Research excellence through gender parity: Dr Elizabeth Pollitzer on Elsevier’s report

To delve deeper into the report’s findings and their implications for women in research and the global research community, we asked distinguished experts to share their insights.

Recently we spoke with Dr Elizabeth Pollitzeropens in new tab/window, an expert adviser to the European Commission who has spent more than 20 years as a researcher and lecturer at Imperial College Londonopens in new tab/window. Dr Pollitzer is a founding member of Portiaopens in new tab/window, a not-for-profit organization focused on improving gender equality in STEM, and founder of the international Gender Summitopens in new tab/window.

Dr Pollitzer shared her thoughts with us on Elsevier’s report and future directions for achieving gender diversity and global research excellence.

Moving towards global gender equity in research

Dr Pollitzer has been closely involved with each of Elsevier’s gender reports over the years and was encouraged by the continued trend towards gender parity in research: “It’s a really positive picture, and the trend is really strong,” she said.

While she has witnessed change in academia in the past decade, Dr Pollitzer recognized new signs of progress presented in the report:

There has been a broad, concerted and truly global effort made by many different countries and institutions — beyond academia — to pay greater attention to gender bias in recruitment and retention.

Dr. Pollitzer believes the report also underscored the need to rethink traditional definitions of research excellence and the benefits of gender diversity on how science is done, on scientific ideas, and the societal impact of research. She pointed out that it called for a broader perspective that values both diverse research teams and multidisciplinary research to produce high quality, high impact science:

There is a need to challenge the current definitions of research excellence. … By promoting gender equity in research, we can create a more inclusive, effective, innovative research ecosystem that benefits everyone.

Addressing the persistent productivity gap

The journey toward gender parity is not without its challenges. Dr Pollitzer noted the persistence of the “productivity gap,” where women publish fewer papers than men, particularly as they move into later career stages:

“The productivity gap … may point to systematic hurdles that continue to prevent women from publishing as frequently as men,” she observed. She suggested that the gap may be linked to gender disparities in grant funding because better funded labs have more personnel and more time to put toward writing and publishing.

“Most large, well-funded labs continue to be led by men, and these labs simply have far more resources available to produce papers,” she explained.

Dr Pollitzer acknowledged that addressing this inequity is not easy, but said it can be done. She described a program by Science Foundation Irelandopens in new tab/window that called for 30% of proposals to be submitted by women researchers. Importantly, the total number of proposals was not capped, and external reviewers were blinded to the gender of the submitting researchers.

“Department deans looked for women junior faculty with the potential to be PIs and encouraged them to submit proposals,” she explained. In the end, 40% of submitted proposals and more than half of the funded proposals were from women.

“Not only did women submit proposals,” Dr Pollitzer concluded, “but women were also more successful than men. The program clearly demonstrated that excellent research can be done by women.”

Expanding the perception of women as researchers

Dr Pollitzer highlighted the report’s findings about the significant contribution of women researchers to addressing SDG-related research, saying: “Research with a strong societal relevance and impact on society, such as that related to the Sustainable Development Goals, is more important than ever before.”

She also pointed out that unfortunately, women are often characterized as the vulnerable group in the SGDs — the group most exposed to poverty, for example — rather than as the problem solvers. “It is such a narrow perspective,” she argued. “We should be seeing women as the researchers, the innovators, the entrepreneurs.”

Educating about commercialization

Dr. Pollitzer drew attention to one area in the report where progress towards equity is significantly lagging: patents. In her view, the underrepresentation of women researchers on patent applications, as a measure of innovation, represented a missed opportunity.

Describing the European Commission’s Innovation Scoreboardopens in new tab/window, Dr Pollitzer explained: “Countries that made an effort to bring women into the research workforce and took advantage of their interdisciplinary knowledge had more innovative research systems.” She also advocates for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, which she sees as being more attractive to women.

Teams of diverse researchers, including women, can bring in different perspectives, leading to more creative solutions for complex problems. If you want to promote innovation to tackle the big challenges that societies are facing, then you need to take a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team approach.

Dr Pollitzer also pointed out that most patent activity comes from researchers in industry and wondered how many researchers in academia who hold patents have a history of working in industry. She further suggested that in academia, there may be some gender disparity in knowledge about commercialization that is passed down to trainees, perhaps with some gender bias.

“Universities do not typically train faculty about commercialization, so this information would be conveyed from senior scientist to trainee,” she explained. Dr Pollitzer suggested that the gender disparity in patents might be addressed if training in these topics was offered at the postdoctoral level.

Dr Pollitzer’s insights on the report offer a compelling perspective on the state of gender parity in research as well as next steps. Her commentary underscores the crucial role of women in research, the untapped potential they represent, and the importance of actively addressing persistent equity gaps. As the report points out, the journey toward gender diversity in research is ongoing, and voices like Dr Pollitzer’s are vital in guiding the way forward.