The PROMETEO excellence project is also committed to endorse specific initiatives that help mitigate global gender disparities in science. We will implement some of the strategic actions emphasised by the European Commission in Horizon 2020 (‘Science with and for society’ work programme 2018-2020), by the Spanish government (‘Plan Estratégico de Igualdad de Oportunidades 2018-2021’), the Generalitat Valenciana with the creation of the ‘Observatori de gènere’ and the 3rd Gender Equality Plan of the Universitat de València (). Particular attention will be dedicated to foster gender balance in the working team, in order to close the gaps in the participation of women and strengthening their role in decision-making activities at the PostDoc level, linked to the development of the project. We will take measures to encourage women to undertake an academic career, specially at the PhD level. Our criteria for hiring personnel will go beyond the number of publications and consider other abilities like the ability to team up and train/supervise young talent. We also aim to help monitoring the situation of women in our field in the Comunitat Valenciana by exchanging statistical information with the ‘Observatori de Gènere’. We are also committed to participate in outreach activities that help enhancing social awareness for this problem like the ‘Jornada de la Mujer Investigadora’ organized by the Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMOL) and the Universitat de València (UV) in collaboration with the Instituto de Física Corpuscular (CSIC-UV) y la ‘Unitat d’Igualtat’ (UV). ICMOL also organizes workshops and regular visits to primary schools to underpin the importance of gender equality in science.
Gender perspective in the group. The PROMETEO excellence project is highly concerned with gender equality at the different levels of the academic pipeline. We believe disparity must be attacked from the early stages of the scientific career by implementing new frameworks on female equality in the workplace. Overall, 57% of the team that will de-velop the project are women with a representation that varies from 40% in the research team, 77% of the doctors of the working team and 46% at the PhD level. Representation of women is particularly maximised at the PostDoc level. We are particularly committed to support women at this critical stage, in which the ‘leaky pipeline’ effect is more damaging and statistically pushes more women to drop out of science careers.
