EU Award for Gender Equality Champions: call for applications opens

The call for applications to the Gender Equality Champions opens today. Interested organisations can apply online via the Funding and Tenders Portal until 16 October 2024 at 17:00 CET.

This prize awards outstanding achievements reached through the implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEP) put in place by universities, higher education institutions, and other research performing organisations (public or private), established in an EU Member State or a Third Country associated to Horizon Europe.

There are 3 award categories:

1. Sustainable Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that can demonstrate a significant and sustained record of activity and a high level of achievement through the implementation of their GEP.
2. Newcomer Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have recently finalised the implementation of their first GEP and can demonstrate the most progress achieved through its implementation.
3. Inclusive Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have developed the most innovative inclusive GEP – i.e. a GEP addressing intersections between gender and at least two other social categories, such as racial or ethnic origin, social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTIQ) or disability – and can demonstrate concrete results obtained through its implementation.

The results will be officially announced during an award ceremony to be held in 2025. Each winner will receive a trophy and a €100 000 prize.

Applicants can only apply to one of the three categories and winners from past editions cannot re-apply to another category.

Admissibility, eligibility, and award criteria are detailed in the Rules of Contest, to be read carefully by all applicants before submitting their application.

Background

Since 2022, the European Commission recognises institutions with the most impactful GEPs by awarding them with a Gender Equality Champion prize. 

Designed by the European Commission (DG Research and Innovation), the prize is managed by the European Research Executive Agency and its winners are selected by an independent expert jury for each prize category.

The EU Award for Gender Equality Champions aims to:

• complement and boost the requirement for higher education and research organisations applying to Horizon Europe to have in place a GEPas an eligibility criterion
• be an incentive to advance inclusive gender equality plans and policies in the framework of the new European Research Area (ERA) policy agenda
• act as an enabler for the transformation agenda for universities set in the new ERA, and in line with the new European Strategy for Universities

This prize is also intended to create a community of champions inspiring other academic and research organisations to become gender equality champions themselves, and to raise public awareness of the importance of addressing gender equality in academic and research organisations through institutional change.

More information

EU Award for Gender Equality Champions

Gender equality in research and innovation

Horizon Europe, gender equality

Press contact:

EC Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation