Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Rectorado A, Avda. Ramiro de Maeztu 7 28040 Madrid

Press release

The Human Brain Project (HBP) is committed to advancing gender equality by balancing the ratio of female to male scientists in research teams and decision-making. The project’s first Conference on Gender and Diversity, subtitled Promoting Innovative Leadership, is hosted by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and aims to promote awareness of gender equality in research and innovation.

The Conference will present the HBP's gender action plan and practical implementation tools for discussion by renowned international scientists in academia and industry. A key topic is the impact of gender on research and innovation themselves. Researchers and policy makers from both inside and outside the project are invited to attend.

More than 100 partner organisations and around 800 scientists from 19 countries are involved in the HBP, making it one of largest scientific projects in Europe. The HBP is a European Commission Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Flagship that aims to put in place a cutting-edge, ICT-based scientific research infrastructure for brain research, cognitive neuroscience, and brain-inspired computing. An outstanding feature of the HBP is that it includes gender and diversity aspects in its internal structures and processes.

“I am glad that we are actively working on this issue”, said HBP Scientific Research Director Katrin Amunts, “This conference offers a unique chance to share experiences and ideas to push forward on this.”

Chris Ebell, HBP Executive Director said, “As a multidisciplinary Flagship project of the EU, HBP depends on diversity which makes gender balance a high priority for us. This Conference is an important step that we can further build on.”

This HBP Conference is the first on the topic of gender and diversity since the project started in 2013. The Conference presents activities related to gender equality and diversity that are monitored by the HBP Gender Advisory Committee. EAF Berlin, as an independent research and advisory body, is responsible for oversight of the development of the HBP gender action plan, based on scientific surveys and best practice examples within the HBP project.

Ainhoa Echeverria Alvarez, responsible for the gender action at the Geneva coordination office, said that, “This Conference offers a unique opportunity for networking and exchange of experiences across countries, institutions, and disciplines about gender and diversity policies in science organisations.” As a multidisciplinary flagship project of the European Commission, HBP wants to promote sustainable development for more diversity and for more women in scientific management positions.

Press enquiries: gregory.meylan@epfl.ch

For more information, visit:

www.humanbrainproject.eu

www.humanbrainproject.eu/en/about/gender-equality/

www.eaf-berlin.de