Complex Projects - Diverse Solutions? Theoretical Reflection, Practical Experiences, and Recommendations on Enhancing Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Research Projects

Research, development, and innovation (RDI) are often carried out in public funded, multidisciplinary projects, which can be defined as complex. RDI projects depend on and involve various stakeholders that shape the framework conditions or are part of the project consortia. Unsurprisingly, the perceptions of stakeholders regarding, for example, the relevance of team diversity, and to which extent and how leaders should be made accountable for collaborative practices will differ. In this paper we provide a novel framework applying complexity research to identify challenges in RDI projects that impact the implementation of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). We thereby refer to equality in line with the European strategy towards gender equality and to inclusion as the attempt of actively involving and welcoming individuals and groups who may have been traditionally excluded or marginalised. We conclude with suggestions for three different types of involved organisations: research funding organisations (RFOs), research performing organisations (RPOs) and project consortia (PC). Framework and recommendations are reflected in the context of practical experiences made within the Human Brain Project (HBP) and are opened for further contributions by colleagues who are interested to share their experiences via the following survey: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/complex-projects-diverse-solutions We are looking forward to your most valuable contributions, which will be considered for the next version of this paper!
The foundations of this paper were discussed in several meetings and received most valuable feedback and suggestions from: Abigail Morrison (Forschungszentrum Jülich), Camilla Hagen Blixhavn (University of Oslo), Damian Eke (De Montfort University Leicester), Mathew Birdsall Abrams (International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility), Peter Gierow (Linnaeus University), Sacha van Albada (Forschungszentrum Jülich) Editorial Review: Arleen Salles, Katrien Van Look Acknowledgements: This project/research has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation under the Specific Grant Agreement No. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3).