D1.4 Mid-term evaluation of INSPIRE as a Centre of Excellence

INSPIRE is Europe’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) on inclusive gender equality in research and innovation. As a project, it is funded by the European Union from October 2022 until September 2026. Beyond September 2026, it is envisioned that INSPIRE will become a sustained and funded CoE. An independent mid-term evaluation of INSPIRE was conducted between June 2024 and October 2024 with the following objectives:

• To identify challenges, opportunities and lessons learnt and make recommendations that the Consortium and collaborators will use to improve implementation,
• To assess progress towards project objectives and results, identify key challenges and any factors that may have affected the project and its implementation,
• To focus on the sustainability of the CoE and identify key elements for the sustainability and implementation model plan.

The methodology for this mid-term evaluation was mixed-methods. It consisted of document analysis, meeting observation, a survey for Community of Practice (CoP) facilitators/members, one-to-one interviews and a focus group for pilot users of the Gender Equality Audit and Monitoring (GEAM) tool v3. Initial findings were also validated in at workshop with the INSPIRE consortium in September 2024. Overall the sample size was 43 survey respondents, and 33 one-to-one interviews and 7 people
in the focus group.