Abstract:  This thematic issue explores diverse perspectives on the experiences of European research performing organisations (RPOs) and their stakeholders in designing, implementing, and evaluating Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) in practice. The 16 articles included apply a wide range of methodologies, from single organisation case studies to international comparative qualitative and quantitative analyses. To address the complexities of whether and how GEPs can achieve their intended gender equality outcomes, the contributions primarily draw on feminist institutionalism, complexity theory, and intersectionality theory. While the call for papers aimed to highlight good practices to be shared in the European Research Area, most articles instead bring to the fore the challenges and organisational resistance of putting inclusive and intersectional GEPs into practice. From a content perspective, the articles can be broadly grouped into four categories: (a) comparative studies focusing on the process of implementing GEPs, (b) studies examining specific dimensions of GEPs, as gender‐based violence, work–life balance, gender equality in teaching and research, etc., (c) analyses of policy discourses and their real‐life implementation, and finally, (d) holistic case‐studies of individual organisations. This thematic issue is special in that it is among the first such collections examining GEPs in European RPOs, in particular with a high representation of articles addressing experiences with GEPs in the Central and Eastern European region.

Keywords:  European research area; feminist institutionalism; gender equality plan; gender equality; gender‐based‐violence; intersectionality; research performing organisations; universities

Published:   9 October 2025

Issue:   Vol 13 (2025): Gender Equality Plans in European Research Performing Organisations