The European Commission is promoting the second edition of the award for the European Union’s “Champions” of Gender Equality. Launched in 2022, this annual award recognizes and celebrates outstanding achievements by research and academic organizations through the implementation of their Gender Equality Plans (GEP).

The award for gender equality “champions” aims to promote the need for higher education institutions and research organizations to have implemented a Gender Equality Plan, which is in turn an eligibility criterion for Horizon Europe; to be an incentive to move forward with more inclusive gender equality policies and plans in the context of the policy agenda of the European Research Area (ERA), and finally, to be a facilitator for the transformation of the universities’ agenda within the framework of the new ERA.

The award is open to universities, higher education institutions, and research organizations—public or private—based in EU Member States or Horizon Europe-associated countries. Applications are open until January 25, 2024 (16:00 Lisbon time).

The award includes three categories with four winners, each receiving a monetary prize of €100,000 The categories are divided into:

– Sustainable Gender Equality Champions, for organisations that demonstrate a significant and sustained record of activity and a high level of success in implementing their GEP;

– Beginning Gender Equality Champions, for organisations that have recently implemented a GEP and can demonstrate the greatest progress in its implementation and successful achievement of results;

– Champions of Inclusive Gender Equality, for organisations that have developed the most inclusive and innovative GEP, including intersections with other social categories such as ethnicity, social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity or disability.

Two prizes will be awarded in the first category and one prize for the second and third categories.

For more information, click here.

Applications open until 25th January