view the situation from a different perspective and thereby gave confidence.
To disseminate experiences and intermediary results of the project, a final conference was organised and carried out in cooperation with the EU-project 'Advanced Training for Women in Scientific Research' (ADVANCE, coordinated by Danube University Krems, Austria).
On June 26 and 27, 2008 the conference 'Supporting Women in Scientific Careers' took place in Brussels. The conference enabled participants, experts, and organisers as well as those interested in career-supportive measures for women scientists in general to have discussions on individual work steps during the implementation of a project, good practices and on personal experiences of former participants as well as of trainers and mentors. Keynotes were presented by experts on career-supportive measures, in round table discussions topics were deepened and debated in detail.
A concluding expert talk on the second day of the conference gathered six experts and displaying their opinions on obstacles and chances for women scientists in the ERA.
Encouraging women scientists for further mobility in the European Research Area (ERA) is also an objective of the project and thereby raising the chances towards a supranational career. Interdisciplinary contacts between women scientists from different European countries are enhanced, facilitating cross-discipline, and cross-national research projects. The project targets at indicating potential funding in FP7 as well as providing advice on resources and funding possibilities for female scientists. To encourage and sensitise the women scientists for their participation in the European Research Policy Debate background information on policy making processes in the European Union were provided.
ENCOUWOMSCI constitutes a novel and unique approach for female post-docs intending to apply for senior positions in academia, as career support for women scientists mostly focuses on national structures and are carried out on a national level. As a first time project, ENCOUWOMSCI aims at encouraging and empowering female post-docs to apply for professorships on a European level, gathering experts and knowledge from six selected European countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland) and thereby striving to enhance mobility in the ERA.
Career trainings have long been used in the fields of economics, politics and society to encourage women for further career development, while the field of academia and research has long neglected this instrument of career support. This situation has started to change in the last years as some European countries have developed specific training programmes on a national level for women in academia.
The project was evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively. Data was collected in different steps: participants applied for the project by submitting an application form containing data on personal and professional development and a letter of motivation. Directly at the end and additionally four months after the seminar participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire (paper and four months later online; response rates 88% resp. 79%), covering the assessment of the training seminar, their application activity resp. their plans for future career progression, and their attitude towards mobility. Participants assessed their taking part in the project to 99% as worthwhile and 94% stated that they felt encouraged by the seminar.
Assessing single items of the training, the simulation of the interview with the appointment committee as well as the personal consultation with a trainer were rated most attractive both in the seminar and the online questionnaire. 89% stated that they would recommend participation in the project to other women scientists in a comparable situation.
Despite the short duration of the project the outcome in terms of encouraged women scientists was high: 68% of the participants from humanities, social and cultural sciences and 48% of the participants from natural sciences and medicine stated that they applied either further or for the first time for professorships after taking part in the training. They felt empowered by being trained in essential parts of application processes and well informed about appointment procedures in different countries.
To support and extend the quantitative data, qualitative telephone interviews were carried out with a sample of 10 participants. Here, the women scientists reported in detail about their activities and attitudes after participating in the project, whether they felt encouraged and how the further career development had proceeded. Furthermore, the qualitative interviews allowed additional insights and assessments of participants previously not covered by the quantitative evaluation. The interviewed participants felt highly encouraged after the training seminar, the application activity among the sample was high: 7 out of 10 applied for one or more professorships since their participation in the project.
Considering the short duration between participation and date of evaluation, the encouragement expressed in application activity can be regarded as high. In order to extract items of the seminars most important to the scientists, the qualitative evaluation as well asked for assessing single items of the training, but without closed questions. Months after the participation, the simulation of the interview situation was still the most frequently mentioned item. According to the evaluation's results, rehearsing the talk and interview with the appointment committee in the group helped the participants to view the situation from a different perspective and thereby gave confidence.
To disseminate experiences and intermediary results of the project, a final conference was organised and carried out in cooperation with the EU-project 'Advanced Training for Women in Scientific Research' (ADVANCE, coordinated by Danube University Krems, Austria).
On June 26 and 27, 2008 the conference 'Supporting Women in Scientific Careers' took place in Brussels. The conference enabled participants, experts, and organisers as well as those interested in career-supportive measures for women scientists in general to have discussions on individual work steps during the implementation of a project, good practices and on personal experiences of former participants as well as of trainers and mentors. Keynotes were presented by experts on career-supportive measures, in round table discussions topics were deepened and debated in detail.
A concluding expert talk on the second day of the conference gathered six experts and displaying their opinions on obstacles and chances for women scientists in the ERA.
