Gender Equality in Higher Education and Research – Strategies for Empowerment

UN Women calls for more Rights. Equality. Empowerment on this IWD 2025. Therefore, EWORA and the IAU invited participants to discuss how higher education institutions can empower staff to take action in favour of Gender Equality – be it through Teaching and Learning, research, campus initiatives, or when engaging with the wider community. During the panel presentations, experts shared their perspectives on policies and institutional approaches, universal challenges and innovative approaches to foster collaboration, support for academics and staff, and interdisciplinary research and partnerships at the whole institution level.

For several years, EWORA and the IAU have been advocating jointly for gender equality and equity in higher education. Furthermore, the IAU created a network, the IAU HESD Global Cluster, in 2018 with the aim to connect universities and engage them with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Experts shared their insights on the panel, followed by a discussion and Q&A.

Speakers:

• Opening words: Kerstin Tham, President of the European Women Rectors Association (EWORA), Professor, and former Vice-Chancellor at Malmö University, Sweden

• Lora Gailly, Associate Project Officer, Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, UNESCO

• Pamela Gillies, Board Member, EWORA, and former Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, UK

• Sunungurai Chingarande, Rector, Women’s University in Africa, Zimbabwe

• Anders Söderholm, President, KTH – The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

• Sabrine Yassine, Steering Committee Member, Global Student Forum, and NUS Australia

• Moderator: Hilligje van’t Land, Secretary General, International Association of Universities (IAU), France/global