An initial aim

A stated aim when the Global Academy was established was that over half of all members should identify as female. We wanted to boost the visibility of important work by female researchers that was supporting the world to achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Whilst not wanting to exclude any researcher from showcasing their work through the Global Academy, this aim could be encouraged through the way the we operate and attract researchers to join our community.

How has it been going? 

Early on the Global Academy had a small majority of researchers identifying as female. By the time we reached 200 researchers there was exact parity.

Since then the balance has been shifting towards a small majority of Global Academy researchers identifying as male. This can be seen in the table below.

Total Global Academy researchersNumber identifying as femaleProportion of total
May 201920010050.0%
Feb 202243020547.7%
Feb 202357526245.6%
June 202363027844.1%

What will we do?

As we have now drifted slightly from our stated aim, we are going to openly target, and specifically invite, relevant female researchers to showcase their work with the Global Academy. We won’t be turning away male researchers – that would negate the purpose of the Global Academy itself – but we will more proactive with researchers identifying as female. We will also be monitoring more regularly to try and measure any impact of our adapted approach to recruiting researchers.

An invitation!

To all of you reading this.

Are you a researcher who already showcases your work on the Global Academy platform?

If not, check it out (https://www.theglobalacademy.ac) and join the well over 600 researchers who already do link their work to supporting the achievement of the UN #SDGs.

If you have already joined us, do you know of any other researchers (preferably – though not exclusively – identifying as female!) who might like to join you in the Global Academy?

Thank you!