EUGAIN: European Network for Gender Balance in Informatics

Think of a project that aims to improve gender balance in computer science at all levels through the creation of a European network. This project focuses on gender diversity from K-12 education through to professional careers. EUGAIN is a COST Action project with over 160 members from across Europe dedicated to raising awareness about the gender gap in computer science. Action Chair Letizia Jaccheri, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway, led the project for four years, bringing together its members to work on increasing the number of girls choosing informatics for their higher education studies and careers. She also encouraged many young researchers to continue pursuing academic careers in computer science.

The EUGAIN project is structured around five Working Groups (WGs) that address the challenges of gender balance:

  1. From School to University
  2. From Bachelor/Master Studies to Ph.D.
  3. From Ph.D./Postdoc to Professor
  4. Cooperation with Industry and Society
  5. Strategy and Dissemination

The project also organized activities like “Training Schools,” aimed at facilitating capacity building through intensive training on new or emerging topics, and an annual workshop that brought people together to share ideas and results. The project held its final meeting in Lisbon with policymakers to open the project to the world for dissemination. The project will organize the final training school in Lugano 4-6 September 2024. Follow up on eugain.eu if you want to participate. 

Thank you to Letizia Jaccheri, Bara Buhnova and all the members of the EUGAIN project for making this project happen. Details about the project and its results can be found on the project website.

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