European Network For Gender Balance in

Informatics (EUGAIN): Activities and Results

Letizia Jaccheri, Barbora Buhnova, Birgit Penzenstadler, Karima Boudaoud,

and Valentina Lenarduzzi
arXiv:2407.16906v1 [cs.CY] 24 Jun 2024

Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway,

[email protected],
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic,
[email protected],
Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and Lappeenranta University of
Technology, Finland,
[email protected],
Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, France,
[email protected],
University of Oulu, Finland,
[email protected]

1 Introduction

This chapter provides a summary of the activities and results of the Euro-
pean Network For Gender Balance in Informatics (EUGAIN, EU COST
Action CA19122). The main aim and objective of the network is to improve gen-
der balance in informatics at all levels, from undergraduate and graduate studies
to participation and leadership both in academia and industry, through the cre-
ation of a European network of colleagues working at the forefront of the efforts
for gender balance in informatics in their countries and research communities.
Women are disproportionately represented in fields like Informatics (includ-
ing Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computing, ICT, software engi-
neering) [28,27,26], spanning from undergraduate and graduate studies to lead-
ership roles in academia and industry. Enhancing female participation in this
domain presents a significant challenge for scholars, policymakers, and society
as a whole as documented in several scientific studies [15,7,9,29,26,2,10]. Despite
widespread recognition of the issue, progress has been sluggish, despite ongo-
ing efforts for change throughout Europe. The primary objective of this COST
Action is to address the gender imbalance in Informatics by establishing and
fortifying a diverse European network of academics actively advancing gender
equality within their respective countries, institutions, and research communi-
ties. Leveraging their collective knowledge, experiences, challenges, successes,
and failures, we aim to identify effective strategies that can be adapted and ap-
plied across various institutions and nations. Among its goals, the Action aims
to provide the academic community, policymakers, industry stakeholders, and
others with actionable recommendations and guidelines to tackle key challenges,
including:
2 L. Jaccheri et al.

– Increasing female enrollment in Informatics programs and careers;

– Encouraging more female Ph.D. and postdoctoral researchers to pursue aca-
demic careers and apply for positions in Informatics departments
– Offering support and mentorship to empower young women in their profes-
sional journeys and address barriers preventing them from reaching senior
roles.

Chapter Structure: Section 2 describe the background, Section 3 describes

the successful interventions while Section 4 the aim of this project. Section 5
describes the project implementation. Section 6 presents the obtained results.
Section 7 summarizes the entire document.

2 Background

When designing the European Network For Gender Balance in Informatics (EU-
GAIN), we started with a set of unstructured activities across Europe and knowl-
edge derived from international research on the topic [20].

2.1 Gender GAP in STEM

The gender gap in STEM is widely discussed and recognized, but its relative size
among various technology and engineering fields is less understood. Informatics
(Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computing, ICT) is one of the most
heavily affected fields where the gender gap brings evident disparities. Areas such
as Chemistry and Biology have significantly more balanced gender distribution
(sometimes, the gender gap is even reversed, but only on lower career levels),
whereas it is predominantly in Informatics, Engineering, and Technology that
female absence is prevalent, with not much progress observed in the past years,
whether in Europe [11,19] or the US [4]. A study published when EUGAIN
was set in June 2019, based on a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of
Computer Science literature, has estimated that the gender gap in Computer
Science research (parity between the number of male and female authors) will
not close for at least 100 years [30].

2.2 Informatics Higher Education in Europe

Higher education statistics for European countries, collected over the past decade
show that the strong female underrepresentation in Informatics higher educa-
tion in Europe is a long-standing problem [20]. At the Bachelor level, in Aus-
tria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK, 80% or more of the
students enrolling or graduating in Informatics Bachelor programs are male. In
Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Estonia a slightly narrower gap exists, however,
women do not represent more than 30% of the Bachelor students [18]. At the
Master level participation of women increases in some countries, over 35% of
 EUGAIN Activities and Results 3

the Master graduates in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, and around 30% in the
UK, Estonia, Ireland, and Latvia, but decreases in others, not surpassing 20%
of the Master graduates in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy,
Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland [18]. At the
Ph.D. level, except for Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia, Turkey, all other countries
have less than 25% of women graduating from Informatics Ph.D. programs, cor-
responding in some cases to less than a handful of women, as the total number
of Ph.D. graduates in many countries is quite small [11,18]. A temporal analysis
of the data shows that, on average, no significant progress in female participa-
tion in Informatics higher education has been observed over the past decade in
Europe. The same is true for the US, as reported in [24]
Participation in Computer Science was examined by Sax [24], gathering data
on college students for four decades and highlighting a persistent, sizable under-
representation of women in Computer Science in the US. Moreover, only a few
women graduating with a Ph.D. in Informatics pursue an academic career, and
even fewer progress to the highest academic ranks of an associate or a full pro-
fessor. Similarly to other STEM areas, in Informatics the pipeline is leaking and
glass ceiling persists. In the whole of Europe across all STEM where women
and men are balanced in tertiary education, women still take less than 26% of
the full professor positions [11]. The very low number of women reaching senior
academic positions results in a scarcity of successful female role models to influ-
ence the new generations. To be a distinct minority in academia also results in
the overload of invitations and requests (committees, administrative department
roles, etc.), which penalizes women’s careers, impacting negatively their research
productivity, their work-life balance, their personal life, and health.

2.3 Gender Gap in the IT Industry

The industry also inherits the male-dominated student population. Women are
strongly underrepresented among ICT specialists in all EU Member States, which
is in a striking contrast with total employment, where women and men are
broadly balanced. Figures show that in 2021, an overwhelming majority (84.1%)
of ICT specialists employed in the EU were men [13]. This was the case in every
EU Member State, the highest shares of male ICT specialists were observed in
the Czech Republic (92.6%), Slovenia (90.8%), France (89.7%), Belgium (89.2%),
and Poland (89.1%), while Bulgaria (63.4%), Greece (70.6%), Denmark (72.0%)
and Romania (70.8%) recorded the lowest [12]. The lack of women is among the
reasons for the extensive skills and talent gap between the number of graduates
in higher education institutions and the number of job positions available in ICT
in Europe. Currently, an average of 53% of European employers say they face
difficulties in finding the right people with the right qualifications. The highest
percentages were recorded in the Czech Republic (79%), Austria (78%), Malta
(73%), Luxembourg (71%) the Netherlands (69%), Slovenia (65%), Germany
(64%) and Denmark (61%) [12]. Hundreds of thousands of vacancies for ICT
professionals in Europe remain unfilled, and this gap grows as our society moves
4 L. Jaccheri et al.

to a pervasively digitalized world built on unprecedented technological develop-

ments. The talent gap in ICT is one of the most serious threats to the economic
development of Europe.
The tech sector’s dominantly male workforce intrinsically promotes the cre-
ation and development of systems prone to gender bias. From smartphone voice
assistants (Android’s Cortana, Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Alexa) that are all fe-
male with noticeable submissive personalities and ill-equipped to respond to
user requests regarding crises that predominantly affect women (e.g., sexual as-
sault) [31], to activity trackers that fail to measure steps in the, predominantly
female activity of pushing a stroller. Transport networks that ignore the so-called
“mobility of care” and AI recruiting technology developed trained predominantly
on men’s résumés are among the many examples, more are found on the EU Re-
port of the Expert Group “Innovation through Gender” and the website of the
international project on Gendered Innovations. Despite the clear negative impact
and consequences of a strongly gender-unbalanced environment, unfortunately,
the fight for gender balance and equality in Informatics is seen as a women’s
problem. Projects, programs, actions, and strategies are invariably led by highly
motivated and achieving women who volunteer their time to establish a more
equal environment and pave the way for the new generation of female scientists.
Going beyond their daily work, they are responsible for the monumental effort,
and comparatively more moderated funding, that has been spent on the efforts
for gender equality in Informatics.

3 Successful Interventions

Despite some overall discouraging numbers [18], some remarkably successful ex-
amples at the university level are found in the US as well as in Europe. On a
global level, we find work by UNESCO [31].
In the USA, the most famous examples are Harvey Mudd College and Carnegie
Mellon where in the past decade gender parity has been achieved in Computer
Science entrants and graduates [14]. Although inspiring, these efforts remain
isolated and proved difficult to escalate to more institutions and to improve the
national statistics.
Europe still lags behind the US in regards to the amount of funding, suc-
cessful examples, and the level of organization of the community. Organizations
and groups such as AnitaB.org[3], ACM-W [1], CRA Women [8], National Cen-
ter for Women & Information Technology, IEEE Women in Computing Com-
mittee [17], Association for Women in Computing [5], and Girls Who Code in
partnership with industry have established a thriving community empowered to
inspire and encourage the new generations and to support the careers women
in Computer Science. The most spectacular example of this community is the
Grace Hopper Celebration, which in 2023 gathered over 30,000 attendees from
over 80 countries, almost all women, at all stages in Computer Science studies
and careers, providing an invaluable opportunity for women to find inspiration,
networking, and strategies to thrive in their careers.
 EUGAIN Activities and Results 5

In Europe, we find examples of EU public-funded projects such as EQUAL-IST,

Women4IT, and pan-European networks such as the Informatics Europe’s Women
in Informatics Research and Education Working Group and the ACM-WE Com-
mittee (both more oriented to women in the academic career); the CEPIS Women
in ICT Task Force and the European Centre for Women and Technology (both
more oriented to women in the ICT profession). Nevertheless, several commend-
able projects, internal policies, and strategies are found in many Universities,
funded by national mechanisms, specifically to increase the number and reten-
tion of female students in Computer Science programs. Here are a few good
examples:
– The Bamberg CS30 Strategy [6], Faculty of Information Systems and Applied
Computer Sciences, University of Bamberg, Germany – Started in 2005 and
aim at reaching a female/male ratio of at least 30% across all Computer
Science programs The number of women enrolling in first-year Computer
Science studies has been increasing since 2013 and reached 37% in 2017,
establishing a new record in Germany.
– The Girl Project Ada [25] [21], Faculty of Information Technology and Elec-
trical Engineering, NTNU, Norway – Started in 1997 and aims at recruiting
more girls to the ICT studies and prevent dropouts. The female share of
entrants in ICT studies has, on average across different programs, almost
doubled, going over 25% in the Computer Science program in 2017.
– CS4All initiative, School of Computer Science, TU Dublin, Ireland – Started
in 2012 and aims at increasing the number of female students coming to
Computer Science undergraduate programs and reduce the numbers failing
to progress in the critical first year. The female share of enrolled students
in a new Computer Science Bachelor Program, with a strong emphasis on
Internationalisation and Globalisation (22%) is double the one of the stan-
dard Computer Science in the same period. Retention has been strongly
improved, particularly for first-year students with an average 89% progres-
sion from year 1 to year 2 (the most critical), now the highest progression
rate for Computer Science in Ireland.
Projects, internal policy, and strategy management for supporting the tran-
sition of female Ph.D. and Postdoctoral Researchers into Faculty positions and
for developing the careers of female Faculty in Informatics Departments are also
found across Europe, but the impact has been less significant, and the numbers
of female researchers and professors, in general, remain discouragingly low.
Here are a few institutions that have implemented beneficial internal strate-
gies and policies to increase the number of female researchers and faculty and
support their careers:
– Faculty of Informatics TU Vienna, Austria
– School of Computer Science, TU Dublin, Ireland
– Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of
Limerick, Ireland
– Institute for Computing and Information Sciences, Radboud University in
Nijmegen, the Netherlands
6 L. Jaccheri et al.

– Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, NTNU, Nor-

way
– School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Queen’s
University Belfast, UK
– Department of Computer Science, University College of London, UK
– School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK
– Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, UK
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/dcs/about/women-computer-science
– Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Bremen, Ger-
many
– Department of Informatics, TU Munich, Germany
– Department of Informatics, University of Lille, France (initiative 1 and 2)
– Grenoble INP, University Grenoble Alpes, France
Many more Universities have individual projects or fellowships (involving
directly or indirectly Informatics Departments) aiming at improving gender bal-
ance. A few bold examples, involving substantial funding, include the Irène Curie
Fellowship at TU Eindhoven, the Gender Initiative for Excellence at Chalmers
University of Technology, and the IDUN project at NTNU. Some National In-
formatics Associations and National Research Labs also have special interest
groups, or Equal Opportunities offices with a focus on gender balance, to cite
a few: Gesellschaft für Informatik in Germany, IPN (ICT Research Platform
Netherlands), Société Informatique de France Inria, Max Planck Institute for
Informatics.
Moreover, over the course of EUGAIN, we have established the Minerva Awards
within Informatics Europe and successfully presented the awards for 9 years in
a row, usually at the European Computer Science Summit (ECSS).

4 The Aims of EUGAIN

The overarching challenge of EUGAIN is to enhance the representation of
women in the field of Informatics at various educational and professional lev-
els. This involves strategies such as increasing the number of female students
opting for Informatics in higher education, fostering an environment that en-
sures the retention and successful completion of studies by female students, and
encouraging the participation of women in advanced academic roles, including
Ph.D. and postdoctoral research positions. Additionally, the focus extends to
supporting and inspiring young women in their careers, addressing key obstacles
that hinder their progress toward senior positions within the field. To achieve
these objectives, collaboration with network partners is essential, leveraging their
experiences to overcome challenges and implement effective measures across di-
verse institutions and countries, leading to sustained positive outcomes in the
long run.
The main research questions investigate actions, policies, measurable re-
sults, geographical perspective, relation to industry, relation to school, intersec-
tionality, and role of male colleagues. Table 1 provides research questions that
 EUGAIN Activities and Results 7

were used when setting up investigations in this field of gender and computer
science within EUGAIN.

Questions
How successful have the implemented actions and policies been? How can their impact
be measured?
How much effort (people and time) and funding were spent on projects that have had
successful, measurable results?
How visible have these actions at the university, region, country level, or internationally
been?
How to replicate successful actions and policies in different institutions or countries?
How many countries have pre-established national networks with a focus on gender
balance in Informatics/ICT? Have these networks had a positive impact on results and
outcomes?
What is the proportion of Informatics Departments across Europe that have never
implemented any measure or policy to improve gender balance?
Has the industry been involved in these efforts? Has this type of collaboration influenced
positively the results? If not, how to foster more effective and successful partnerships?
Have male colleagues been leading or actively participating in the projects and actions,
or does this remain primarily a women’s problem? What has been different in cases
with significant male engagement? Would the participation of more men (particularly
in leading positions) have a positive impact on progress and results?
Why do some countries have better female participation in Informatics (studies or pro-
fession)? Why are they a minority? Are there cultural, historical, or economic reasons
for this?
Are there Departments (or countries) that have policies for improving more general
diversity and include other minorities?
Has the lack of Informatics as a foundational discipline in schools played an important
role in the low numbers of female students in Informatics higher education?

Table 1. Research questions used as starting point for investigations.

4.1 Objectives

The objectives of EUGAIN are divided into two main categories: Research Co-
ordination Objectives (Table 2) and Capacity-building Objectives (Table 3).

5 Implementation through the Working groups

To ensure progress beyond the state of the art and encourage novel approaches
and methods, three Working Groups (WGs) addressing the challenges of each
transition: from School to University (WG1); from Bachelor/Master studies to
Ph.D (WG2); from Ph.D./Postdoc to Professor (WG3) have been established,
8 L. Jaccheri et al.

Research Coordination Objectives

Coordinate information gathering and collecting practices and initiatives for recruiting
and retaining female students, researchers, and professors
Support partners in assessing and evaluating existing practices and methodologies,
facilitating the choice of what could be implemented according to the local situation
(cultures, resources, etc.);
Coordinate data from across each WG to assist in the development of cross-validated
instruments to help Informatics Departments set goals and priorities for female recruit-
ing, integration, and promotion;
Collate collaboratively a handbook of interventions and web-based resources across all
WGs for practical use by the academic community and stakeholders;
Deliver guidance and recommendations on how to overcome the challenges in a com-
prehensive policy document targeting policymakers and other relevant stakeholders at
the national and the EU level;
Create visibility, both within the academic community and to other stakeholders, about
the common issues and challenges facing the academic community, and local, national,
and EU authorities in addressing gender balance in Informatics;
Create a communications strategy to spread information about the actions and results
to the general public and stakeholders, using a website created for the project, social
media channels, newsletters, and press releases;
Develop a common European understanding around the issues of female participation
in Informatics, policy priorities, and areas of intervention; Involve industry stakeholders
in the efforts to address the main challenges and create opportunities and synergies;
Develop and publish an Action website to become the reference point for addressing
gender balance in Informatics, including an online repository of the evidence collected
by the WGs, information about the networking activities organized, and channels for
dissemination and communication.

Table 2. Research coordination objectives.

 EUGAIN Activities and Results 9

Capacity Building Objectives

Establish an efficient and lasting network of excellence to advance knowledge and meth-
ods to improve gender balance in Informatics;
Such a network shall encourage sustainable collaboration, and facilitate knowledge and
experience sharing, with an emphasis on intervention best practices, through seminars,
workshops, and short-term exchange visits, involving a comprehensive list of stakehold-
ers;
Promote policy and intervention practices for recruiting and selection of female stu-
dents, researchers, and professors, including guidelines for their monitoring and evalu-
ation; disseminate the practices for further development by the wider academic com-
munity, fostering collaborative international projects;

Encourage publication (and support the drafting) of peer-reviewed papers, and pre-
sentations at important conferences and events, to create at an international level
awareness of the gender gap in Informatics;
Increase awareness of the issues across disciplinary boundaries, both within and outside
of academia, by promoting continued exchange and development of knowledge, practice,
and policy guidance;
Cooperate with industry to foster career networks, creating mutually beneficial syn-
ergies, for students and early career researchers to find excellent career opportunities,
and for the industry to tap into a pool of highly motivated talented individuals;
Act as a transnational platform facilitating multi-stakeholder engagement and co-
creating processes and actions at local, national, European, and international levels.

Table 3. Capacity Building Objectives.

10 L. Jaccheri et al.

combining experts and perspectives from different institutions and COST coun-
tries. Two additional WGs, on Cooperation with Industry and Society (WG4),
and Strategy & Dissemination (WG5) support and promote outreach of the
activities and outcomes. Other dissemination and communication activities en-
sure reaching all interested stakeholders. Moreover, tangible deliverables will also
promote the advancement of the state of the art.

Main Deliverables
A website (https://eugain.eu/);
a repository of initiatives and best practices;
booklets with practical recommendations (see section 6.1);
a handbook with validated measures and guidelines helping university departments to
recruit and retain female (students, PhD students, professors and researchers);
policy recommendation documents for local, national and international institutions;
publications, and presentations (see section 6.2).

Table 4. Deliverables

The main goals and activities of the different working groups are described
below.

5.1 WG1: From School to University

The main objective of WG1 was to update and design a new set of measures
on how to promote the education and participation of more female students in
Informatics higher education. Moreover, it aimed to increase the number of ap-
plications and to ensure that students who started will thrive, make their voices
heard, and complete their studies. In terms of tasks and activities, WG1 focused
on collecting and evaluating current initiatives existing in the COST countries
and institutions part of the Action, including targeted recruitment initiatives,
activities for students (from primary to high school), mentoring and career pro-
grammes in academia and industry. It also collated examples of how female
students voice can be encouraged across universities in generating information
and ideas.

5.2 WG2: From Bachelor/Master Studies to Ph.D

WG2 aimed to design a new set of measures on how to promote the participa-
tion of more female students in Ph.D. programs in Informatics and ensure that
students who started will complete their Ph.D. studies. The main tasks of WG2
were to: (1) collect and assess cross-national action plans/guidelines (national
or regional) to inform about research activities and role models in research and
education; (2) collate current interventions/tools to inform about actions both in
general terms and specifically regarding gender and diversity issues; (3) collate
 EUGAIN Activities and Results 11

examples of how female Ph.D. student voices’ can be encouraged across universi-
ties in generating innovative research projects and ideas and (4) gather evidence
on their effectiveness across different groups and with regards to gender and age
systematically reviewing completeness of the information, degree of usage, local
evaluations carried out, and sustainability.

5.3 WG3: From Ph.D. to Professor

The main goal of WG3 was to identify successful practices to recruit more fe-
male professors in Informatics and to limit the dropout rate of women along
the path to professorship and leader positions in academia. It aimed also to
help to increase the proportion of women in international research projects. To
reach this goal, WG3 focused on (1) collecting experiences from ongoing initia-
tives in COST countries universities and assess evidence [23]; (2) identifying HR
policies and recruitment strategies aimed at increasing female recruitment and
retention within Departments, Institutes/Faculties/Schools, Universities; (3) de-
signing protocols for collaboration between the management and the employees
at the faculty, with a focus on gender equality; (4) designing career development
programme for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers; (5) developing a
mentor scheme for women at the master’s level to associate professor level; (6)
creating international mentoring schemes between women in scientific positions
at different levels and in different COST countries and(7) developing a strategy
for recruiting women in externally funded projects, especially for EU funding.

5.4 WG4: Cooperation with Industry and Society

The main objective of WG4 aimed to assure that cooperation with stakeholders
in industry and other sectors exists at a local, regional, national and EU level
and that particular issues existing in each country are taken into consideration.
It aimed also to analyse the existing practices put in place for university de-
partments, institutes/faculties/schools to deal with external cooperation with a
focus on gender issues and evaluate what assessment exists for these practices.
The main tasks and activities of WG4 focused on: (1) collate evidence of suc-
cessful industry-university collaboration across partners and countries [22,16];
(2) gather and assess evidence of best practices on how collaboration with in-
dustry and other sectors have had positive impact on gender balance in Infor-
matics/ICT; (3) collate action plans/guidelines on integration from national and
regional authorities for policy evaluation and (4) engage with the IT/ICT sec-
tor to improve the integration of gender balance in their research portfolio and
recruitment strategy.

5.5 WG5: Strategy & Dissemination

The objectives of WG5 were to: (1) raise awareness about the gender imbalance
and bias in Informatics; (2) advocate and lobby for change; (3) disseminate the
12 L. Jaccheri et al.

action results to all partners and national networks and (4) reach out to all
external stakeholders. To reach these objectives, the main task of WG5 was
to assure that the main activities, events, outcomes and deliverables of all WGs
have the most optimal visibility and reach the relevant stakeholders. This is done
through the organization of an Annual European Workshop on gender balance in
Informatics/ICT (during the project duration and on the longer term annually,
after the end of the project) and face to face meetings with relevant policy officers
at the EU level and national level (involving then the partner(s) in their country).
Finally, WG5 is in charge of organizing an European Award for best practices in
departments/institutes/schools/faculties of European universities and research
labs that encourage and support the careers of women in Informatics research
and education (selected by a review panel of international experts).

6 Results and Outputs

In this Section, we reported the main results we got during these four years as
booklets and scientific outputs.

6.1 Booklets
We produced 4 booklets, a policy recommendation document, and a handbook
of intervention methods, as follows:

– Booklet “From Ph.D. to Professor”: that includes the best practices for sup-
porting the transition of Ph.D. and postdoctoral researchers into faculty
positions.
– Booklet “From School to University”: that includes the best practices and
suggestions for recruiting and retaining female students.
– Booklet(s) “Future Informatics Students”: that includes advice and advan-
tages of studying and choosing Informatics as a career.
– Booklet “From Bachelor/Master Studies to Ph.D.”: that includes the best
practices and suggestions for retaining and supporting the transition of fe-
male students to Ph.D. positions.
– Policy recommendation document: that includes a set of policy recommen-
dations directed to policymakers, at the national and European level.
– Handbook of intervention methods: that provides an understanding of the
factors that contribute to increasing the recruitment and retention of female
computer scientists, methods, and intervention strategies.

6.2 Scientific Output

Based on the results obtained in this project, we published more than 50 papers
both in conferences and journals. The complete list of publications is available
in an online appendix 1 .
1
https://shorturl.at/abfzN
 EUGAIN Activities and Results 13

7 Summary and Future Outlooks

By now we have understood the barriers and effective strategies towards improv-
ing gender balance in informatics, summarized also within the booklets discussed
in Section 6.1. EUGAIN has offered a platform for inspiration crossing cultural
boundaries and for gathering insights on effective strategies towards address-
ing stereotypes, promoting role models, closing the confidence gap, growing a
sense of belonging, and learning to give recognition and credit to all the talented
women and other underrepresented talents in informatics.
At the same time, we now understand the importance of continuing this
essential work. We see the immense importance of a better understanding of
cultural differences and their influences and strategies that give us a better
ability to engage and recognize diverse talent, together with effective tools to
guide women and girls throughout the maze of educational and career decisions
in the growing world of informatics and technology.
When starting EUGAIN, we began with an ambitious set of questions we
intended to answer (see Table 1). Now, four years later, while we have shed light
on all these questions, we find them far from answered. We have understood how
hard it is to measure progress and how multifaceted the progress can be, moving
us into technology that is inclusive for everyone, not only women and girls.
Over the duration of EUGAIN, we have had the privilege to watch closely
when the change was taking place in the institutions of our project members,
which we have celebrated with the Minerva award and made sure to document
as many of the efforts take time to bloom. As for now, we are excited that the
seeds have been planted and will continue nourishing these ongoing activities in
all our institutions. We hope our results and this book bring inspiration to the
reader to do the same.

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