2024 Conference
Gender and Research Assessment: Proposing a move from ‘Responsible’ to ‘Responsive’
Monday, 28th October 2024 from 12:00 13:30 PM (UTC+01:00).
Location: Room 14.01.11 – Buero Vallejo, Building 14 – Concepción Arenal, School of Humanities, Communication and Library Science (Getafe Campus), Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
Welcome by the Vice-Rector for Institutional Relations, Culture, and Equality at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid – Professor Dr. Eva María Blázquez Agudo.
Conference Summary
Universities, like many organizations, remain spaces where male privilege and dominance persist, despite assumptions of gender neutrality in their structures and practices. Research shows that journal metrics, such as impact factors and citation indexes, exhibit gender bias, disadvantaging female authors in publication, citations, and funding opportunities. These biases affect promotion, tenure, and hiring decisions, yet discriminatory practices are often justified in the name of promoting research ‘excellence.’ An increasing number of researchers is now acknowledging the gendered construction of ‘excellence’. At the same time, others are actively seeking ways to move towards responsible initiatives (e.g., CoARA, DORA, The Leiden Manifesto, The Hong Kong Principles). We argue, however, that these initiatives– seen as ‘the way forward’– still fail to acknowledge implicit gender biases and leave the current neoliberal patriarchal academic order relatively untouched. We posit then that moving away from the assumptions of objectivity that often underpin the literature’s definitions of ‘responsible’ initiatives, and shifting towards ‘responsive’ approaches, makes it possible to illuminate existing biased practices. This conceptual shift, inspired by Mair (2009), may help prevent practices such as ‘genderwashing,’ where superficial or symbolic statements that appear to support gender equality and inclusiveness are made without implementing meaningful changes that truly advance these goals. Significantly, this allows us to examine not only their limitations but also the hidden potential of certain initiatives to bring about susbtantial change.
Speakers
PhD. Alexia Panayiotou
Associate Professor at University of Cyprus
PhD. Alexia Panayiotou is the UNESCO Co-Chair in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the University of Cyprus, where she is an Associate Professor in Management and Organization Studies. She holds degrees from Stanford and a doctorate from Harvard University. Her research focuses on critical management pedagogy, gender and work, feminist organizational analysis, and organizational narratives, with publications in top journals like the Academy of Management Learning and Education. Her article “Paradoxes of Change” (co-authored with George Kassinis) won the 2016 Best Paper Award from the Academy of Management. Passionate about social change, she has worked extensively with NGOs, helped establish Cyprus’ first battered women’s center, and served as a Cyprus expert for the European Commission. She teaches at the University of Cyprus’ Gender Studies program, engaging both MA and PhD students.
PhD. Kyriaki Kourra
Research Associate at University of Cyprus
PhD. Kyriaki Kourra is a Special Scientist (Research Associate) at the Department of Business and Public Administration, University of Cyprus, working under Professor Alexia Panayiotou on the TWIN4MERIT project, funded by the European Union. Her research focuses on the role of gender in business and economics. Kourra’s academic journey includes a Bachelor of Laws (LLB Hons) from The University of Manchester and a Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Cyprus, both achieved with distinction. She also completed a Master of Research and PhD in Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute in Florence, supported by full scholarships.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No. 101079196.
