Representatives from businesses and organisations within the technology and industrial ecosystem will meet on 10 September, starting at 14:00, at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC), to discuss specific challenges relating to attracting and retaining talent, career progression, access to leadership, diversity and inclusion, and the growing use of artificial intelligence in people and organisational management.

The meeting also marks the launch, by the team at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) at the University of Coimbra, of the GENDEII Corporate Innovation Council, a community of practice aimed at ensuring an ongoing dialogue between research and organisations throughout the project.

“We do not want companies to be merely recipients of the project’s results. We intend to involve them from the outset in identifying problems and developing scientifically sound tools, yet also useful and applicable to organisations,” says Rosa Monteiro, a researcher at CES and lecturer at FEUC, who heads the Portuguese GENDEII team.

More than a formal project presentation, the seminar will include a workshop for sharing experiences with participating organisations, whose contributions will support the development of indicators, diagnostic tools, and training programmes tailored to the organisations’ real-world challenges.

About GENDEII

GENDEII (Gender & DEI Indicators for European and Latin American Technological Companies and Related Training Strategies) is an international research and knowledge transfer project bringing together 109 researchers and institutional representatives from 24 organisations across 10 countries in Europe and Latin America, including universities, companies and civil society organisations. It is coordinated by Débora Imhoff, from the University of Córdoba, and funded by the European Union through the Horizon Europe programme, under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions | Staff Exchanges (MSCA-SE).

Over the course of four years, GENDEII will work with companies in the technology sector to develop the Manual of Gender, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Indicators for the Technology Sector (MIGDEIT), as well as training programmes aimed at leaders and teams. The project addresses, amongst other aspects, recruitment and selection, retention, career development, access to leadership roles, accessibility in the workplace, and potential biases associated with the use of AI in people management.

The seminar will feature presentations by Eva López Barrio (University of Santiago de Compostela), Débora Imhoff (GENDEII coordinator) and Rosa Monteiro (head of the CES team).