Final Conference Conclusions
The AGRIGEP Final Conference confirmed that gender equality in agriculture and life sciences (ALS) universities is no longer a peripheral concern but a structural prerequisite for research excellence, innovation, and sustainable development. Positioned at the intersection of food security, climate transition, and rural innovation, ALS institutions face distinctive gendered challenges that generic equality approaches often fail to address. AGRIGEP demonstrated that meaningful progress requires moving beyond formal compliance towards deep, contextualised institutional change.
A central achievement of AGRIGEP has been supporting the transition from first-generation, compliance-driven Gender Equality Plans (GEP 1.0) to more strategic, embedded and sectorial-specific GEPs (GEP 2.0). While the Horizon Europe eligibility criterion triggered rapid adoption of GEPs across many widening countries, including a dramatic expansion in Central and Eastern Europe, the conference discussions highlighted the risks of “tick-box” approaches with weak ownership, limited budgets, and fragile governance. AGRIGEP provided evidence that GEPs become effective only when they are fully integrated into institutional strategies, leadership structures, and everyday decision-making.
Leadership emerged as a decisive factor, not in rhetoric but in action. Structural change requires visible commitment through regulations, budgets, workload models, and transparent handling of discrimination and harassment. Participants emphasised that safe, fair, and psychologically supportive working environments are not “soft issues” but core conditions for innovation and academic quality. At the same time, the conference highlighted the vulnerability of change agents. Equality officers and task-force members often carry a disproportionate emotional and organisational burden, making institutional progress fragile. Sustainable change, therefore, depends on formalising roles, sharing responsibility across teams, and recognising equality work as legitimate, resourced labour.
A key lesson from AGRIGEP was the underestimated importance of knowledge, communication, and capacity building. Many ALS academics lack formal training in gender or social analysis, making awareness-raising and conceptual clarity indispensable. The project’s training programmes, mentoring activities, and locally adapted materials showed that continuous education must be treated as a core pillar of GEP implementation, not as an optional add-on.
The conference further stressed the importance of robust data, monitoring, and accountability. Compliance checks alone are insufficient; institutions must track budgets, implementation processes, and the lived experiences of staff and students. Stakeholder mapping and participatory approaches proved essential for identifying allies, understanding resistance, and amplifying the voices of students and early-career researchers. Gender equality cannot be driven solely by rectorates; it must be co-created across institutional levels.
Importantly, AGRIGEP highlighted ALS-specific conditions that demand tailored responses: fieldwork, labs, internships, and rural placements expose students and staff to particular risks, including harassment in remote or external settings. Integrating safety protocols, ethical standards, and gender-sensitive supervision into ALS practices is therefore a structural necessity. Beyond universities, persistent stereotypes and pipeline challenges underline the need for outreach, mentoring, and challenge-based education that links gender equality to sustainability, innovation, and rural futures.
In conclusion, AGRIGEP confirms that structural change in ALS universities is both possible and necessary. It requires alignment between EU-level frameworks, courageous institutional governance, supported change agents, and everyday practices in teaching, research, and engagement. Gender equality, when rooted in sector-specific realities, strengthens not only fairness but the long-term resilience and societal relevance of agriculture and life sciences.
9:00 Registration
Conference Moderator:
Gema Calleja Sanz, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
9:30 Opening Session
Prof. Michal Lošťák, Vice-rector, Czech University of Life Sciences
Julianna Kobolák, Senior Researcher, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, AGRIGEP project coordinator
Katharina Buse, Project Officer, European Research Executive Agency
10:00 Keynote Speech
Marcela Linková, Head of the Centre for Gender and Science at the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Member State Co-Chair of the ERA Forum Sub-group on Inclusive Gender Equality, an advisory body to the European Commission.
10.30 Coffee Break
10.50 Policy Round Table: Advancing Gender Equality in Academia for Sustainability, Excellence, Competitiveness and Economic Growth in Europe
Moderator:
Maxime Forest, Gender and Policy Design Expert, Yellow Window, Senior Lecturer and Research Associate at Sciences Po (OFCE, Urban School)
Speakers:
Adéla Gjuričová, Director of the Institute of Contemporary History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vice-Chair of the Research, Development and Innovation Council of the Czech Government
Katalin Tardos, Senior Researcher of the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Sociology, Hungary
Hana Tenglerová, Policy Officer, DG Research & Innovation, Unit D4 – Democracy, Equality & Culture – Gender Sector
Gita Zadnikar, Policy Officer, Slovenian Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation
12.15 Lunch break
13.15 Panel Discussion 1: Shaping gender equality in academia: Lessons from GEP 1.0 and visions for GEP 2.0
Moderator:
Panagiota Polykarpou, Consultant for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Yellow Window
Panellists:
Ĺ tefan Bojnec, Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Management, University of Primorska
Sara Clavero, project NEXUS, Senior Researcher and Deputy Director RINCE (AIB Research Centre for Inclusive and Equitable Cultures) at TU Dublin EDI
Lenka Henebergová, project SUPPORTER, Senior Researcher, Vice-dean for internationalisation at Charles University in Prague
Julianna Kobolák, Coordinator of AGRIGEP; Senior Research Fellow at Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), Hungary
Michal Lošťák, Professor of Sociology, Vice rector and Head of the Department of Humanities at the Faculty of Economy and Management, Czech University of Life Sciences
Katalin Oborni, Senior Project Manager at HÉTFA’s Division of International Cooperation, coordinates the RE-FEM and STREAM IT projects, Gender Officer for the COST Action project PROFEEDBACK
14.30 Poster Pitch session with coffee
15.45 Panel Discussion 2: Advancing gender equality in Agriculture and Life Sciences
Opening presentation:
Veronika Paksi, research fellow at the Institute for Sociology, Centre for Social Sciences (Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre of Excellence)
Moderator:
Katalin Tardos, Senior Researcher of the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Sociology
Panellists:
Maura Farrell, FLIARA project, Senior Lecturer, School of Geography and Archaeology, National University of Ireland, Galway
Jana Mazancová, AGRIGEP project, Senior Researcher at the Department of Sustainable Technology, Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Petra Palátová, Fem2forests project, Lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague.
Dimitris Tsaltas, Professor and Director of Agricultural Microbiology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Head of Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology and Food Science at the Cyprus University of Technology
17.00 Final Remarks
Margreet van der Burg, Senior UD – University Lecturer/Researcher, Intersectional Gender Studies/History related to Food, Agricultural and Rural Research and Development, Knowledge, Technology and Innovation, Social Sciences, Wageningen University
17.15 Closure of the conference
Agenda
Key_note Marcela Linková.pdf
