HETFA became member in the Core Group of EUGAIN COST Action, which aims to improve gender balance in Informatics through the creation and strengthening of a truly multi-cultural European network of academics working on the forefront of the efforts in their countries, institutions and research communities. Fanni Bobák, Senior International Expert of the Division for International Cooperation of HETFA will support the joint work of the Action as Co-Chair of Working Group 4.
COST is the longest-running European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe. The COST Targeted Network EUGAIN was kicked offin October 2020 and will run for four years.
In order to tackle the problem that women are underrepresented in Informatics (Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Computing, ICT) at all levels, from undergraduate and graduate studies to participation and leadership in academia and industry, working groups of the Action were formed along these levels. Moreover, EUGAIN takes special attention to the cooperation with industry and society, but also to dissemination activities.
The first Management Committee Meeting – as the kick-off of the Action – was very interactive and inspirational, since around 70 people attended from 37 different COST countries as Management Committee members. Beside presenting the strategy plan for the upcoming four years, the main aim of the meeting was to approve the proposed members of the Core Group, who are responsible for the coordination of the Action. Through the formation of the group, Fanni Bobák, Senior International Expert of HETFA was elected Co-Chair of Working Group 4.
The horizontal Working Group 4 focuses on the cooperation of Industry and Society. Fanni Bobák with the well-experienced Co-Chair, Lynda Hardman, will work on the creation of a sustainable network for academic, commercial and societal partners working on the field. Lynda – Manager of Research & Strategy and a member of the Human-Centered Data Analytics research group at the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in Amsterdam, The Netherlands – was former president of Informatics Europe and founder of Women in Informatics Research and Education working group, from which EUGAIN was actually born.
HETFA is especially committed to contribute to the success of this network by bringing project and research related experiences, mainly from ifempower.
The next meeting of the core group jointly with the establishment of four cross-cutting groups (science communication, STSM (short-term scientific mission) coordinator, ITC Conference Grant and Training Schools Coordinator) will be held in February 2021. The meeting will provide opportunity to agree on the topics and priorities of the upcoming STSMs and training schools.