There are two winners of the 2022 Minerva Informatics Equality Award celebrating successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the careers of women in informatics research and education (click here for the 2022 Call for submissions).

This year, the Award was given to the Gender-equality Committee at IRISA and the Anti-harassment Committee at Inria, both Research Centers of University of Rennes (France), and Faculty of Informatics, TU Wien (Austria), for their achievements in developing the careers of female faculty, including retention and promotion. The Minerva Award, organised by Informatics Europe and sponsored by Google, was presented during the 18th European Computer Science Summit (ECSS 2022), an in-person event in Hamburg, Germany.

Read the winning Award submissions (IRISA/Inria submission and TU Wien submission) and learn what the winners say about them in the post-ceremony press-release.

We close this year process by warmly thanking the 2022 Award Committee with participation of EUGAIN members:

• Karima Boudaoud, Université Côte d’Azur, France (Co-Chair)
• Jane Hillston, University of Edinburgh, UK (Co-Chair)
• David Billard, Haute Ecole de Gestion de Genève, Switzerland
• Gregor Engels, University of Paderborn, Germany
• Lucia Happe, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany
• Francesca Alessandra Lisi, Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Italy
• Emanuela Merelli, University of Camerino, Italy
• Simona Motogna, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
• Paula Alexandra Silva, University of Coimbra, Portugal.

Department of Computer Science, University College London, United Kingdom, is the winner of the fifth edition of the Minerva Informatics Equality Award for their gender equality initiatives and policies supporting the transition of female PhD and Postdoctoral Researchers into Faculty positions. The Award was presented during the 16th European Computer Science Summit (ECSS 2020) held online in October 2020. The Award celebrates successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the careers of women within the institution. Read the winning Award submission.

About the 2020 Minerva Informatics Equality Award

The Award is sponsored by Google and carries a prize of 5,000 EUR.

The Award is given to a Department or Faculty to be used for further work on promoting gender equality. To be eligible, nominated institutions must be located in one of the member or candidate member countries of the Council of Europe, or Israel. Institutions associated with members of the WIRE Working Group and of the Award Committee are not eligible.

The Award Committee reviews and evaluates each proposal. It reserves the right to split the prize between at most two different proposals.

Award Committee

• Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic, Chalmers University of Technology and Mälardalen University, Sweden (Chair)
• Ivona Brandic, TU Wien, Austria
• Sylvia Ilieva, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Bulgaria
• Dympna O'Sullivan, TU Dublin, Ireland
• Olaf Owe, University of Oslo, Norway
• Alexander Serebrenik, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands

Click here for the 2020 Call for submissions.

There are two winners of the 2023 Minerva Informatics Equality Award celebrating successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the careers of women in all stages.

This year, the Award was given to the gender-equality and anti-harassment committee from LIS (Computer Science Lab), Aix Marseille University (France), and FemTech.dk research program at the Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen (Denmark). The Minerva Award, organised by Informatics Europe and sponsored by Google, was presented during the 19th European Computer Science Summit (ECSS 2023), an in-person event in Edinburgh, UK.

Read the winning Award submissions (LIS/Aix Marseille University submission and University of Copenhagen submission)  and learn what the winners say about them in the post-ceremony press-release.

We close this year process by warmly thanking the 2023 Award Committee with participation of EUGAIN members:

• Simona Motogna, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania (Chair)
• Antinisca Di Marco, University of L'Aquila, Italy
• Silvia Ghilezan, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
• Nicolas Markey, IRISA / University of Rennes, France
• Daniela Nicklas, University of Bamberg, Germany
• Birgit Penzenstadler, Chalmers University of Technology Sweden
• Peter Sestoft, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

UK’s EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Robotics and Autonomous Systems wins the sixth edition of the Minerva Informatics Equality Award for their support for both the encouragement and retention of female students in advanced graduate study of Robotics, Engineering, Computer Science and Informatics. The Award was presented during the 17th European Computer Science Summit (ECSS 2021), a hybrid event in Madrid and online. The Award celebrates successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the recruitment and support of female students within the institution. Learn more about the winner here and read the winning Award submission.

About the 2021 Minerva Informatics Equality Award

The Award is sponsored by Google and carries a prize of 5,000 EUR.

The Award is given to a Department or Faculty to be used for further work on promoting gender equality. To be eligible, institutions must be located in one of the member or candidate member countries of the Council of Europe, or Israel. Institutions associated with members of the Award Committee are not eligible.

The Award Committee, with participation of EUGAIN members, reviews and evaluates each proposal. It reserves the right to split the prize between at most two different proposals.

Award Committee:

• Susan Eisenbach, Imperial College London, UK (Chair)
• Hagit Attiya, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel
• Barbora Buhnova, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
• Sarah Jane Delany, TU Dublin, Ireland
• Steve Kremer, Inria, France
• Monica Landoni, Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
• Brenda Murphy, University of Malta, Malta
• Ute Schmid, University of Bamberg, Germany.

Click here for the 2021 Call for submissions.

The International Women´s Degree Programme in Computer Science at Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences (Germany) wins the 2024 Minerva Informatics Equality Award celebrating successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the careers of women in all stages. The Minerva Award, organised by Informatics Europe in collaboration with COST Action EUGAIN – European Network For Gender balance in Informatics and sponsored by Google, was presented during the 20th European Informatics Leaders Summit (ECSS 2024), an in-person event in Sliema, Malta.  Given this year’s strong nominations, the Award Committee also recognised two runners-up:

• the Women in Information and Computing Sciences (WICS) network and the ICS diversity committee at Utrecht University, the Netherlands;
• the Steering Committee of “Alice & Eve: a celebration of women in computing” initiative, a joint effort among several Dutch universities since 2020.

Read the winning Award submission and learn what the winner say about it in the post-ceremony press release.

We close this year's process by warmly thanking the 2024 Award Committee with the participation of EUGAIN members:

• Antinisca Di Marco, University of L'Aquila, Italy (Chair)
• Lenuta Alboaie, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Romania 
• Sonay Caner Yildirim, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, Turkey
• Miguel Goulão, NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal
• Gerti Kappel, TU Wien, Austria
• Kévin Perrot, LIS, Aix-Marseille University, France
• Gerit Wagner, University of Bamberg, Germany

The Institute for Computing and Information Sciences (iCIS) of the Radboud University in Nijmegen (The Netherlands) is the winner of the second Minerva Informatics Equality Award for its measurable efforts in monitoring gender issues and promoting the advancement of female careers in Informatics. The Award was presented during the 13th European Computer Science Summit held in Lisbon (24 October 2017). The second edition of the Minerva Informatics Equality Award recognizes best practices in departments or faculties of European universities and research labs that support the transition for PhD and postdoctoral female researchers into faculty positions.

On the photo: Prof. Lejla Batina, Head of the Digital Security group and Chair of the Gender Diversity Committee and Dr. Bernadette Smelik, Managing Director of the Institute, received the prize from Beate List (Google). Read the winning Award submission.

About the 2017 Minerva Informatics Equality Award

The Award is sponsored by Google and carries a prize of 5,000 EUR.

The Award is given to a Department or Faculty to be used for further work on promoting gender equality. To be eligible, nominated institutions must be located in one of the member or candidate member countries of the Council of Europe, or Israel. Institutions associated with members of the Informatics Europe Board and of the Award Committee are not eligible.

The Award Committee reviews and evaluates each proposal. It reserves the right to split the prize between at most two different proposals.

Award Committee:

• Christine Choppy, Professor of Informatics, University Paris 13 (SPC), France (Chair)
• Serge Abiteboul, Professor of Informatics, INRIA, France
• Tibor Bosse, Associate professor of Informatics, VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Gyöngyi Bujdosó, Professor of Informatics, University Debrecen, Hungary
• Monica Divitini, Professor in Cooperation Technologies, IDI-NTNU, Norway
• Anna Ingólfsdóttir, Professor of Informatics, University Reykjavik, Iceland
• Mema Roussopoulos, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Athens, Greece
• Letizia Tanca, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

Click here for the 2017 Call for submissions.

The Faculty of Information Systems and Applied Computer Sciences of the University of Bamberg (Germany) is the winner of the third edition of the Minerva Informatics Equality Award for their contribution to the enrolment and retention of female students in Computer Science programs. The Award was presented during the 14th European Computer Science Summit held in Gothenburg (Sweden) on October 9, 2018. Read the winning Award submission.

The third edition of the Minerva Informatics Equality Award recognizes best practices in departments or faculties of European universities and research labs that encourage female students to enrol in Informatics programmes and retain them. 

About the 2018 Minerva Informatics Equality Award

The Award is sponsored by Google and carries a prize of 5,000 EUR.

The Award is given to a Department or Faculty to be used for further work on promoting gender equality. To be eligible, nominated institutions must be located in one of the member or candidate member countries of the Council of Europe, or Israel. Institutions associated with members of the Informatics Europe Board and of the Award Committee are not eligible.

The Award Committee reviews and evaluates each proposal. It reserves the right to split the prize between at most two different proposals.

Award Committee

• Panagiota Fatourou, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas and University of Crete, Greece (Chair)
• Liliana Cucu, INRIA, France
• Susan Eisenbach,  Imperial College London, UK
• Rachid Guerraoui, EPFL, Switzerland
• Patricia Lago, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Kurt Mehlhorn, Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik, Germany
• Dana Petcu, West University of Timisoara, Romania
• Assaf Schuster, Technion, Israel 

Click here for the 2018 Call for submissions.

The Department of Computer Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) wins the 2025 Minerva Informatics Equality Award for its long-standing and transformative commitment to empowering women in Informatics. 

The Minerva Award, organised by Informatics Europe and celebrating successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the careers of women in all stages, was presented during the 21st European Informatics Leaders Summit (ECSS 2025), an in-person event in Rennes, France.  

The honorary runner-up, Tallinn University of Technology’s Diversifying IT initiative, was also recognised for its innovative and tech-driven efforts to encourage women’s participation and advancement in Informatics.

Read the winning Award submission and learn what the winner and runner-up say about it in the post-ceremony press release.

We close this year's process by warmly thanking the 2025 Award Committee:

• Sarah Jane Delany, TU Dublin, Ireland (Chair)
• Erika Abraham, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
• Oana Andrei, University of Glasgow, UK
• Elisabetta Fersini, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy
• Luca Forlizzi, University of L’Aquila, Italy
• Ana-Belén Gil-González, University of Salamanca, Spain
• Jose David Patón-Romero, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering (SimulaMet), Norway
• Marta Turcsanyi-Szabo, ELTE Budapest, Hungary

TU Dublin Computer Science, Ireland, is the winner of the fourth edition of the Minerva Informatics Equality Award for their gender equality initiatives and policies to develop the careers of female faculty. The Award was presented during the 15th European Computer Science Summit (ECSS 2019) in Rome, Italy, October 2019. The Award celebrates successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the careers of women within the institution. Read the winning Award submission.

About the 2019 Minerva Informatics Equality Award

The Award is sponsored by Google and carries a prize of 5,000 EUR.

The Award is given to a Department or Faculty to be used for further work on promoting gender equality. To be eligible, nominated institutions must be located in one of the member or candidate member countries of the Council of Europe, or Israel. Institutions associated with members of the WIRE Working Group and of the Award Committee are not eligible.

Award Committee

•  Dana Petcu, Universitatea de Vest din Timișoara, Romania (Chair)
• Josephina Antoniou, University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus
• Maria Carla Calzarossa, Università di Pavia, Italy
• Elisabetta Di Nitto, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• M.J. Escalona, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
• Maria Ganzha, Politechnika Warszawska, Poland
• Ilona Heldal, Bergen University College, Norway
• Aneta Karaivanova, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria
• Olaf Owe, Unversity of Oslo, Norway
• Laura Ricci, Università di Pisa, Italy

Click here for the 2019 Call for submissions.

The Computer Science Department at University College London (UCL), UK, is the winner of the first Minerva Informatics Equality Award for its comprehensive gender policy, the diversity of initiatives put in place as well as the strong evidence of positive impact. The Award was presented during the  12th European Computer Science Summit (ECSS 2016) in Budapest, Hungary, October 2016. Read the winning Award submission.

The 2016 Award is devoted to gender equality initiatives and policies to develop the careers of female faculty. It celebrates successful initiatives that have had a measurable impact on the careers of women within the institution. On the photo: Lynda Hardman (left) and Alexandra Silva (right).

About the 2016 Minerva Informatics Equality Award

The Award is sponsored by Google and carries a prize of 5,000 EUR.

The Award is given to a Department or Faculty to be used for further work on promoting gender equality. To be eligible, nominated institutions must be located in one of the member or candidate member countries of the Council of Europe, or Israel. Institutions associated with members of the Informatics Europe Board and of the Award Committee are not eligible.

The Award Committee reviews and evaluates each proposal. It reserves the right to split the prize between at most two different proposals.

Award Committee

• Micheline Beaulieu, Emeritus Professor of Information Science, University of Sheffield, UK (Chair)
• Erika Abraham, Professor of Hybrid Systems, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
• Luca Aceto, Professor of Computer Science, Reykjavik University, Iceland
• Christine Choppy, Professor of Logic, Calculi and Reasoning, University of Paris Nord, France
• John Clark, Professor of Critical Systems, University of York, UK
• Dunja Mladenic, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia
• Pierangela Samarati, Professor of Information Technologies, University of Milan, Italy

Click here for the 2016 Call for submissions