Your Input for talk at Malta MSCA conference

Dear all, I have been asked to give a short input talk at the MSCA2017 presidency conference in Malta in May http://msca2017.eu/ on the topic of 'equal opportunities' with a focus on the MSCA. The panel will also deal with inclusion and will be chaired by Daniel Göhring from the EC. The goal of the panel is to collect some ideas on how the MSCA may improve their program regarding these topics. I will shortly present 'What the EC wants' (their gender policy so far) - 'What researchers want' (I will draw from my experience as former researcher, former MSCA NCP and former project coordinator) and try to come up with a conclusion 'how to bring these two issues together'. So far under 'what researchers wan/recommendations to the ECt' I have (in no particular order!) -Contribute to the discourse about LBGTQ by acknowledging non-binary gender identification -Paid parental leave – make it easy for consortia to hire parents by co-financing parental allowance -A family allowance adapted to the actual size of the family -Allow for a more flexible definition of ‘mobility’ – sometimes mobility is not very easy when you have a family (‘virtual mobility’) But given the recent discussions here and your experience I will be more than glad to take more comments and ideas on board. Daniel and I had been discussing several times over the years the issue of parental leave but never really managed to come up with something he could take into account when adapting the annotated model grant agreement or the work program or else. But I know this issue is close to his heart so we might have a very good opportunity here to show again the importance of Gender (gender mainstreaming and integrating gender into research). Let me know what you think - it's the first time I have the honour to speak in the name of the MCAA and I very much want this to have a good impact. On that note - is there an official ppt template of the MCAA and where may I find it? And if anybody wants to contact me or know more about me, please go ahead. Some of you I might have already met https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliane-sauer-5975143a/ and www.oxygeneum.ch Best wishes, Julie