Courses and resources for addressing sex and gender aspects of research

Online tools

• The Sex Inclusive Research Framework (SIRF), an interactive tool on AstraZeneca’s Open Innovation website that guides researchers in designing preclinical research aligned with a sex-inclusive research philosophy. This SIRF tool comprises a decision tree for evaluating preclinical research proposals, resulting in one or more ‘traffic light’ outcome classifications, indicating whether a proposal is appropriate, carries some risk, or is insufficient regarding sex inclusion.

• The Gendered Innovations website, a peer-reviewed project developed at Stanford University and supported by the European Commission and US National Science Foundation:
  • develops practical methods of sex and gender analysis for scientists and engineers and

  • provides case studies as concrete illustrations of how sex and gender analysis leads to innovation. 

     

• Genderedinnovations.se, developed at Karolinska Institutet, is the Swedish version of Stanford’s Gendered Innovations and contains useful content in the form of Swedish expertise, experience, tools, videos, and case studies.

   

• Sex and gender research methods, developed by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is a series of methods articles aimed at equiping researchers with practical tips and tools from prominent researchers on integrating sex, gender, and other identity factors into various fields of health research.

   

• IGAR Tool, Integrating Gender Analysis into Research; an online resource developed by the GENDER NET community that provides recommendations, checklists, etc, for both research funders and researchers, on integrating sex and gender aspects into programmes, applications, and projects.

   

• The Experimental Design Assistant, an online tool from the UK's NC3Rs that guides researchers through the design of their experiments, helping to ensure that they use the minimum number of animals consistent with their scientific objectives, methods to reduce subjective bias, and appropriate statistical analysis.

   

• Gendered Innovations 2, a 2020 policy report produced by the EU-funded expert group on ‘Gendered Innovations’, providing researchers and innovators with methodological tools for sex, gender and intersectional analysis, as well as casee studies.

   

Searchable databases

• Janusmed Sex and Gender is a knowledge bank with structured information on sex and gender aspects of drug treatment.
• US FDA's Drug Trials Snapshots provide consumers and healthcare professionals with concise information about who participated in clinical trials that supported the FDA approval of new drugs. 
• GenderMed Database of scientific publications allows you to search publications that address sex and gender differences. The database is updated on a weekly basis by an automated search in PubMed.

• Gender Experts is a free worldwide database of women experts on gender equality. The experts are researchers, leaders of associations, or professionals of a sector integrating a gender approach in their activity.

   

 Organisations and networks

• Gender-NET Plus, an EU-funded project turned scientific network of multidisciplinary and transnational network of researchers addressing sex, gender, and intersectionality in research content. Activities of this network include exchanging information on funding opportunities, discussing methodologies, and meeting with other communities of researchers incorporating the gender dimension. Researchers interested in joining the network are invited to contact CNRS at chloe.mour@cnrs.fr. Read about the 13 transnational projects funded within the GENDER-NET Plus framework.

   

• Gender Equality Academy is a Horizon 2020 project developing and implementing a high-quality capacity-building programme on gender equality in research, innovation, and higher education.

   

• LIBRA is an EC-funded project that brings together ten research institutes in ten European countries to promote gender equality in life sciences.

   

• PORTIA  is a UK not-for-profit organisation with extensive expertise in EU gender and STEM policy, and intersections with European instruments such as ERA. It is the architect of the Gender Summit platform, which aims to jointly examine new scientific evidence showing when, why, and how sex/gender issues impact research and innovation outcomes.

   

• NIH ORWH  is the US National Institutes of Health's Office for Research on Women's Health.

   

• Institute of Gender in Medicine is a research institute in Berlin that focuses on interventions to promote healthy behaviors and how such interventions can be designed in a gender and diversity-sensitive way.