Workshop

 “European Women in Science - Past, Current and Future Issues”

The European Commission publishes on a regular basis “The Figures on Women in Higher Education and in Science & Technology jobs”. Despite the fact that women now account for almost 60% of University graduates, they remain a clear minority among researchers in Europe. In 2003, they represented only 29% of the workforce. By looking at the higher education sector, only 15% of those at the highest academic grade (for example full professor, or head of department) are women. The gender imbalance in this senior grade is even greater in engineering and technology, where women account for just 6%.

In the private sector just 18% of researchers in business and enterprise are women, even though this is the largest R&D sector in most countries, and the one that will need to provide two-thirds of the financing required to meet the EU target 3% of GDP devoted to Research and Development.

Aware of the problem, many organisations have been set up, that are devoted to the improvement of the gender chances equality in Europe. Different kinds of association can be distinguished at various levels; from the women of a given research group (Women in Physics group) up to European organisation (Centre of Excellence: women and science).

The EXCELL Network of Excellence, in association with the Virtual Institute of NanoFilms VINF, represents women from different European countries, working in the field of nanofilms. The aim of this workshop was to summarize the current situation of European women in science, to exchange experiences from various European countries and to analyse potential solutions for promoting gender equality.

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