Gender Equity | Research Culture
Beyond
representation.
Towards cultures
that work.
We work with universities, research councils and international education organisations on gender equity, inclusion and diversity - building the strategies, programmes and cultures that move beyond representation into meaningful participation, and make research genuinely better as a result.
Not on paper. In practice.
"Sharon is an incredible woman. It has been a pleasure to work with her. She is well prepared and dares to challenge the status quo. She is good at framing and articulating difficult and complicated matters."
Anna, PhD, Postdoc Programme commissioner, Aarhus University
Gender equity in research isn't a compliance exercise. It's a research quality issue.
When women and underrepresented researchers are genuinely included - in leadership, in methodology, in funding decisions - research gets better. More innovative. More ambitious. More relevant to the world it aims to serve.
The most powerful change happens when institutions stop asking 'how do we get more women?' and start asking 'what needs to change so that everyone can fully participate?' - in the formal spaces and the informal ones. In the meeting rooms and the corridors. In the structures and the everyday culture that holds them in place.
Gender equity in research isn't just a research quality issue. It's about who gets to do the work, who gets heard, and whether the cultures we build are ones we'd actually want to work in.
Because exclusion doesn't only happen in funding panels and promotion committees. It happens in whose ideas get taken seriously, whose expertise gets cited, whose voice shapes the research agenda.
Changing that takes more than a policy. It takes a different kind of leadership - one that understands culture, not just structure.
Since 2022, a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) is a mandatory eligibility requirement for public bodies and research organisations applying for Horizon Europe funding. Having a GEP and having one that works are not the same thing.
GEP Development
For institutions at the start of the journey - or unsure where to begin. We work with you to build a GEP that goes beyond minimum compliance, grounded in your specific context, culture and research priorities.
GEP Audit & Strengthening
For institutions who have a GEP that isn't delivering change. We identify what's missing and build a clear pathway to real impact.
GEP Implementation Support
Turning your plan into practice. Working with your teams, your structures and your people to embed gender equity into everyday institutional life.
Structural change. Meaningful compliance. Human development.
Three strands - one coherent approach to gender equity that actually works.
Strategy & Culture Change
Finding the gaps. Challenging the systems that don't work for everyone. Creating the conditions for a working environment that is more just, more equitable - and better for research.
- Strategic Gender Consultancy
- Gender Audits
- Stakeholder Engagement & Influence
- International Partnerships & Programme Development
- Collaboration & Equitable Partnerships
- Toolkit & Guidance Development
Framework & Compliance Guidance
Compliance without meaning is just paperwork. We take your frameworks - GEP, Athena Swan, RDF, whatever you are working with - and make them actually do what they promise.
- GEP Development, Strengthening & Implementation
- Athena Swan support
- HR Excellence in Research alignment
- Horizon Europe & European Charter alignment
- RDF & Concordat alignment
Training & Capacity Development
The human work. Creating space, holding space, challenging assumptions. Building the skills and confidence to change yourself - and the environments around you.
- Women's Leadership Programmes
- Inclusive, Values-based & Feminist Leadership
- Inclusive Team Leadership for PIs & Research Leaders
- Understanding Gender - For Everyone
- Building Gender Allies
- Mainstreaming Gender
Our services catalogue sets out each offer in detail - how we work, what to expect, and how programmes are typically structured. Download it, share it, bring it to your next planning meeting.
Real work. Real change.
Here's what that has looked like in practice.
From a single training room to programmes shaping higher education across fifty countries.
A junior researcher association in Denmark wanted to do something real for their early career women researchers - not just a one-off training day. Sharon designed a gender and leadership programme that gave 30 ECRs the tools, the confidence and the connections to act. What happened next came from them - a researcher-led gender conference, a university-wide policy audit, and ultimately the creation of a dedicated Gender and EDI unit. That's the bit Sharon loves most. She didn't create the unit. They did.
A prestigious German university wanted a Women in STEM programme that genuinely landed. Sharon delivered workshops built around safe spaces, practical tools and real peer connection. 96% of participants said it changed something lasting for them. The peer support network they built together is still running.
The British Council needed a higher education and entrepreneurship gender strategy that could work coherently across four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa - but remain culturally specific and relevant in each one. Sharon developed an integrated, intersectional strategy that gave the whole programme a consistent framework without flattening the very real differences between contexts.
Sometimes the work travels further than you expect. The Gender Mainstreaming and Transformation in Higher Education toolkits Sharon developed for Going Global Partnerships are now being used in more than 50 countries - shaping how institutions understand and embed gender equity. Sharon wrote them once. They're still working.
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Writing
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Personal & Professional Development
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Gender, Diversity & Inclusion
Making a difference