Gender Equality Plans of Research Luxembourg Member Institutions

Examples of Gender Equality Practices

ADVANCE Mentoring Programme

The University of Luxembourg has created the ADVANCE programme to foster a supportive and equitable research culture. Through mentoring, the University fosters a vibrant learning community where researchers engage in transformative conversations, share experiences and build connections.

Marie Speyer Grants

This programme of the University of Luxembourg aims at supporting and empowering outstanding women in academia. The Marie Speyer Grants are open to female postdocs and research scientists, assistants, and associate professors from all disciplines and sectors.

LIST’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

The FNR gender policy framework

The FNR (Luxembourg National Research Fund) is deeply committed to promoting gender equality in the realm of scientific research in Luxembourg. This commitment is reflected in their policies and practices, which are designed to ensure fairness and inclusivity. In the pursuit of gender equality, the following four initiatives stand out as highlights in the measures implemented by the FNR.

Narrative CV

The FNR is dedicated to fostering diversity in research, ensuring that its funding programs and selection processes are fair and impartial. To this end, a Narrative Profile has been introduced, allowing for a broader and more flexible assessment of research outcomes and academic age, and providing context to unconventional career paths.

DORA Declaration

In December 2018, the FNR signed the DORA declaration, a set of recommendations aimed at enhancing the fairness of scientific output assessments. As a DORA signatory, the FNR fully endorses the declaration’s practices in research assessment. In 2021, a training video was published in collaboration with DORA for research evaluators, highlighting potential unconscious bias risks.

CORE Grant Potential Extensions

The central program of the FNR, CORE, is a multi-annual thematic research program designed to bolster the scientific quality of Luxembourg’s public research in line with the Government’s research priorities. In 2024, new guidelines have been implemented for requesting extensions to CORE research grants in cases of long-term leaves of essential project staff, such as illness, pregnancy, parental leave, and care-giving responsibilities. These guidelines ensure fairness, adherence to national laws, and cost neutrality of the FNR funded project while accommodating researchers’ needs.

Gender Balance in Scientific Events

Through RESCOM scientific events, funding is provided to support the organisation of international scientific conferences in Luxembourg and lecture series that provide overviews of current research and innovation, stimulate interdisciplinary discussions of pioneering ideas, and explore emerging disciplines. Within this program, the FNR has introduced mandatory gender quotas for keynote speakers and scientific committee members, targeting 40% for lecture series and 30% for conferences. A gender bonus of 10% is offered when a balance of 45-55% is achieved for keynote speakers. To encourage early-career scientists’ participation, an additional gender budget of €5,000 is provided to fund initiatives that facilitate their involvement. This gender budget can be used for initiatives promoting gender equality during the international scientific conference.

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