Eleanor Armstrong. Photo: Privat.

The Gender Academy provides a space to build community across the university with others who share research interests. It’s a great place to meet other researchers interested in the impact of gender in our lives.

Eleanor Armstrong and her colleagues at the Section of Science Education at the Department of Teaching and Learning, are now in full swing of planning the course. The course will take place in the spring – starting in January 2023, and applications will open during the fall.

What is the course Gender and science about?

– The course will support students to think about the different ways that gender impacts practices of science, says Eleanor Armstrong. We’re keen to make sure that the course tackles "gender" broadly and explores how any gender is not a monolithic experience (it’s shaped by race, disability, ethnicity, education level, nationality, sexuality, family obligations) and instead we are grouping the course by different practices of science to explore how different dimensions of gender are experienced in different contexts.

– During the course we’ll focus on existing research in the area, and support students will reflect on their own experiences. The course summative will model the sections of research funding applications that explore "gender dimensions" of projects, and will help learners bring the theory from the course into their own research funding applications.

Who is the course aimed at?

– The course is for doctoral researchers across all fields. One of the purposes of the course that we’re really excited about is to support people writing grant applications to think about the "Gender Dimensions" questions (often required in SVR and EU funding schemes) in their research and move to develop clear responses and actionable plans to support gender equity.

Why are you and you’re colleagues responsible for the course?

– Anna Danielsson and I were approached to run the course through our existing expertise and the focus that our research work has on the changing gender dimensions in science both in higher education and in professional contexts.

– Anna Danielsson has previously run a "Physics and Gender" course which informs some of our content, and I have previously coordinated courses that look at gender dimensions of science and technology studies at UCL. We’re excited to bring the expertise of IÄD scholars and education perspectives into the course, particularly a praxis of making the change in higher education that we anticipate will shape how learners think about science within social contexts.

– We’re looking forward to bringing together researchers from different disciplines to think together. Building cross-disciplinary links both within the University and beyond across Sweden is really important for emerging researchers success in funding and theorising and we’re hoping that this course will also stimulate further collaborative engagement with gender dimensions of science. The Gender Academy supports doctoral student applications for such projects; and it may be an opportunity for learners on the course to put some of their ideas and learnings into action in their local contexts.

More details about the course?

– As soon as the programme is fully planned, we will publish it in the Gender Academy.

– We will also be sharing more information on the Autumn lecture series Gender on the 6th October – which you can sign up for with Malin Ah-King.