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SCIENCE FOUNDATION IRELAND is calling for women scientists to apply for new grants worth up to €175,000.
SFI said that the awards, which are aimed at women who have a PhD or equivalent, are to enable women to remain or return to a career in science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM).
Currently only 26 per cent of researchers in STEM areas are women.
Minister for Research and Innovation Seán Sherlock said he was hopeful that such funding would lead to a “greater increase of women working in what is one of Ireland’s most rapidly growing sectors”.
Successful applicants will receive funding up to a maximum value of €175,000 in direct costs for up to two years.
To be eligible, applicants must hold a PhD, MD, or equivalent qualification and should not hold or have held a significant independent research award.
The head of Science Foundation Ireland, who is also the chief scientific advisor to the Irish government, said that it was “crucial” to incentivise diversity and gender balance in both public and private sector research.
“This programme will allow women researchers to immediately avail of established infrastructures and existent industry partnerships and collaborations – as well as offering assistance to move into a non-academic career path in the STEM sector,” said Professor Mark Ferguson.
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Interesting stats there. in my last lab I was one of 2 guys but there was 10 women
Happy days! :)
Are you working in a biology-related field? If not, that’s very unusual!
Would I be right in saying that a groundbreaking project could not receive funding because it is spearheaded by a man. This positive discrimination, gender quotas and the like are stopping the best person available person for a job, reserch grant etc from getting it.
Imagine the reaction if this was a male only grant.
couldnt agree more.
Any initiative of such importance would be supported
There are countless grants available for men. If a male scientist proposes a project of any merit, it will get funded.
All this talk of ‘best man for the job’ amuses me, as if that’s what happens right now.
You are totally right, this is the world we live in today…
Hi Philib,
The problem is that the best ‘man’ for the job does not always get the job as..he is a she. There are a number of studies confirming gender bias in performance review in STEM and, also, there is a smaller pool to choose. as you know yourself, no doubt, the social and emplowment set-up in Ireland is not the friendliest towards working mothers or fathers who want to spend the first few months raising their child. this leads to a winnowing of the remaining women as they approach 30 odd years of age.
I’m a post-doc in the Netherlands in a STEM field. In a study here a few years ago, they also found that the amount of women in science was relatively poor. They instigated a number of funding initiatives to encourage women to enter, remain in or return to research post-family. It made economic sense-after all, what was the point of them being expensively educated by the state and system only to drive them out? It also prevevnts loss of talented candidates and onset of intellectual poverty. Google NUFFIC-it gives a good shake-down of the rationale forming policy here. It’s working-numbers are climbing.
I have yet to meet a male, Dutch scientist who complains that his chances for advancement are reduced by these initiatives or that less talented women are edging him out of funding. Perhaps they are not quite so insecure. Maybe they won’t say to me directly…who knows?
It’s not an initiative to shaft men, it’s meant to help women and add a bit of balance to the scene. To repeat-helping women to succeed in the face of bias does not mean preventing men from succeeding in a system already tilted in their favour.
Philib, here’s a couple of studies on gender bias in performance review-I can’t send a direct link, google the titles if you like.
Have wonderfull Wednesday All!
Science faculty’s subtle gender biases favor male students. Corinne A. Moss-Racusina,b, John F. Dovidiob, Victoria L. Brescollc, Mark J. Grahama,d, and Jo Handelsman
Study shows gender bias in science is real. Here’s why it matters. By Ilana Yurkiewicz
The Impact of Gender on the Review of Curricula Vitae of Job Appplicants and Tenure Candidates; An Empirical Study. R.E. Steinpreis et al
Unless that research is from Ireland Sarah, it has limited efficacy.
I’d hold out for a job in Rehab tbh. Miles more money, bigger pension and you dont even have to worry about turning over a profit.
Dont worry Bazalini, that €175k is not their salary. That’s for all research costs including salary (and possibly even the salary for any assistants needed on the project). Id be willing to that bet that successful applicants would be lucky to draw a salary even near to €50k….so yeah that rehab job would definitely be a better shout!
Also, its funding for a project that otherwise may not have gotten funded, possibly because it is not “in vogue”. Funding discrimination based on what fields of research are in fashion is unfortunately is a fairly big problem academia, and that is before even getting into any gender discrimination issues. Ideally science should be conducted for science’s sake and the progression of knowledge, rather than for profits. I think this scheme should be welcomed.
+1
Sad to see the taxpayer paying for government gender politics rather than just science.
Research should not be about the genital assignment of the researchers, just the work & its outcomes.
I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately though, that’s not how it works. A man is far more likely to receive funding and a greater salary. What’s that, if not gender discrimination?
Defenders of the status quo are generally ignorant to how it operates, I’ve found.
“A man is far more likely to receive funding and a greater salary. What’s that, if not gender discrimination?”
Just because their may be an imbalance doesn’t make it discrimination. Equality is about equal opportunity, not equal numbers.
Seems a little weird to be encouraging women with Ph.D’s to remain in STEM fields. Seems very much to be preaching to the choir, women who hold a Ph.D. in a STEM field, really shouldn’t need extra encouragement to get into STEM.
I’m all for promoting women in science, we always need more scientists, but this needs to be done at the secondary and even primary school levels, not at the Ph.D. levels.
John,
What we really need is positions and more funding, (a boost in wages wouldn’t hurt either with post docs now starting on 32k) to encourage people to actually stay in science. The vast majority leave academia right after the PhD or within 5 years because it provides zero financial security and low prospects. Without a significant commercial research sector in Ireland most also leave research.
I’m a scientist in medical research, I get ignored and talked over a lot. I would imagine this happens to a lot of women researchers. More money for women scientists is a very good thing!
All the teachers in my local primary school/creche/secondary school are female, can I get a grant, cos I really need a job, and this discrimination against men is terrible.
Good old leftist social engineering. Just pay people to make up the numbers even if they have no interest in the subject. I hear the next project is to fund women to become professional snooker players.
@agent, did you actually read the article? It clearly states that prospective candidates need a PHD or MD. So they’re hardly picking random women who have no interest in STEM research.
Totally skewed approach for aligning equal gender representation in STEM. Grants should be awarded based on the quality and strength of the applicant and their proposal, not on their gender. Will the government be rolling out a similar, positive discrimination scheme for areas in which men are unrepresented?
Would you ever make valid points
Men and women have the exact same opportunities to study science in this country, instead why not offer grants to the best regardless of gender? That would do a lot more for science
As a product of the Irish education system I can tell you that men and women don’t have the same opportunities to study science and engineering. In secondary school; I was actively discouraged from taking subjects like metal work, chemistry and physics – sure why wouldn’t I want to do home edc instead? I studied Microbiology and biochemistry in college and while it was much better for me then in secondary school, friends of mine who studied chemistry and physics told me that some TAs and Lectures almost expected them to drop out at some stage.
It is an uphill struggle for woman to get into certain fields of science; let alone get a PHD in a subject and once they get there they often find it difficult to get grants.
Surely a job/grant/etc should be given based on merit not gender. I know there are far less women in the lab sciences, but surely the answer is to see why as opposed to anything else.
Positive discrimination strikes again!!
Women in the workplace. Bad idea.
Just mention Gerbil Worming [aka climate change] and you get double :-)
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