EU Award for Gender Equality Champions
This annual prize, launched in 2022, is the European Commission's initiative to recognise and celebrate the outstanding results achieved by European academic and research organisations through the implementation of Gender Equality Plans.
Deadline for submission for the 2023 edition is 25 January 2024 at 17.00 (CET).
Learn more in the how to apply section below.
Why this prize
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 Gender Equality Plan (GEP) as 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.
Designed by the European Commission (DG Research and Innovation), the prize is managed by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) and its winners are selected by an independent expert jury for each prize category.
See Horizon Europe Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area Work Programme 2023-2024 featuring the 2023 Prize (p. 136 of 162).
Categories
There are 3 prize categories:
- 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.
- Newcomer Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have recently started implementing a GEP and can demonstrate the most progress in its implementation and achieved results.
- Inclusive Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have developed the most innovative inclusive GEP addressing intersections with other social categories such as ethnicity, social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTI+) or disability.
Applicants can only apply to one of these three categoriesand winners from the 2022 edition cannot re-apply to another category.
Each prize winner will receive €100,000.
There will be 2 winners in the category “Sustainable Gender Equality Champions”, 1 winner in the category “Newcomer Gender Equality Champions”, and 1 winner in the category “Inclusive Gender Equality Champions”.
Who should apply
The prize is open to universities, higher education institutions, and other research performing organisations (public or private), established in an EU country or a country associated to Horizon Europe.
Rules of contest
Admissibility, Eligibility and Award criteria are detailed in the Rules of Contest, to be read carefully by all applicants before submitting their application:
How to apply
Participants can apply for the prize online via the Funding and Tenders Portal.
You can also download the application forms below:
- Application form for the Sustainable Gender Equality Champion prize category
- Application form for the Newcomer Gender Equality Champion prize category
- Application form for the Inclusive Gender Equality Champion prize category
Timeline
- 12 December 2023: Contest opens
- 25 January 2024 (17:00 CET): Deadline for applications
- Q1-Q2 2024: Evaluations
- Q2 2024: Announcement of prize winners and award ceremony in Brussels
