Disrupting from the Inside: Towards a Research System Change - II

Abstract

For decades the European Union has policies in place and funding offered to foster gender equality in academia and research. The notion has turned from ‘fixing women’ to ‘fixing the institutions’ while at the same time new paradigms like ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ (RRI), which see gender equality as integral part of research processes and contents, are proclaimed and advocated by the European Commission. But these policy-driven and requested change processes face inner-institutional as well as societal resistance (e.g. right political movement). Holistic systemic approaches are necessary to disrupt and interrupt traditional organizational structures towards social gender just work environments. The stronger institutionalisation of gender studies for instance in US American universities supported structural changes within the organisations and makes gender equality efforts on the other hand more difficult in the majority of European institutions where gender studies are not structurally present and thus not acknowledged as research field. And while many European research performing organisations are still lacking gender programmes and gender equality offices, the feminist STS community discusses for decades the necessity to reflect on intersectional, LGBTQI* and postcolonial perspectives, which should be included in structural change policies as well.
In our sessions we want to stimulate cross-cultural knowledge exchange and try to foster the dialogue on intersectional perspectives on structural change in science and research organisations. Therefore, after the presentation of the individual papers, an open fishbowl discussion involving the audience will conclude the session.

Individual Presentations

• ‘Gender in Technology Research’ as Entry Point for Structural Change? - Anita Thaler, IFZ - Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture

• How to Oscillate from a Fixed to Fluid Science Governance? - Soledad Quiroz, Ciencia al Congreso, Chile; Martin Andrés Perez Comisso, SFIS - Arizona State University

• Disrupting and Accelerating Structural Change in Academia through Communities of Practice? Design, Implementation and Evaluation Challenges - Anne-Sophie Godfroy, République des savoirs (CNRS, École Normale Supérieure, Collège de France)

Session Organizers

• Jennifer Dahmen-Adkins, RWTH Aachen University

• Anita Thaler, IFZ - Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture