The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) places particular importance on an inclusive funding procedure, in which people with different requirements can participate on an equal footing. The funding offers are designed in a way that best supports the scientific careers of all researchers. As shown below, the FWF has various approaches for appropriately advancing the topic of equality and diversity in the area of the FWF organization, the review procedure, the application, in the execution of the projects, and in the area of making female scientists visible. Current measures and work priorities of the Staff Unit for Equal Opportunities can be found in the FWF equality plan.
Equal opportunity measures in the FWF’s research funding at a glance:
- set up the Staff Unit for Equal Opportunities in Research Funding and created the FWF equality plan to anchor it in the organization,
- integrated mandatory reflection on sex and gender aspects when describing the research strategy in project applications,
- the FWF uses gender-appropriate, inclusive language in internal and external communication,
- signed the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and called on reviewers to dispense with the use of journal-based metrics in the evaluation of research achievements,
- provided bias awareness measures to FWF board members, FWF employees (training courses) and external reviewers (information and recommendations) so they have more information on bias for the decision-making process,
- collect current gender-specific statistics through online equal opportunities monitoring,
- career development programs for women: supporting measures such as, for example, a child package, a qualification package, specific events for networking among scientists; 50% of the funds in the ESPRIT program for young scientists are reserved for women,
- inclusion and equal opportunities: consideration of breaks or delays in the career progression of researchers that have led to publication gaps, non-linear career paths or limited international research experience (mobility).