D7.3 Strategic alliances & Impact monitoring - 2nd Report

The key aim of INSPIRE is to help 1) advance knowledge on inclusive gender equality; 2) establish shared understanding among science organisations of the concepts of ‘inclusivity’, ‘diversity’ and ‘equality’ (EDI); 3) contribute to the creation of an open and inclusive research and innovation environment; and 4) support the systematic implementation of the EUs commitment to gender equality in research and innovation, and in society.

The INSPIRE consortium partners have extensive experience of EDI issues in the context of R&I, having participated in many collaborative projects on these topics. They are connected to many experts in the field through their own extensive networks of stakeholders in the science enterprise.

The key expected outcomes of INSPIRE include:
• Improving knowledge sharing and decision making among practitioners
• Promoting ecosystem-level consensus on EDI as component of scientific excellence
• Improving integration of gender dimension in R&I projects
• Improving capacity of organisations to implement GEPs
• Establishing EDI values as the new norm in science practice
As a project, INSPIRE has developed several methods for engaging with experts and practitioners to develop shared understanding of inclusive gender equality and identify the needs and opportunities for joint actions, specifically:
• Imagining the Future - a participatory workshop
• Policy Dialogue - a series of participatory workshops
• Unplugged Dialogues - a series of podcasts with reflections from external experts
• Q&A - series of topical exchanges with influential leaders
• Knowledge Exchange events - shared learning from research and experience
• Communities of Practice - shared learning from practice
• Knowledge Support Hubs - facilitating and managing CoPs
• Conferences

The INSPIRE project is producing a range of resources for researchers and practitioners:
• new research reported in the Working Papers series
• new recommendations reported in Policy Briefs

• network of domain experts (a stakeholder database)
• results from the project (available through the Website)
• connecting through the social media.

These mechanisms and resources create the foundations enabling INSPIRE to operate as a Centre of Excellence when its term as a project ends.
Deliverable D7.3 is the second, updated version, in the series of three reports on identifying strategic partners and creating a network of strategic alliances to help advance inclusive gender equality in R&I, and to maximise the impact of the INSPIRE project as well as its sustainability.

D7.3 explains the actions taken to-date towards creating the network of strategic alliances. These activities centred on identifying those stakeholders who would benefit from being part of an INSPIRE alliance. The questions asked were: 1) what are the core equality, diversity and inclusion elements in the missions of the target stakeholders; 2) what support services they may need to plan and implement their EDI agendas; 3) what interinstitutional interactions are possible to speed up development of EDI good practice.

A specific example of why and how an INSPIRE strategic alliances could help accelerate change towards inclusive gender equality is provided by the current consultation process on the content and implementation of the next phase of Horizon Europe, and FP10. This consultation was initiated by the High-level Expert Advisory Group convened by the Commission in 2024. The Expert Group asked members of the science community for their comments on four questions, see the box below, which seek to understand what should be maintained/advanced/removed in the second part of Horizon Europe, and what is needed in FP10.