News

The Athena Research Center supported the successful implementation of the NEXT-GENDER Workshop “Shifting Perspectives: How Gender and Intersectionality Drive Frontier Research”, held in Athens from 27 to 29 April 2026 at Impact Hub Athens. 

The workshop was organized within the framework of the NEXT-GENDER (Cost Innovators Grant) project, with vice chair Dr. Katerina Pastra, ILSP/Athena, which builds upon the outcomes of the VOICES Action (CA20137, 2021–2025). This 3-day intensive, co-creating workshop brought together researchers from across Europe to explore how sex, gender, and intersectionality can actively shape and strengthen research across disciplines on data, science, life sciences, algorithms, and more. 

The workshop combined keynote lectures, hands-on sessions, and peer mentoring activities, supporting participants in refining their ERC and MSCA proposals by incorporating inclusive perspectives into research design, methodology, and communication. Focus was put on how these perspectives can function as drivers of frontier research, opening new questions, refining methods, and improving reproducibility as well as explanatory power.  

 

The programme addressed a broad range of topics. The highlights from the workshop are presented: 

 

Day 1: 

A powerful start with reflections on the risks of overlooking gender in research, followed by discussions on female brain health, sex and gender in research policy frameworks, and the role of metaphors in shaping research proposals. 

 

Day 2: 

A deep dive into methodology, addressing key concepts such as positionality, cisnormativity, and the language used for research proposals. Also, parallel workshops explored: 

Day 3: 

Participants developed their strategic research narratives identifying where gender and intersectionality live in their core problem, core contribution, and core novelty which culminating in final pitches that showcased clearer questions, stronger arguments, and more impactful proposals. 

 

The NEXT-GENDER initiative contributes to the development of more inclusive, robust, and socially relevant research by equipping researchers and institutions with the knowledge and tools needed to integrate gender perspectives effectively. 

 

More information about the initiative is available at: https://gendervoices.eu/