UNIZA (University of Žilina) InCities colleague Veronika Pirošík Mešková participated on the 9th May 2024 in the conference „Fair Academy“ focused on gender equality and inclusion in the Slovak research area. She was one of the five panelists of the discussion „Sustainability of the gender equality plans“. She shared the UNIZA experience starting the gender equality work in 2018 within the framework of the H2020 project CHANGE and of the current status quo- broadening the gender equality topic towards other EDI principles within the Horizon Europe project InCities. Introduced was the role of the UNIZA ambassador of equal opportunities, held by one of the university vice-rectors, the importance of individuals enthusiastic about EDI, but also the resistances arising from the side of the university staff.
The panelists shared the same experience from different institutions in Slovak academia, i.e. the difficulties to find financial resources for equality measures but also their conviction about the necessity to advance EDI in order to be able to create better and safer working environment.
