Equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives within Geo-INQUIRE - achievements, challenges and good practices

Against a broader international trend of declining institutional and political commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, the EU-funded project Geosphere INfrastructures for QUestions into Integrated REsearch (Geo-INQUIRE, project number 101058518) integrated EDI considerations from its outset. With a total budget of almost 14 million euros and 51 partner institutions, the project set ambitious targets for the participation in training activities: 35% participation from widening countries and 40% female participation. These targets were not explicitly required by the European Commission at the proposal stage, yet were intentionally included to address structural imbalances within the geosciences, particularly in geophysics and in computationally intensive research.

While equality focuses on providing the same opportunities to all, equity requires acknowledging differing starting conditions and structural barriers. Achieving equitable participation proved to be a complex, continuous process. Early project phases highlighted how proposal timelines, particularly submission deadlines during summer holiday periods, can disproportionately disadvantage people with caring responsibilities. This distinction became visible during the project’s implementation phase.

Geo-INQUIRE introduced an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Panel (EDIP) at the beginning of the project, with a strong focus on gender balance. The aim was to identify obstacles faced by colleagues and to develop structural measures to address them. EDIP recommended setting explicit targets for female participation across training activities, Personalised Training, and Transnational Access. It further emphasised the need for gender-balanced selection committees. In addition, online question-and-answer sessions were introduced prior to Personalised Training and Transnational Access Calls to lower access barriers and improve transparency.

The implementation process also revealed persistent challenges: Achieving equal representation among invited speakers for workshops and summer schools classically met resistance, often justified by claims of a limited pool of female experts. The active participation of a new generation of internationally recognized female senior scientists supported by explicit discussion of this issue substantially increased female speaker representation, though progress remained uneven across activities. At the same time, the greater visibility of female role models resulted in a disproportionate demand on women’s time and engagement within the project.

Counter-measures for equity-related challenges in work–life balance, particularly for parents of young children: scheduling meetings during childcare hours, avoiding school holidays, offering hybrid formats, providing asynchronous access to recordings and transcripts, and ensuring detailed agendas and advance planning. Working parents often have to rely on long-term planning, and the unreliability of deadlines could reinforce traditional gender roles in the long term. Additional support measures, including on-site childcare, travel funding for children with accompanying persons, and contract extensions following parental leave, remain inconsistently supported in the participating institutions and are not planned in EU contracting obligations.

Overall, Geo-INQUIRE achieved its 40% female participation target, a goal initially considered unrealistic by many. The project demonstrates that increasing gender diversity is achievable and beneficial, but requires sustained institutional commitment, structural adaptation, additional budget and active support from leadership. Gender diversity cannot be accomplished by women alone; it depends on shared responsibility, supportive governance, and a rethinking of how excellence and participation are defined within large-scale international research projects.