The gender challenge in research funding - assessing the European national scenes Iceland

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1 The gender challenge in research funding - assessing the European national scenes Iceland Hans Kristján Guđmundsson - November 2008 Introduction This report is compiled based on information given by The Icelandic Centre for Research, RANNIS, Statistics Iceland and the Ministry for Education, Science and Culture 1. The basic detailed data on grants are not publicly available. Access to the data compilation and to a draft preliminary text of a report on the second report on Women and Science in Iceland is greatly acknowledged 2. The description and analysis of success s in funding based on excellence are centered on the Icelandic Research Fund, which is the main source of funding for academic research on a competitive basis where excellence is the main criterion for success. Tables and statistics on the Icelandic Research Fund are found at the end of report. Policy Context - Public Measures for Gender Equality According to Icelandic legislation all discrimination on the basis of gender is prohibited. In the legal Acts regulating schools and education in Iceland gender equality is emphasised. Special legislation on gender equality has been in force since 1976 and a new Act on the Equal Status and the Equal Rights of Women and Men was passed through the Parliament in February The general aim of the Act is to establish and maintain equal status and equal opportunities for women and men, and thus promote gender equality in all spheres of society. The Act stipulates that all public planning and policy making as well as decision making shall be guided by gender mainstreaming. The Act also stipulates that equal participation of women and men shall be promoted in committees, boards and councils under the auspices of the government and local authorities, the gender proportion being not less than 40% where there are more than three members. Consequently this should apply in all such bodies within the field of science and higher education. The Centre for Gender Equality is the national bureau in charge of administering the Act on the Equal Status and Equal Rights of Women and Men. The centre also provides counseling and education in the field of gender equality for the government and municipal authorities, institutions, companies, individuals and nongovernmental organizations 4. The Icelandic Government established a gender equality plan for As part of this plan the Minister of Education, Science and Culture established in 2004 the Committee for Women and Science with the intention to follow up results of the work done by the EU Helsinki Group on Women and Science, collect and analyse gender segregated data on women in science, identify obstacles to equality and suggest reform measures. 1 Mainly personal communications. The data are compiled under the auspices of the Committee for Women and Science and constitute, among other purposes, basis for the EU's She-Figures data bases, and the next Icelandic Women in Science report in preparation. 2 Thanks to Sigríður Vilhjálmsdóttir, Statistics Iceland, Svandís Sigvaldadóttir, Ragnhildur Guðmundsdóttir, Thorvald Finnbjörnsson and Sóley Gréta Sveinsdóttir Morthens at RANNÍS and Hellen M. Gunnarsdóttir at the Ministry for Education, Science and Culture. 3 Act 10/2008 (Gender Equality Act). 4 The Centre for Gender Equality. (accessed Sept 24, 2008). 1

2 Some Key Figures on Gender and R&D Activities In the year 2007, 78,6% of women and 87,5% of men (16-74 years) were economically active and the unemployment was low, around 2,3%, similar for men and women 5. The labour market is still gender segregated although the representation of women and men among professionals generally is close to being equal. Biannually, RANNIS surveys the extent of R&D activities in the public and private sector. This survey is part of the Eurostat and OECD cooperation in R&D statistics. The latest published figures describe the situation for the year The total R&D expenditure amounted to 28 billion ISK 7, corresponding to 2,8% of the GDP. Around 52% were invested in the private sector. The government financed around 41% of the total investment, 11,5 billion ISK. The largest part of the R&D expenditure, 34%, is investment in health related research. The survey shows that in the year 2005 slightly more than 3200 FTE:s 8 of R&D work was performed, 53% thereof within the public sector, divided roughly equally between the higher education sector and the governmental sector. The R&D work was carried out by slightly more than individuals, of whom around two thirds, or 3821 individuals, were researchers. Around 1500 individuals or 39,3% of the researchers were women. The proportion of women is slightly lower, 36,4%, when FTE:s are considered. Researchers holding a docto were 968, of whom 30% (288) were women 9. For the scholastic year women were 25,3% (111) of all university employees holding a docto. This percentage had increased to 28,6% (148) for the scholastic year In these respective years, women professors were 17,5% (37) and 21,6% (56) of all professors 10. The Public Governance and Funding System for R&D In 2003 the Parliament passed new Acts on Public Support for Research and Development 11. By the new Acts the Icelandic Research Council was abolished and a new council, The Science and Technology Policy Council (STPC) was established. The Acts were revised slightly in The STPC is chaired by the Prime Minister (PM). The Minister for Education, Science and Culture, the Minister of Industry and the Minister of Finance have fixed seats on the Council and the PM can invite up to four other ministers to take seats in the council. The PM also appoints 16 other members to the Council on three year terms, these members being nominated by ministers responsible for different sectoral research, by the Social Partners and by the University Rectors Council 13. These 16 members are active in two Working Committees, the Science Committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and the Technology Committee under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry. The STPC is the highest body of the public system for governance of 5 Statistical Yearbook of Iceland, 392 pp, Nov 28, 2007 ISSN (accessed Sept 24, 2008) and personal communication. 6 R&D Statistics 2005, compiled by RANNIS in 2007, ISBN (accessed Sept 24, 2008). 7 The value of the ISK has fluctuated between 75 and 90 ISK per one EUR during the period studied in this report ( ). Care should be taken when comparing grant sizes across borders as the current exchange is considerably different and would not give a fair comparison. 8 FTE measures Full Time Equivalent of work, person-years. 9 Statistical Yearbook of Iceland, 392 pp, Nov 28, 2007 ISSN (accessed Sept 24, 2008). 10 Statistics Iceland, Key Figures. (accessed Sept 24, 2008). 11 Acts 2,3 and 4/ Act 59/2007 and Act 75/ Vísinda- og tækniráð. (accessed Sept 24, 2008). 2

3 R&D with the objective to promote research, research training, technology development and innovation to strengthen the pillars of the Icelandic society and culture and enhancing the competitiveness of the Icelandic industry and economy. Presently six of the 16 members of the STPC are women (37,5%). One of the four ministers with fixed seats on the STPC is a woman 14, and so is one of the invited participating ministers 15. Five out of eleven members of the Science Committee (45%) and three out of ten members of the Technology Committee (30%) are women. The STPC meets twice a year and issues resolutions containing stgy statements and recommendations on actions to be taken. The STPC has twice adopted stgies for three year periods, the first covering and the second covering The first stgy document contained a paragraph on gender issues, recommending actions to ensure equal opportunities for women in competitive funding of research, specifically relating to childbirth and other family related situations. Gender issues are not addressed in the stgy for In the resolution of 8 June 2004 the STPC recommends the establishment of a committee for women and science 18. There is no further mention of gender issues in the STPC stgy documents and resolutions. By the Acts 2, 3 and 4/2003, the Icelandic Centre for Research, RANNIS, was established with the mission to provide professional assistance to the preparation and implementation of science and technology policy in Iceland, serving the Icelandic science community across all fields of science and the humanities. RANNIS opes the main part of the competitive public funding system for research, development and innovation, monitors and analyses resource allocation and performance of R&D, coordinates and promotes participation in international cooperation in the field of science and technology and promotes public awareness of research and innovation. The two funds previously oped by the Icelandic Research Council, the Science Fund and the Technology Fund, were merged into the new Icelandic Research Fund. A new fund, the Technology Development Fund was established and a new sectoral fund for creating added value in fisheries and seafood research, the AVS-fund, was created. Other smaller parts of the competitive public funding system were kept similar as before. These operative parts of the system shall act in accordance with the objectives and stgies issued by the STPC. Concerning gender issues, all guidelines and actions obviously need to take into account the Act on Gender Equality stipulating that equal participation of women and men shall be promoted and guided by gender mainstreaming. Public support for research is to a large extent directed through the State Budget through direct appropriations to universities and sectoral research institutes. The universities have internal systems of rewarding excellence in competition partly governed by contracts with the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture based on several indicators on excellence. Only around 14% of the public support for research is directed through competitive funds, the main funds being run by RANNIS. The amount allocated to these funds, being around 1,6 billion ISK in 2007 is, however, increasing and has more than doubled since In the State Budget for 2008 an indication is given for further increase in the next four years. The STPC has in its stgies and resolutions stated that in principle all additional money allocated to R&D shall be directed through competitive funding. 14 The Minister for Education, Science and Culture, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir. 15 The Minister for Environment, Thorunn Sveinbjarnardottir. 16 Science and Technology Policy Iceland. (accessed Sept 24, 2008) 17 Science and Technology Policy (accessed Sept 24, 2008) 18 Resolution of the Science and Technology Policy Council ICELAND, June 8, (accessed Sept 24, 2008) 3

4 The Icelandic Research Fund General The most important competitive fund for academic research is the Icelandic Research Fund. Its yearly budget allocations have increased from 400 million ISK in 2004 to 600 million ISK in The 2008 budget is 790 million ISK and the Government has announced plans for further increase to 1100 million ISK by the year The fund opes horizontally across all fields of science and does not define priorities nor earmark its resources to any specific field. The Research Fund is governed by a Board of three female and two male senior scientists, and five substituting members, three male and two female senior scientists. The Board is appointed by the Minister of Education, Science and Culture on three year terms, presently There are close connections stipulated by law 19 between the STPC and the Research Fund. The chairperson of the Science Committee of the STPC also chairs the Board. The Science Committee of the STPC is responsible for setting the overall stgy of the Research Fund while the Board is otherwise independent in its decisions. Peer review All applications go through a thorough peer review system stipulated by law 20. Four evaluation panels of seven individuals, each with senior scientific background give their opinion to the Board which is obliged to follow the scientific evalution of the panels. The Science Committee of the STPC appoints the members of the evaluation panels on two year terms. At least three panel members evaluate each application and base their evaluation on the opinion of two external experts for each application. These external experts are to an increasing degree recruited from the international scientific community. The applicants can ask for their application to be evaluated by a foreign external evaluator and all applications for a Grant for Excellence are evaluated internationally The main criterion in the evaluation process is scientific excellence of the project, the project investigators and the institution involved. Other aspects are scientific impact and to some extent relevance for science and the society, involvement of young researchers and doctoral students and cooperation in teams nationally and internationally. The Members of the Board and the evaluation panels are remuned, the panel members being reimbursed in proportion to the applications handled. External evaluators are paid a small symbolic sum per evaluated application. In a scientific community as small as the Icelandic pool of scientists, relations between applicants and evaluators are frequent, and are consequently closely monitored. RANNIS has established clear rules on how to treat situations when inhability of evaluators and Board Members exist. These rules are based on general rules laid down in the legislation governing the civil service. Grants The grants are mainly project grants given to research teams or individuals for up to three years, taking up around 75-80% of the yearly budget. The project grants have covered up to 50% of eligible project costs 21 and cannot be used for additional salaries nor to cover salaries for researchers already covered by other sources. Around 10% of the yearly budget is 19 Act 3/ Act 3/ These rules are being revised allowing larger coverage of project costs by the grant 4

5 allocated to individual grants to young postdoctoral researchers within five years from PhD. These grants are project based and matched to a normal salary level for for a young postdoctoral researcher at the universities. Around 10-15% of the yearly budget is reserved every year for a few larger Grants for Excellence given to teams and projects of outstanding quality lead by a scientist of outstanding quality. About one third of the budget has been available each year for new grants amounting totally to somewhat more than 200 million ISK for the grants awarded. For 2007 the average project grants were around 3 million ISK per year. Three Grants for Excellence were given, amounting to 10 million ISK per grant per year, and five postdoctoral grants awarded amounting to 3,6 million ISK per grant per year. A few small grants are awarded to preprojects, dissemination of results and patent applications. Gender issues Gender related issues are not mentioned in neither the stgy nor the rules for the Fund. However, the applicant s sex is asked for on the application form making gender monitoring possible. No such systematic monitoring is carried out. However, generally every two years, upon request, RANNIS delivers gender statistics to Statistics Iceland in the context of the work of the Committee for Women and Science. Gender related statistics are compiled in this report for the Research Fund for the years and presented in Appendix I. The main focus is on success s as measured by the number of grants and the amounts granted, relative to the number of applications and the amounts applied for, related to the principal investigator s (PI s) gender. Data on gender distribution within the project consortia are not available. All grant types are included in the study. The data used for the success calculations relate to new grants. Attempt is made to look at the different fields of sciences as defined by the Frascati Manual. The success s for female PI:s seem generally to be slightly higher than those for male PI:s irrespective of whether numbers or amounts are considered. However, the differences are small and not statistically significant and it may be concluded that no gender bias is detected as likely in the allocation of grants. Some difference between fields are observed and the high success for women in medical sciences for 2007 is noted. It is also observed that for all years close to 70% of grants to female PI:s are within the fields of medical and social sciences and the humanities as compared to 44% to 49% of grants to male PI:s. Due to the low number of grants, care has, however, to be taken when statistically interpreting the success s. When looking at womens share of the total, the results show that the share of grants and amounts awarded to projects lead by a female PI is lowest 25,5% (amounts 2005) and highest 36,9% (amounts 2007). These shares are with one exception slightly higher than their share of the pool of applications and amounts applied for. The Research Fund does not attempt to estimate the pool of potential applicants nor are there any studies available on application behaviour. It is therefore not possible to conclude whether this should be expected. In the guidelines for applicants the criteria for PI:s eligibility are primarily research experience and no formal requirements for having completed a PhD except for the post-doctoral grants. In practice, however, a large majority of the grants is given to project lead by a PI holding a docto. Considering the general R&D statistics cited above, showing that 39% of the researchers work force are women and close to 28,6% and 30% of the docto holders, respectively within the universities and generally, are women, it is tempting to conclude that such a share of applying and granted female PI:s might be expected. The statistical material available from the R&D surveys seems to indicate some gender variations in the researcher workforce between fields 22 Further studies are needed to clarify these relations. 22 RANNIS, Thorvald Finnbjörnsson, private communication 5

6 The STPC Encouragement Award The Research Fund allocates every year funds for the STPC Encouragement Award given to an outstanding young and promising scientist. This award has since 1987 been given to 23 young scientists, the award having been shared between two individuals some of the years. Six women (26%) have been selected recipients for this award, in 1990, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003 and If only the last ten years are considered, the gender shares are 50%. The nomination for the award is open and the recipient is selected by a committee of earlier award holders. Gender related statistics on the Icelandic Research Fund since its establishment in 2003 Gender representation on the Governing Board Term Board Members Substituting Members Chair Substituting Chair Male Female Male Female Male Male Female Female Gender representation of the evaluation panels Physics and Engineering Sciences Term Panel members Chair Male Female Male Male Male Natural and environmental sciences Term Panel members Chair Male Female Female Female Female Health and Life Sciences Term Panel members Chair Male Female Male Male Male Humanities and Social Sciences Term Panel members Chair Male Female Male Male Female The tables below show gender related shares and success s based on the numbers and amounts of applications and grants. The calculations are based on data provided by RANNIS, on the Icelandic Research Fund for the years 2004 to 2007, the first four operative years of the Fund established 2003 by merging two previously existing funds supporting research and development. The budget of the Fund increased from 400 MISK in 2004 to 600 MISK in The data used for the success calculations are new grants. The main funding goes to project grants where national and international cooperation is highly valued and obviously the gender of the PI does not necessarily reflect the gender balance within the project consortia. Data on gender distribution within the consortia are not available. 6

7 Women s shares of applications and grants by numbers and amounts Year Share of applications by women PI:s 33,3% 26,4% 33,3% 29,4% Share of grants to women PI:s 36,0% 29,6% 30,6% 33,3% Share of amount applied for by women 30,6% 24,0% 33,4% 30,5% PI:s Share of amount granted to women PI:s 32,0% 25,5% 34,9% 36,9% Success s by gender for the Icelandic Research Fund Total success s based on the number of granted application and PI:s gender Success male 26.4% 44,0% 31,1% 25,7% Success female 29,6% 49,2% 27,4% 30,8% Success total 27,5% 45,5% 29,8% 27,2% Total success s based on the amount granted relative to the amount applied 23 and PI:s gender Success male 23,0% 39,0% 23,2% 22,4% Success female 24,5% 42,3% 24,8% 29,8% Success total 23,4% 39,8% 23,7% 24,7% Icelandic Research Fund Gender Success Rates I 60,0 % Granted Applications 50,0 40,0 30,0 20,0 10,0 0, SuccessRate Male PI:s SuccessRate Female PI:s Total PI SuccessRate Granting Year 23 The amount applied is the sum of all applications, including those not funded 7

8 % Granted vs Applied 45,0 40,0 35,0 30,0 25,0 20,0 15,0 10,0 5,0 0,0 Icelandic Research Fund Gender Success Rates II SuccessRate Male PI:s SuccessRate Female PI:s Total PI SuccessRate Granting Year Gender success s for different fields of science The tables below show gender related success s for the Icelandic Research Fund during its first four years of operation for the each of the six fields of science defined in the Frascati classification manual of the OECD. Research Fund 2004 Applications Grants Success applied granted Success Natural Sciences Male PI ,6% ,7% Female PI ,3% ,4% Engineering and Technology Male PI ,9% ,7% Female PI ,1% ,3% Medical Sciences Male PI ,0% ,6% Female PI ,5% ,2% Agricultural Sciences Male PI ,5% ,1% Female PI ,3% ,4% Social Sciences Male PI ,9% ,3% Female PI ,6% ,2% Humanities Male PI ,3% ,7% Female PI ,8% ,6% All fields Male PI ,4% ,0% Female PI ,6% ,5% Total ,5% ,4% 8

9 Research Fund 2005 Applications Grants Success applied granted Success Natural Sciences Male PI ,9% ,0% Female PI ,0% ,8% Engineering and Technology Male PI ,0% ,3% Female PI ,5% ,3% Medical Sciences Male PI ,2% ,8% Female PI ,4% ,0% Agricultural Sciences Male PI ,8% ,5% Female PI ,0% ,9% Social Sciences Male PI ,3% ,1% Female PI ,5% ,2% Humanities Male PI ,6% ,7% Female PI ,8% ,2% All fields Male PI ,0% ,0% Female PI ,5% ,3% Total ,0% ,8% Research Fund 2006 Applications Grants Success applied granted Success Natural Sciences Male PI ,6% ,5% Female PI ,2% ,7% Engineering and Technology Male PI ,6% ,7% Female PI ,5% ,3% Medical Sciences Male PI ,2% ,1% Female PI ,7% ,0% Agricultural Sciences Male PI 1 0 0,0% ,0% Female PI ,0% ,5% Social Sciences Male PI ,0% ,8% Female PI ,0% ,2% Humanities Male PI ,0% ,9% Female PI ,6% ,3% All fields Male PI ,1% ,2% Female PI ,4% ,8% Total ,8% ,7% 9

10 Research Fund 2007 Applications Grants Success applied granted Success Natural Sciences Male PI ,3% ,7% Female PI ,0% ,5% Engineering and Technology Male PI ,3% ,5% Female PI 3 0 0,0% ,0% Medical Sciences Male PI ,0% ,4% Female PI ,0% ,5% Agricultural Sciences Male PI 4 0 0,0% ,0% Female PI ,0% ,4% Social Sciences Male PI ,0% ,4% Female PI ,0% ,7% Humanities Male PI ,9% ,9% Female PI ,4% ,7% All fields Male PI ,7% ,4% Female PI ,8% ,8% Total ,2% ,7% 10