Chalmers' Equality Award

Chalmers' Equality Award 2024 - Academic citizenship 

This year's Equality Award was given to Bri Gauger, a postdoc at the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, for her research on women's activism in architectural history and urban planning. She has highlighted the undervalued and often invisible work that is frequently performed in an academic workplace.

Academic citizenship is an established term that defines work that benefits others besides oneself and can include everything from formal leadership to informal emotional work, such as mentorship, emotional responsibility, and advocating for equality and diversity. This work is often not valued as highly – or recognized at all – as traditional academic work. Often, the responsibility for these tasks falls on minority groups, such as women, temporary employees, or international staff.

"There is already established research showing that the greatest burden of this work falls on these groups, while they also often bear the trade-offs that come with it. I have not worked to prove this once again – it is a fact – but to highlight and bring attention to the work that is done quietly," says Bri Gauger.

Bri Gauger's research on academic citizenship highlights how creating a shared sense of responsibility can improve the environment for the most marginalized groups, which in turn benefits the entire workplace. By mapping the needs of marginalized employees, a deeper understanding can be created, leading to development work. To create an inclusive climate and ensure that everyone is on board, Bri Gauger and her colleagues in the Genie@ACE group have worked purposefully in small steps. For example, she has made annual visits to each division within the department and had standing information at department meetings.

"It is very important to build trust and awareness in the department first. We have had great support from the department management, which has given us space at our monthly meetings. By communicating and being visible, we have created engagement and high participation in our activities and workshops."

A recurring workshop that Bri Gauger highlights has been about including gender and diversity aspects in research applications. One might wonder what these issues have to do with, for example, a project on wastewater, but more and more funders want to see a plan for how to handle this. Feedback from participants has been positive and shown that there are practical benefits to addressing issues such as diversity and equality in research.

During the autumn, Bri Gauger's research has expanded to include studies at other departments.

She sees being awarded Chalmers' Equality Award as a great honour and a confirmation that the work has been successful. But she is also careful to emphasize that it is not just her achievement, but that solid teamwork together with colleagues in Genie@ACE is behind the success.

Justification for the 2024 Award

Bri Gauger's research on academic citizenship unveil the often invisible and gendered nature of work within academia. She has highlighted how women and minority groups disproportionately carry the burden of undervalued tasks related to collegiality, emotional labour, and community building. As the head of the Genie@ACE initiative, she has effectively contributed to a cultural change at ACE by organizing workshops, bringing aspects of gender equality into department activities, and working to create an inclusive environment for all PhD students and postdocs at ACE. Bri's passion for exposing and addressing equality issues at ACE and Chalmers, along with her ability to foster engagement and change, has been an important inspiration to her colleagues and made an impact at the university level.

Chalmers' Equality Award 2023 - Genie

The jury for the Equality Award has also chosen to present an award for 2023. It is awarded to Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede and Mary Sheeran for their work with the Genie initiative. The initiative's goals are the same as when it started in 2019 but are now led by the Vice President for Leadership and Equality, who has begun work to integrate the initiative into the operations long-term.

"We see significant cultural differences since the start of Genie. Today, it is more natural to talk about equality than it was before. The work that Pernilla and Mary have done in Genie has really put these issues on the agenda, highlighted weaknesses in the organization, and been crucial for the continued work being done today," says Maria Elmquist, Vice President for Leadership and Equality.

When the award winners are reached, they receive the news of being awarded the 2023 Equality Award with great joy.

"It feels nice to receive appreciation for all the work we did. It was a fun but demanding job to drive these issues to the position we have today," says Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede.

Mary Sheeran agrees and adds:

"Receiving this award feels both fun and important to remind us of the need for continued work." 

Members of the Genie@ACE coordination group

• Mozhdeh Amani
• Isabelle Doucet
• Dilek Ulutas Duman
• Ann-Margret Hvitt-Strömvall
• Leon Müller
• Kathleen Murphy
• Krystyna Pietrzyk
• Bri Gauger

Martine Buser, ACE: s jämställdhetsombud has also been an integral part of the work.

Justification for the 2023 Award

Through their commitment and dedication to the Gender Initiative for Excellence (Genie), Professors Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede and Mary Sheeran have paved the way for systematic gender equality work at Chalmers. Their dedication to exploring, understanding, and improving the academic environment at Chalmers has had a real impact on our academic culture. As strong advocates for change, Pernilla and Mary have highlighted the need for a gender-balanced faculty and a more inclusive academic environment. They have also served as important role models and mentors for young researchers, far beyond our own university.