Final program announced here.

Brochure here.

Book of abstracts here.

EUMENT-NET and Department of Political Science University of Naples Federico II invite you to the international conference dedicated to the topic of unconscious bias in transforming academia and the strategies how to tackle them.

Part of the conference will focus on mentoring as a succesful tool to support gender equality and diversity in academia.

International Conference

16-17 September 2019

Naples, Italy

Inequality vs inclusiveness in changing academic governance:

policies, resistances, opportunities

Organized by

EUMENT-NET

Department of Political Science University of Naples Federico II

In the last decades, profound transformations have been re-shaping academia and the research environment. Recent reforms in funding structures, research assessment exercises, and accountability procedures are redesigning the practices in academic work, redefining research schedules and determining relevant effects on scientific career paths. The academic practices emerging in these contexts produce new inequalities while strengthening old ones. Changing rules in recruitment and career development of researchers in some instances reduce and in others intensify the pre-existing gender gaps, having ambivalent impacts on different researchers’ cohorts, on minorities, on universities of different sizes, and different regional contexts.

European policies are orienting research and innovation processes towards the development of more responsible and inclusive research practices, able to respond to the challenges of contemporary society. Gender Equality plans and mentoring programs in scientific institutions are part of these practices, fostering diversity in academia. Implemented in different national and cultural contexts, they offer a variety of models to tackle inequalities in academia, develop intergenerational exchange and encourage diversity.

This conference, organized by the University of Naples Federico II and EUMENT-NET (European network of mentoring programs in academia), aims to encourage the debate about the impact of current transformations on academic landscapes in terms of gender and diversity, and about the achievements of equality action plans and related practices among:

academics and researchers from different research fields,
decision-makers in academia and government bodies,
practitioners from academic and research institutions (project managers and persons in charge of the implementation of gender equality plans/projects, mentoring programs, etc., and other HR development professionals).

Keynote speakers:

Marieke van den Brink, Professor of Gender & Diversity at the Radboud University Nijmegen; prof. van den Brink will speak about the gendered processes inside academic institutions
Marcela Linková, Head of the Centre for Gender and Science at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Chair of the ERAC Standing Working Group on Gender in Research and Innovation; Dr. Linková will speak about the approach of European Commission to gender equality in academia
Annalisa Murgia, Associate Professor of Sociology at the Department of Social and Political Science of the University of Milan; coordinater of the European FP7 project GARCIA – ‘Gendering the Academy and Research: Combating career Instability and Asymmetries’

Main conference topics:

New forms of techno-scientific governance and their impact in terms of gender and diversity in academia
Excellence and bias effects in academic recruitment and career progression
The contribution of gender studies and STS feminist studies to fostering gender equality in academia
The contribution of HR professionals to fostering gender equality in academia
Gender equality action plans in academic and research institutions
Mentoring programs as a tool for supporting and developing diversity in academia
Cultural change in the research institutions through mentoring programs
Mentoring programs benefits for mentees, mentors and institutions

For practitioners, there will be organized expert exchange sessions.

The International Conference will be hosted by the University of Naples Federico II, Italy, from the 16th – 17th of September 2019.

On the 18th of September 2019, the General Assembly of the EUMENT-NET will be held. This meeting is also open to those (non-members) interested in EUMENT-NET´s agenda (e.g.) mentoring programs coordinators or people thinking about setting up a mentoring program at their institution. We will discuss the plan for 2020 and the possibilities of future cooperation among our members. It is a good opportunity for non-members to gain useful contacts and information, and to explore a possible interest in membership. There is no need to register for this day.

KEY DATE:

Registration deadline: 31^st of August 2019.

You can register here.

Conferences fees:

Standard fee: 180 €
Special fee: 140 €

We offer special fee to:

EUMENT-NET membership applicants (attendance of the General Assembly of the EUMENT-NET on the 18th of September 2019 is expected)
Students
Applicants for special reduced fee (explanation needed; aimed especially at people without institutional affiliation or from institutions in Eastern or Southern Europe)

Organizing committee:

EUMENT-NET committee: Katerina Cidlinska, Dagmar Höppel, Ulrike Kéré, Ekaterina Masetkina, Olivia Och, Evelyn Rusdea.

Local committee: Maria Carmela Agodi, Carlo De Luca, Adele Lauria, Vincenzo Lapiccirella, Emanuele Madonia, Ilenia Picardi, Caterina Rinaldi, Mariacristina Sciannamblo.

Scientific committee:

Maria Carmela Agodi (Università di Napoli Federico II), Katerina Cidlinska (Czech Academy of Sciences, EUMENT-NET), Fabio Corbisiero (Università di Napoli Federico II, AIS Studi di Genere), Ilenia Picardi (Università di Napoli Federico II), Harald Rohracher (Linköping University, RN24 Science and Technology, European Sociological Association – ESA), Assunta Viteritti (Università di Roma La Sapienza, STS Italia), Ann Elise Widding Isaksen (University of Bergen, RN33 Women’s and Gender Studies – European Sociological Association – ESA).

Conference venue:
Dipartimento di Scienze Politiche
Via Rodinò 22 a /Largo San Marcellino
Napoli