Is helping to bridge the gender gap in STEM considered as transfer of knowledge?

Abstract

The recent evaluation of Spanish researchers regarding Transfer of Knowledge has shown how activities that could help in closing the gender gap in STEM areas are penalized in the evaluation. The results have been very disappointing and, from their publication, one could have the impression that, first, Spanish researchers do not achieve more than a mediocre result in transferring the research to the society; second, female researchers are even less capable of transferring knowledge in a profitable, beneficial way; and third, those activities that do not involve a high economic impact, either on the Society or on the research institutions, do not count for promotion or the consideration of prestige of researchers in this research aspect. However, a close examination of the results with the help of a questionnaire elaborated by researchers belonging to a Spanish feminist association show that the very bad results could in fact be due to the intricate call and the low preparation of the evaluation committees in gender aspects, as well as the immature process in general. The conscious analyses of the results with the help of 513 respondents may help in enriching the next calls, avoiding a second disastrous result, and encouraging female researchers to contribute for advancing towards an equal society, even if no economic values are directly derived from their research.