16th January 2024, 11:00 AM CET – 12:30 PM CET, online

UniSAFE is organising a webinar designed for higher education institutions and research organisations grappling with the significant challenge of unreported incidents of gender-based violence in their communities, often finding it difficult to respond effectively.

Results from UniSAFE’s survey among staff and students in European universities and research organisations show that although 62% of the respondents have experienced at least one form of gender-based violence since they started working or studying at their institution, only 7% of students and 23% of staff reported these incidents. Survivors did not report incidents because they were not sure that the behaviour was serious enough to report, they did not recognise the behaviour as violence at the time of the incident or did not think that anything would happen if they reported the incident (Lipinsky et al. 2022)

As underlined in UniSAFE’s White Paper, these findings underscore the high prevalence of gender-based violence and hint at higher education institutions and research organisations’ difficulty to define and address unacceptable behaviours.

This webinar aims to open a discussion on strategies addressing gender-based violence without formal complaints, building upon the work of Dr. Anna Bull, an expert on sexual harassment in higher education. The webinar includes an interactive session where members from the UniSAFE community as well as the audience will engage with Dr. Bull, discussing practical applications of her strategies.

The speaker: 

Anna Bull is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Social Justice at the University of York and a founding member of The 1752 Group. Her research focuses on gender and class inequalities in music education and higher education. She led the study Higher Education After #MeToo, as well as work with the National Union of Students on behalf of The 1752 Group in producing the report ‘Power in the Academy: staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education’ in April 2018. She is the lead author on the report produced by The 1752 Group ‘Silencing Students: Institutional responses to staff sexual misconduct in UK higher education’, published in September 2018. – Source: The 1752 Group. 

 The webinar will take place on the 16th January 2024 from 11:00 AM CET – 12:30 PM CET 

Access all UniSAFE’s webinars and trainings here.

Bring a poster to UniSAFE’s final event! We’ll be having two poster exhibitions:  

• Sister projects and related initiatives’ outputs related to working towards gender equality in research organisations and academia. 
• Examples of awareness-raising campaigns related to gender-based violence in universities and research organisations (all languages welcome). 

Poster size: A0 (portrait or landscape) 

We would suggest for the poster to be clear and attention-grabbing, summarising the campaign’s theme or message with additional information  

Key features

• Introduction: A brief introductory section that outlines the purpose of the poster and provides context for the campaign / project.  
• Key Messages/Objectives: Summarise the main messages / objectives used in the campaign / project.  
• Visuals: Incorporate eye-catching visuals such as images, graphics, or infographics that help convey the message and impact. For the posters related to the awareness-raising campaigns, use images that capture the essence of the campaign or add a photo of the poster disseminated. 

• Contact Information: Include contact details for individuals involved for further inquiries. 
• Logo: Include the logo or branding.  

Additional features

For awareness-raising campaign posters

• Campaign overview: Describe the campaign’s design, including its name, branding, and visual identity. 
• Outreach Strategy: Explain how the campaign reached its target audience. This can include details about the use of social media, events, collaborations, or any other methods used to engage the university community. 
• Results and Impact: Present data or evidence of the campaign’s success. This might include statistics on reach, engagement, or changes in awareness related to the campaign. 
• Testimonials or Quotes: Include quotes or testimonials from individuals who were impacted by or involved in the campaign. This can add a personal touch to the poster. 
• Call to Action: Encourage the audience to take action or get involved in some way. This could be a request to follow the campaign on social media, attend future events, or support the cause. 

For project posters

• Project overview: Provide an overview of your project and its significance/unique elements in working towards gender equality.  
• Creative elements: Use creative elements, such as unique visuals, colours, etc, to make your project stand out and leave an impression.  

Feel free to be creative!  

We welcome your poster submissions until 10. November 2023 EOB.

Monday 4. September, 13:00-16:00 CET

Are you a student and keen on learning more about what gender-based violence is in the context of academia? 

UniSAFE is piloting a webinar designed for higher education students who would like to gain basic knowledge of what gender-based violence is in the context in higher education and academia, including its magnitude, and how it can be analysed. The seminar introduces key concept, prevalence and consequences of gender-based violence in academia and introduces and applies a model to analyse ways of addressing gender-based violence.

This training will later be freely available to all as part of the UniSAFE toolkit.

For this pilot webinar, UniSAFE is looking for students without previous knowledge of gender-based violence in higher education, but with an interest in learning. Students are invited to participate and give feedback on the piloting of the webinar – in order to improve it for its final version, for the benefit of future learners as part of part of reducing and countering gender-based violence in higher education and research performing organisations.

UniSAFE is an EU Horizon 2020-funded research and action project on gender-based violence in universities and research performing institutions. UniSAFE produces knowledge, recommendations and tools to address gender-based violence in universities and research performing organisations. Violence, violations and abuse may be physical, sexual, economic/financial, psychological – online or offline – and can include gender or sexual harassment.

Seats are limited and participants will be registered on a first come first serve basis.

Registrations are open until the 1 of September, 2023.

Spanish Presidency of the European Council of EU

 Conference:
Ending Gender-Based Violence in Academia

Bilbao, 23 – 24 October 2023

Within the Spanish Presidency of the European Council of EU, the Spanish Ministry of Universities is organising a conference on “Ending gender-based violence in academia”, 23-24 October in Bilbao. A conference designed to be a continuation of the one held in Prague in November 2022 within the Czech presidency which launched the Call for action.

Drawing on results from UniSAFE, the conference aims to draw the attention of the multiple forms of gender-based violence that take place in Academia, understanding the phenomenon, the scope of the problem and its causes, determinants, and consequences, as well as showing solutions and institutional responses, its limitations and potentialities, and presenting recommendations to tackle the problem.

The main audience to be targeted will be higher education institutions and research organisations as well as university organisations, including Rectors’ Conferences.

 The event will take place in person in Bilbao, 23-24 October 2023, at Bizkaia Aretoa-UPV/EHU.

Programme, practical information now available at: https://www.conferencegenderacademia.com/

From policy to practice:
Pathways to end gender-based violence
in academia and research

University of Namur, Belgium

Faculty of Law | 5 rempart de la Vierge – 5000 Namur

21 November | 12:30 – 18:00 | auditorium D11

22 November | 8:30 – 16:30 | auditorium D02

The UniSAFE project is delighted to announce its final event: From policy to practice: Pathways to end gender-based violence in academia and research.

Specifically addressing policymakers, decision-makers in university and research organisations, as well as gender equality officers, representatives from university networks and research funding organisations, the conference is open to all!

Gender-based violence is widespread. It takes on multiple forms, has long-lasting and devastating consequences and occurs in every sphere and domain of life, in every organisation, and in offline and online settings. Not only do higher education institutions and research organisations see no exception to this, but they are particularly prone to high levels of gender-based violence.

As universities and research organisations are slowly finding the courage to tackle this issue, they often lack guidance on where to start or how to ensure that their policies and measures are comprehensive enough to be efficient. Other decision-makers are still not aware enough of the change to be initiated at the level of institutions and of public authorities.

For the past three years, UniSAFE has been investigating the prevalence of gender-based violence in academia and research, as well as institutions’ responses. Its widescale survey – taken by 42,000 staff and students from 45 organisations in 15 countries –  has provided solid and comparable data, which has been analysed and compared with results from interviews, policy mapping and case studies of institutional responses. This knowledge has been translated into concrete tools and recommendations.

Looking from a holistic perspective – using the 7P framework (prevalence, prevention, protection, prosecution, provision of services, partnerships, policies), this conference goes beyond results from the research and presents its applications for institutions, with practical recommendations tailored to various contexts: universities and research organisations, public authorities at EU and national levels. It will showcase the impact and sustainable benefits from using the UniSAFE toolkit created in the project for universities and research organisations to ensure safe, violence-free higher education and research environments.

The event will take place in person at the University of Namur, Faculty of Law (Address: 5 rempart de la Vierge – 5000 Namur), and will be streamed online.

Registration is free of charge but seats are limited!

Registrations for in-person attendance are now closed. However, we still have a few spots available; if you are interested, please contact us at finalevent[at]unisafe-gbv.eu, indicating the name of your organisation and the days you would like to attend.

Programme overview

Day 1: Setting the scene through policies

Moderation by Colette Schrodi and Panagiota Polykarpou  

Day 2: On to practice: concrete pathways for institutional change

 Moderation by Colette Schrodi and Panagiota Polykarpou  

Poster exhibition

The event will have two poster exhibitions, showcasing inspiring awareness-raising campaigns on gender-based violence in the context of universities and research organisations, and promoting outputs from sister projects working towards gender equality. If you would like to bring a poster, we invite you to read the guidelines and to register to the event. For any questions related to the posters, please email at finalevent@unisafe-gbv.eu.

Practical Information

How to get to Namur, where to stay,.. Find all the practical details in our Info Package!

Participants coming by car may use the faculty’s car park by printing and placing this conference flyer on their windshield.

Have a question?

Contact us at finalevent@unisafe-gbv.eu

This webinar is one of a series of three online interactive entitled  “Setting up and Implementing Institutional Policies to Combat Gender-Based-Violence in Academia – The 7P Framework”. 

This third webinar took place on 02 May 2023. It addressed “Provision of services”, “Partnerships” and “Policies” which constitute the strategic and final layer for academia and research organisations when addressing gender-based-violence. They represent an instrumental element of the 7P Framework, as they dot any strategy with sustainability and far reach.

This webinar sought to:

• Gain a common understanding of concepts related to gender-based violence (GBV) and understand its impact in academia;  
• Demonstrate the existence of this phenomenon in the research field and highlight its specifics; 
• Present UniSAFE’s 7 P model (Prevalence, Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, Provision of services, Partnerships and Policies) which represents a holistic approach to address GBV in Research Performing Organisations;  
• Share inspiring practices for setting up and implementing institutional policies to address gender-based violence in academia adopted by EU RPOs within the framework of the 7 Ps, with the support of guest speakers.  

Target audience:

• Gender equality officer/focal point/equality and/or diversity officers;   
• Human Resources officer;   
• Ombudsperson;   
• Part of a Gender Equality Plan team;   
• Health and safety officer;   
• Head of Department/Unit in charge or involved in gender-based violence.   

On the menu

The webinar took place on Zoom

11.00 – 11.05	Welcome & ‘Housekeeping rules’ & Idea behind the webinar (5 minutes) – Yellow Window
11.05 – 11.10	UniSAFE intro presentation (5 minutes) – European Science Foundation
11.10 – 11.35	Introduction to gender-based violence and presentation of UniSAFE 7P Model Framework
11.35 – 11.50	Presentation on Provision (of services), Partnerships and Policies
11.50 – 12.10	Inspiring Practice & Experience exchange: Cristina Gamberi, University of Bologna Cristina Gamberi is a Research Fellow at the University of Bologna where she works on the strategy on Equity, Inclusion and Diversity and she is also Programme Coordinator of the European Master in Women’s and Gender Studies GEMMA. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Universities of Utrecht (NL), Hull, Warwick and Norwich (UK) and holds a PhD in Gender Studies from the University of Naples Federico II. Her current research activity focuses mainly on feminist theories, gender-sensitive language, contemporary women writers. Her work has been published in international and national journals and she has to her credit numerous volumes and essays.
12.10 – 12.25	Q&A / exchanges with the audience (15 minutes)
12.25-12.30	Conclusions & Closing remarks (Exit questionnaire) – Yellow Window

Join the Community!

To stay posted about the following webinars, join the Community here! 

This webinar is one of a series of three online interactive entitled “Setting up and Implementing Institutional Policies to Address Gender-Based-Violence in Academia – The 7P Framework”. 

This first Webinar took place on 18 April 2023. It addressed “Prevalence” and by defacto “Incidence” which represents the “P” of the 7P Framework.

Based on that empirical data, i.e. facts and evidences, academic and research organisations will be able to devise tailored appropriate tools, actions and measures to address this particular form of violence.

This webinar sought to:

• Gain a common understanding of concepts related to gender-based violence (GBV) and understand its impact in academia;  

• Demonstrate the existence of this phenomenon in the research field and highlight its specifics; 
• Present UniSAFE’s 7 P model (Prevalence, Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, Provision of services, Partnerships and Policies) which represents a holistic approach to address GBV in Research Performing Organisations;  
• Share inspiring practices for setting up and implementing institutional policies to address gender-based violence in academia adopted by EU RPOs within the framework of the 7 Ps, with the support of guest speakers.  

Target audience:

• Gender equality officers/focal points/equality and/or diversity officers;   
• Human Resources officers;   
• Ombudspersons;   
• Individuals that are part of a Gender Equality Plan team;   
• Health and safety officers;   
• Heads of Department/Unit in charge or involved in gender-based violence.   

On the menu

The webinar took place on Zoom

11.00 – 11.05	Welcome & ‘Housekeeping rules’ & Idea behind the webinar (5 minutes) – Yellow Window
11.05 – 11.10	UniSAFE intro presentation (5 minutes) – European Science Foundation
11.10 – 11.35	Introduction to gender-based violence and presentation of UniSAFE 7P Model Framework
11.35 – 11.50	Presentation on Prevalence
11.50 – 12.10	Inspiring Practice & Experience exchange: Anne Laure Humbert, Oxford Brookes University Anne Laure Humbert is a Professor and Director of the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice at Oxford Brookes University. She contributes as an expert in statistics, organisation and work, and gender-based violence.
12.10 – 12.25	Q&A / exchanges with the audience (15 minutes)
12.25-12.30	Conclusions & Closing remarks (Exit questionnaire) – Yellow Window

Join the Community!

To stay posted about the following webinars, join the Community here! 

This webinar is one of a series of three online interactive entitled “Setting up and Implementing Institutional Policies to Combat Gender-Based-Violence in Academia – The 7P Framework”. 

This second webinar took place on 25 April 2023. It addressed “Prevention”, “Protection” and “Prosecution“, three core elements of the UniSAFE 7P Framework,  which offers a holistic model for research organisations and universities to address gender-based-violence.

This webinar sought to:

• Gain a common understanding of concepts related to gender-based violence (GBV) and understand its impact in academia;  

• Demonstrate the existence of this phenomenon in the research field and highlight its specifics; 
• Present UniSAFE’s 7 P model (Prevalence, Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, Provision of services, Partnerships and Policies) which represents a holistic approach to address gender-based violence in Research Performing Organisations;  
• Share inspiring practices for setting up and implementing institutional policies to address gender-based violence in academia adopted by EU research organisations and universities within the framework of the 7 Ps, with the support of guest speakers.  

Target audience:

• Gender equality officer/focal point/equality and/or diversity officers;   
• Human Resources officer;   
• Ombudsperson;   
• Part of a Gender Equality Plan team;   
• Health and safety officer;   
• Head of Department/Unit in charge or involved in gender-based violence.   

On the menu

The webinar took place on Zoom

11.00 – 11.05	Welcome & ‘Housekeeping rules’ & Idea behind the webinar (5 minutes) – Yellow Window
11.05 – 11.10	UniSAFE intro presentation (5 minutes) – European Science Foundation
11.10 – 11.35	Introduction to gender-based violence and presentation of UniSAFE 7P Model Framework
11.35 – 11.50	Presentation on Prevention, Protection and Prosecution
11.50 – 12.10	Inspiring Practice & Experience exchange: Rachel Payne and Kristie Waller, Oxford Brookes University, Rachel Payne is a Principal Lecturer Education and Student Experience at Oxford Brookes University. In this capacity she leads the Sexual Consent Education project, which she co-created with Kristie Waller (the webinar other guest speaker) in 2018-19. She supports the University’s response to the UK Office for Students’ statement of expectations for preventing and addressing harassment and sexual misconduct affecting HE students, and is expanding the project to support staff engagement and training. She is a Past President of the National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD) and a current member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Art, Craft and Design. Kristie Waller’s background is in youth and community work and prior to working with Oxford Brookes University, she was delivering consent workshops in youth clubs and at some festivals. She also worked for a Thames Valley charity supporting children and young people impacted by crime. She specialised in domestic abuse and sexual harm work and trained as an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA). She is currently working for a National Domestic Abuse charity supporting children and young people with lived experience who want to use their expertise to influence policy change and to develop best practice and has been working with Oxford Brookes University as an external consultant since 2018.
12.10 – 12.25	Q&A / exchanges with the audience (15 minutes)
12.25-12.30	Conclusions & Closing remarks (Exit questionnaire) – Yellow Window

Join the community!

To stay posted about the following webinars, join the Community here! 

This webinar took place took place on 28. March online. You can now wiew as replay!

UniSAFE’s survey results shows that despite acknowledgement of gender-based violence as an institutional issue – 72% respondents think that gender-based violence is a problem at their institution – only a small minority of people having experienced gender-based violence at their institution have reported it (13%). Among the reasons most often cited, respondents were not sure whether the behaviour was serious enough to report, did not recognise the behaviour as violence at the time, or did not think anything would happen if it was reported. There is a crucial need for universities and research organisations to raise awareness among students and staff about what gender-based violence is and to assert their commitment towards its eradication.

The UniSAFE project is currently developing and piloting a set of tools to support institutions in their efforts to tackle gender-based violence. Join the community to take part in the co-creation of these tools, be inspired by other institutions’ good practices and build successful awareness raising campaign on gender-based violence!

Organise a successful awareness-raising campaign!

This webinar addressed university and research organisation representatives across Europe and associated countries intent on organising awareness-raising campaigns on gender-based violence at their institution. Find out about the main steps and important considerations to organise a campaign and be inspired by two successful practices from European Universities. Presentations were followed by a session of questions and answers.

Learning objectives

• Learn how to organise and set up a successful awareness raising campaign on gender-based violence
• Mutual learning and exchange: get inspiration from others with examples of successful practices from European universities

Target audience

• Communication officers at academic or research institutions
• Gender Equality Plan team members in academic or research institutions
• Gender equality officers/Focal persons; Equality/Diversity officers

Agenda

11.00 – 11.10 Opening and rationale behind the webinar

11.10 – 11.30 Presentation of UniSAFE’s step-by-step guide for organising awareness-raising campaigns for universities (Yellow Window)

11.30 – 11.50 Inspiring practice: Awareness-raising campaign on sexual harassment |University of Namur, Belgium (Andreia Inacio Ribeiro, Communication and Marketing Officer at the University of Namur)

11.50 – 12.10 Inspiring practice: “Don’t turn a blind eye” #UNIUNIE Contre le harcèlement | The University of Geneva, Switzerland: Brigitte Mantilleri, former Equality officer, Consultant on Gender Equality for the University of Geneva

12.10-12.30 Q&A and wrap-up

Resources

UniSAFE’s step-by-step guide provides a practical tool for universities and research organisations across Europe who would like to learn more about setting up awareness-raising campaigns and replicating the inspiring practices presented. It is meant for communication officers, gender equality/equality and diversity officers, or any staff interested.  

Join the Community!

To stay posted about the following webinars, join the Community here!

During the Covid-19 pandemic, bullying, harassment, violence, verbal abuse, verbal threats, or unwanted sexual attention remained part of many workers’ day-to-day life. The 2021 European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS) data show that 12.5% of workers in the EU experienced some form of adverse social behaviour. The share of women experiencing adverse social behaviour at work was consistently higher than that of men. In her presentation, Viginta will look at adverse social behaviours by age groups, presence of customers, place of work, by country, and for specific sectors and occupations. Exposure to adverse social behaviour at work is also linked to negative health outcomes, as well as job demands and resources. Sofia will present the importance of a gender+ framework when analysing inequalities, based on findings from two European-funded projects: UniSAFE and RESISTIRÉ. She will demonstrate how gender-based violence is highly prevalent among staff and students across European research performing organisations, and how its increase is related to inequalities in other domains (e.g. work, economy). She will also discuss the organisational context of violence, based on UniSAFE’s research.

Keynote speakers

Dr Viginta Ivaškaitė-Tamošiūnė is a research officer in the Working Life unit at Eurofound, Ireland. She is involved in projects investigating working conditions in Europe based on the European Working Conditions Survey. More specifically, she focuses on paid and unpaid working time, well-being, gender segregation, adverse social behaviour at work, psychosocial risks, minimum wages. Before joining Eurofound in 2022, she worked as an economic analyst at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission and carried out cross-country research to support fiscal policy development in the EU. She also worked as a researcher at the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the Lithuanian Social Research Centre and as a lecturer at Vilnius University. Her other research interests include income inequality, poverty, gender equality, as well as fiscal and social policy. Viginta holds an MA in Social Policy and a PhD in Social Sciences (Sociology) from Vilnius University. She was a visiting researcher at the University of Antwerp, Stockholm University and the University of Essex.

Dr Sofia Strid is Associate Professor in Gender Studies at Örebro University, and from April 2022 also holds a position as Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Gothenburg University. Her research interests are oriented towards the social and political sciences and can be summarised as: 1) feminist and social theory; 2) politics and policy, mobilisation, activism and opposition; 3) gendered and intersectional perspectives on sustainability; and 4) feminist violence studies, in online/offline contexts. She applies both qualitative and quantitative methods. Sofia Strid co-directs the three-university GEXcel International Collegium for Advanced Transdisciplinary Gender Studies with Senior Professor Liisa Husu, and chairs two research strands within the field Gender, Violence & Society. Sofia Strid also directs the Centre for Violence Studies, together with Dr Susanne Strand, Associate Professor in Criminology, and leads the research group Feminist Violence Studies. Sofia Strid’s research has been funded by the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Institute for Gender Equality, the Swedish Research Council and FORTE.