The EU-Project
TANDEMplusIDEA is the first mentoring programme ever conducted on an international level. It incorporates the technical universities of the IDEA League – Imperial College London, TU Delft, ETH Zürich, RWTH Aachen and the associate member ParisTech. The project is funded by the 6th EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development for three years between 2007 and 2010, and involves the development, implementation and evaluation of a career development programme for qualified female researchers. As a modular mentoring programme, it supports female scientists to apply for and to obtain a professorship in natural science and engineering.
The aim
The overall objective of the project is to achieve a better balance of sexes in the scientific fields. It aims to ensure gender equality in science and wants to facilitate the introduction of the gender dimension into scientific research. By promoting high potential female scientists on their way to become professors the goal is to increase the number of female professors – hereby a chain of reaction can be started: Following generations of female students will experience more female scientists as positive role models, and networking between female scientists becomes easier with an increasing number of colleagues. At a long term, more high potential female scientists can be attracted for a career in science, ultimately leading to an increased number of female professors in European universities and beyond.
The project was continually evaluated and documented. In its characteristic as the first international mentoring programme, it contributes to the development of quality standards for the instrument of mentoring. It will moreover be a model of best practice with regard to further collaborative working in Europe, resulting in an improved gender equality and female participation.
Time schedule
EU funding was secured in late 2006. The project started with an official kick-off event in Aachen in April 2007 that initiated the concept phase and, subsequently, the application and selection process for the 16 participants. The mentoring programme began with the Winter School at RWTH Aachen University in February 2008. Following programme events took place in 2008 and early 2009; the Networking Event in Zurich in March 2009 was the last meeting. The mentoring course officially ended at the project’s final conference, “Going Diverse: Innovative Answers to Future Challenges – International Conference on Gender and Diversity in Science, Technology and Business” that took place in Aachen in October 2009.
