The Global Research Council launches a first of its kind Report on Gender-Disaggregated Data

The survey report underscores the importance of collecting, analysing and reporting gender-disaggregated data by GRC participating organizations.

The Global Research Council launches a first of its kind Report on Gender-Disaggregated Data

Published from the NRF website. The GRC is having its global meeting from 24-28 May. Follow proceedings via Twitter.

The Global Research Council (GRC) has launched a seminal report titled Gender-Disaggregated Data at the Participating Organisations of the Global Research Council: Results of a global survey.

This report marks the first such collection of trends, practices and experiences of Global Research Council (GRC) participating organizations regarding gender-disaggregated data, and presents findings regarding applications, review and funding; the gender dimension in research; and data at the intersection of equality, diversity and inclusion. The survey was administered between September and December 2019.

The launch forms part of the 9th Annual Meeting of the GRC, which takes place virtually from 24-28 May, co-hosted by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The GRC is constituted by heads of science and engineering funding agencies from around the world, dedicated to promoting the sharing of data and best practices for high-quality collaboration among agencies globally. It is committed to promoting the equality and status of women in research, and especially catalysing conversations and actions amongst its participating organizations, and endorsed the GRC Statement of Principles and Actions on promoting the equality and status of women in 2016.

A significant action to advocate for the implementation of this action plan was the creation of the Gender Working Group (GWG) in 2017. Since its inception, the GWG’s initiatives have included strategic discussions and advancement of actions on gender-disaggregated data; collating case studies of practices of funding agencies across actions of the Statement of Principles; advocacy and championing the implementation of the statement of principles across GRC participating organizations; focusing on sexual harassment and bullying; integrating gender and diversity dimensions in research design and content; and diversity.

It is under the auspices of the GRC GWG that this report has been launched, co-led by NRF South Africa and São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

The survey report underscores the importance of collecting, analysing and reporting gender-disaggregated data by GRC participating organizations. It provides the opportunity for benchmarking and a better understanding of the needs of different research systems.

The following are key findings from the survey:

  1. GRC-participating organizations broadly recognize the importance of appropriate actions regarding gender in research, and that they have a catalytic role to play.
  1. There are no specified standards adopted across the organizations regarding the collection and reporting of gender-disaggregated data, in the context of the grant-making function of GRC-participating organizations.

2. The scope of data collected by GRC-participating organizations varies by region and by type of data collected.

You might also be interested in:

Gender Equality in Science

This ISC project aims to increase gender equality in global science, through improved sharing and use of evidence for gender policies and programmes in scientific institutions and organizations at national, regional and international levels.

In light of the above findings, the GWG recommends that:

  1. GRC-participating organizations should continue to collect gender-disaggregated data on applications, reviews and funding, and mainstream this across the research and grants management pipeline;
  2. GRC-participating organizations should develop and continually expand consistent indicators to support efforts to collect and report gender-disaggregated data for comparative analysis;
  3. GRC-participating organizations should pay attention to, collect data and report on diversity and other equity seeking groups informed by national context, and in addition to gender-disaggregated data;
  4. GRC-participating organizations should pay attention to emerging scholarly contributions regarding the gender (and other aspects of diversity and inclusion) dimension in research, and engage in peer learning initiatives on how to contextualize this to the funding agency environment, including the development of a set of guidelines for integrating gender and diversity analysis in research tailored to address the needs of research funders, grant applicants, and peer-reviewers or evaluators in an inclusive way;
  5. GRC-participating organizations, especially at the regional level, should continue to share good practices on collecting and reporting gender-disaggregated data. This type of data contributes positively to shaping the notions of impact and research excellence.

The GWG will continue to champion and facilitate the sharing of good practices amongst the GRC participants, with the aim that all GRC-participating organizations and regions will undertake to use this report, its findings and recommendations to further catalyse change and catapult progress across the various intersections of gender.

Gender-Disaggregated Data at the Participating Organisations of the Global Research Council: Results of a global survey, can be accessed here.

In 2019, the GWG also produced a booklet entitled “Supporting Women in Research: Policies, programs and initiatives undertaken by public research funding agencies”, which can be accessed here.


Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

Skip to content