CNR Trainers Group

The trainers

We are 8 people with different educational backgrounds, job profiles and coming from different cities throughout Italy. We have been trained through two project-level workshops, plus three CNR specific sessions:

• Vigo, June 2022
• Rome, November 2022
• Online, January 2023
• Online, March 2023
• Belgrade, May 2023

Training the staff

Our previous training events has been taking place in Rome (2023), Milan (2024) and Catania (2024). The events were structured in two sessions: frontal lectures given by the trainers, followed by group hands-on activity.

Upcoming events 2025 & 2026:

• Bari
• Bologna
• Trento
• Cagliari

The wheel of privilege as a training tool

The wheel of privilege originated as a visual educational tool to help people understand the complex and often invisible systems of social privilege, it was developed to support discussions in diversity, equity, and inclusion training, particularly in academic, activist, and professional development settings.

The tool has been shaped to reflect the main important privileges as identified for CNR as workplace for scientists, technologists and administrative staff, and further adapted to European workplace standards, to support skill development and knowledge transfer for workers at scientific/academic institutions.

Increasing awareness in gendered research

CNR has been awarded three Athena Award prizes for the best research products integrating gender perspectives into research questions, design, and outcomes, with one prize for each ERC sector: Physical Sciences & Engineering, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences & Humanities.

Beyond MINDtheGEPs

The trainers have been involved in several activities as a consequence of their experience within the MINDtheGEPs project. For example:

• #womenatCNR social media campaign and final video 300x100 protagoniste per la ricerca
• Introduction of specific tasks on gender equality within EU funded projects
• Webinars
• Book presentations
• Events outside CNR on gender equality
• Talks within European Researchers’ night
• Institution of the Gender Equality Team at CNR
• Book Linee guida per il linguaggio inclusivo rispetto al genere
• Joint Conference 22 October 2024
• Position paper

Key takeaways from the CNR trainers group include an increased sense of personal awareness and responsibility, a recognition of the importance of data over feelings, the potential impact on collective responsibility in both the workplace and personal life, and the ongoing need for lifelong education, and networking.