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BALANSE-Kjønnsbalanse i toppstillinger og forskningsledelse

Positioning Women for Research professorship (POWER): Early intervention at PRIO

Awarded: NOK 3.4 mill.

As is common in the institute sector in Norway, PRIO has a gender imbalance at the research professor level. When the POWER project began, women comprised only 14% of those with professor competence. Our goal was to have 3 women achieve professorship during the project period, and we exceeded that goal by having 4 new women professors. The POWER project was mainly a menu of interventions targeted at female researchers at PRIO who had completed a PhD but not yet reached professor status. The overarching aim was to build both 'objective readiness' (qualifications) and 'subjective readiness' (motivation and confidence) for professorship through initiatives at both the individual and institutional level. Participants were free to take part in any of the initiatives offered by the project. Initiatives included the following: Mock evaluations, where participants submit their CVs to external evaluation to assess their 'readiness' for promotion and to plan their publication strategies for the next period; intensive writing groups and writing retreats; mentoring and networking building; leadership training; and writing stipends. The participants were followed up individually each year, and the specific initiatives were adjusted underway in response to lessons learned. The project synergized with an ongoing doctoral project that uses a critical ethnographic approach to look at how individual women understand themselves and their environments, negotiating their own core values and the expectations of those around them, and how this translates into prioritizing various tasks -- particularly those tasks that are directly related to building professorship competence (i.e., academic publishing and leadership). In 2017, we were granted additional funding to secure long-term professional development. In this phase, we focused on building on the lessons learned from the POWER project by further anchoring a long-term perspective on gender balance and professional development in PRIO's Leader Team. The project aimed to develop the ability of the Leader Team to see individual researchers as whole persons and be able to tailor guidance to each individual's particular needs. This involved clarifying the role of the Leader Team in securing a healthy gender balance and providing opportunities for professional development; increasing the professionalism of Leader Team members in providing career guidance professional development; and ensuring that the menu of professional development initiatives PRIO offers to its researchers and the way it approaches professional development is optimal.

As is common in the institute sector in Norway, PRIO has an extreme gender imbalance at the research professor level with women making up only 14% of those with professor competence. Preliminary research shows that many women at PRIO feel that professorsh ip is unattainable or irrelevant for them. The POWER project is a menu of interventions targeted at female researchers at PRIO who have completed a PhD but not yet reached professor status. The overarching aim is to make promotion to professorship a more attractive and attainable goal by building competence in scholarly publications and leadership; creating opportunities to publish and lead projects; and increasing motivation. It will also test a model that can be replicated by others in the institute sec tor. Participants will first take part in an initial interview to document their attitudes towards aiming for professorship and their publication strategies. Next, all participants will take part in a week-long retreat to build the foundation for a positi ve writing and leadership culture at PRIO. Third, all participants will at some point during the three-year project submit their CVs to external evaluation to assess their "readiness" for promotion and to plan their publication strategies for the next per iod. Participants can then choose to participate in all or some of the following measures: intensive writing groups, writing retreats, mentor arrangements, networking through role models, external leadership development courses, writing stipends, and lead ership opportunities at PRIO. Follow-up interviews will take place each year to re-evaluate the researcher's publication strategies and leadership development -- as well as the POWER project itself. The project is conceptualized as action research that wi ll synergize with an ongoing doctoral project on research productivity. For "Securings long-term professorship developmen at PRIO": The "POWER Plus" project builds on the lessons learned from PRIO's "Positioning Women for Research Professorship" (POWER) project by further anchoring a long-term perspective on gender balance and professional development in PRIO's Leader Team. The project seeks to develop the ability of the Leader Team to see individual researchers as whole persons and be able to tailor guidance to each individual's particular needs. This involves clarifying the role of the Leader Team in securing a healthy gender balance and providing opportunities for professional development; increasing the professionalism of Leader Team members in providing career guidance professional development; and ensuring that the menu of initiatives PRIO offers and the way it approaches professional development is optimal.

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BALANSE-Kjønnsbalanse i toppstillinger og forskningsledelse

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