The University of Trento has long promoted initiatives to support women's academic careers, convinced of the importance of recognising and developing women's talents and their contribution to science and research.

A first step in this direction was the monitoring of gender data, which began in 2006 and is still ongoing, thanks to the publication of the annual Report on equal opportunities in the University.

The awareness of the need for concrete actions to reduce gender differences translates into a constant commitment to programming and monitoring, through instruments such as the Plan for Positive Action, the Gender Budget, the Annual Report of the Committee for Equal Opportunities (CUG) and, more recently, the Gender Equality Plan (GEP).

One of the most innovative policies at the national level, first introduced by the University of Trento, is a system of incentives designed to promote gender balance in scientific careers. This system encourages the recruitment, including from abroad and from the ERC (European Research Council), of teaching and research staff belonging to the least represented gender based on "punti organico" (staff points), a scoring system that considers the annual cost of employed staff. This system is also used for calculating the budget for new hires.

Since 2014, the University of Trento has introduced several measures to promote a better gender balance in scientific careers. In particular, it adopted an incentive system and the obligation to consider, in the overall recruitment plan, the need of rebalancing the less represented gender among full professors.

Following a July 2021 decision of the Academic Senate, academic departments and centres that intend to recruit or call from abroad or through an ERC a person belonging to the less represented gender will benefit not only from the co-financing normally provided by the University, but also from additional gender incentives –  the value of which varies depending on the type of recruitment – making it economically more advantageous to recruit a person of the less represented gender.

Below is an example for the recruitment of full professors:

• Recruitment of a candidate from the most represented gender:
  • 70% of the cost is paid by the Department
  • 30% of the cost is paid by the University
• Recruitment of a candidate from the less represented gender:
  • 30% of the cost is paid by the Department
  • 70% of the cost is paid by the University
  • Plus 0.4 staff points as a gender incentive (that is 40% of the position cost)

Gender incentives can be combined with incentives for calls from abroad and for calls from ERC winners.

Costs for academic facilities

For more details, please contact the Equality and Diversity Office.