WG TIER – Towards an Inclusive Evaluation of Research
WG TIER – Towards an Inclusive Evaluation of Research
WG Objectives
TIER aims at:
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- Addressing the primary sources of unconscious bias and intersectional gender discrimination in the evaluation of research quality and researchers at any stage of their career
- Identifying mitigation actions
- Proposing concrete actions for research assessment criteria and practices that ensure equal opportunities, inclusiveness and valorisation of the diversity
- Producing guidelines and specific consciousness-raising training for evaluators, building on existing resources and European guidelines/project outputs.
Recent Events
Updated 24 September 2025
TIER presents preliminary survey results at STI-ENID 2025
On September 3-5 September 2025, TIER attended the Science and Technology Indicators international conference in Bristol, STI-ENID 2025. At the conference, TIER presented preliminary results from a survey examining the concept of inclusive excellence.
Around 2,000 respondents from research performing organisations (RPOs) and research funding organisations (RFOs) participated in the survey that focused on key themes, including: perceptions of excellence, bias mitigation, and implicit biases.
In the preliminary findings, High Impact Factor, H-index, and the prestige of publication venues emerged as the most influential metrics impacting the perception of excellence. Respondents identified best practice guidelines, aligned with national legislation and allowing for broad institutional interventions, as the most effective measures for bias mitigation. In order to examine implicit bias for stereotypes, identical statements with only the gender swapped (male -female) have been presented.
Curious to learn more about Inclusive Excellence and TIER's work? Click on the button below for recordings of TIER's recent open webinar, as well as presentation slides and recordings.
Resources
Among the useful references being collected by the WG members are GEAR, a step-by-step online guide to develop Gender Equality Plans in academic and research organisations and GRANteDproject outputs:
Gender Equality Plans
GRANteDproject outputs
The TIER WG wishes to publish the ongoing work in a public website so as to inform the whole community and to gain interest in the subject.
Affiliated Organisations
- Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
- CERN
- CERN, CNR-Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
- CSIC-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
- European Chemical Society
- EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
- European Union
- Federation of Finnish Learned Societies
- Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia
- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
- Joanneum Research
- Kristianstad University
- Karelia University of Applied Sciences
- Marie Curie Alumni Association
- Politecnico di Torino
- Research Foundation Flanders
- Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
- Scuola Normale Superiore
- Universidad CEU San Pablo – Madrid
- Universidad de Córdoba
- Università degli Studi di Cagliari
- Università degli Studi di Firenze
- Università degli Studi di Messina
- Università degli Studi di Milano
- Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
- Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
- Università degli Studi di Padova
- Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele
- Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne
- University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (HES-SO)
- University Medical Center – Groningen (UMCG)
- Wellcome Trust
- Young Academy of Europe
- Zimbabwe Young Academy of Sciences
Activities
Mind the GEPs Special Report
The MINDtheGEPs project published a special report summarising key takeaways from an Open Forum roundtable discussion on gender equality and inclusive progress in research. It highlights challenges hindering gender equality, such as systemic barriers, intersectionality, and data gaps. The report also offers recommendations for institutions on how to promote gender equality.
Survey on Biases in Research Evaluation
From early February to 15 April 2025, WG TIER opened a survey to evaluate systematic biases in research assessment. We thank all those who participated in the survey! Your input is invaluable for mitigating confirmation biases and for WG TIER to develop guidelines to foster inclusive research assessment practices!
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Contact
Interested in joining the WG or have an inquiry?
Please contact us!
Silvia Penati (Chair)
University of Milano-Bicocca
Biancu Bonaria (Deputy Chair)
University of Milano-Bicocca