Designing evidence-based gender equality plans – this was one of the key objectives of MINDtheGEPs, an international project funded by the European Union. An article summarising MINDtheGEPs was published in March on the European Commission’s website. It highlighted, among other things, the involvement of the University of Gdańsk, which was honoured (in 2025) with the ‘EU Award for Gender Equality Champions’.

The MINDtheGEPs project was carried out from February 2021 to July 2025 by a consortium of institutions from Ireland, Italy, Poland, Serbia, Spain and Sweden. One of the project’s guiding principles was ‘no data, no policy’: GEPs (gender equality plans) were to be developed on the basis of gathered evidence (and its analysis) and tailored to the specific functioning of the institution in question. This rigorous, data-driven approach made it possible to identify areas of inequality even where, at a declarative level, there was no apparent issue with gender inequality.

The data collected (including 53 gender-sensitive indicators, macro-analyses of national legal frameworks and policies, and data from qualitative interviews) enabled the identification of manifestations of gender bias hidden within institutional policies and practices – and subsequently served to develop practical solutions within the framework of gender equality plans. Particular emphasis was placed on the contribution of the University of Gdańsk, the only partner institution in the MINDtheGEPs project, which “won the EU Gender Equality Champions Award in recognition of its efforts to implement GEPs”.

Prof. dr hab. Ewa Łojkowska, the MINDtheGEPs project manager representing the University of Gdańsk, commented on receiving the award:

‘We are proud that the Commission has recognised our gender equality plan. We are the only university in the Central and Eastern European region to have received this distinction. Our efforts to increase the number of women in decision-making bodies at the University of Gdańsk and to support research that incorporates a gender perspective have been acknowledged. In particular, attention was drawn to the “I Include Gender in Research” competition, which has been running at the University of Gdańsk for three years and is aimed at young researchers. The plan for 2022–2023 was developed by an interdisciplinary team and is aimed at all staff and students at the University of Gdańsk.’

We wrote about the EU Award for Gender Equality Champions for the University of Gdańsk HERE.

More on the European Commission’s website:

Closing the gender gap in research institutions

Niwelowanie nierówności ze względu na płeć w instytucjach badawczych

The University of Gdańsk’s MINDtheGEPs project website