Page 20 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg
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CHAPTER 1
research potential and skills of both, women and men researchers, in order to sustain the quality of their working conditions. Particular attention will be given to the early stages of academic and scientific career, which have been little considered in previous gender equality plans. [...] We will concentrate on both, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) disciplines to assure that our aim of transforming academia and research towards a more gender equal environment can be extended to all levels of the institution by putting into practice the best systemic organisational approaches. (Description of Work, 2013)
The project entailed cooperation between seven different European research institutes in Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Iceland5, Austria, and Slovenia. Each research team was responsible for a so-called ‘work package’ that related to a particular topic. The work package that our research team in the Netherlands was responsible for forms the central (empirical) context of this dissertation. This work package was titled “Revealing implicit gendered sub-texts in the selection processes: deconstructing excellence”. It aimed to unpack the formal and informal criteria that are widely used to construct scientific excellence in academia for researchers who hold precarious positions (postdoctoral positions and tenure-track assistant professor positions) and to look into the gendered practices that constitute the barriers for women to become part of or be eligible for the permanent staff.
The consortium worked together on every aspect of the research process: research development, data collection, data analysis, and publication, except for Austria, as they were responsible for the evaluation of the project. Each national research team was responsible for the collection, translation and analysis of the data of their national context, whilst the work package leader was responsible for the comparative analysis of the data. The teams made data available for all participating teams in each country, in order to make cross-national comparisons. Each team collected data in two departments6 of their institution (university or research institution): a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) department and a social sciences and humanities (SSH) department in order to understand differences but also similarities between disciplines in regard to how inequalities are present in processes and career opportunities. The fact that women are well represented in the social sciences and humanities, in fact, does not necessarily
5 As Iceland is often considered to be part of Europe, for the sake of brevity I call Iceland a European country in this dissertation.
6 A department could for example be a faculty or a school of the university or a sub department of a faculty or school. In my dissertation I will refer to department.
 



























































































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