Member Institutions

The National Institute of Chemistry (Kemijski inštitut, KI) is an internationally recognized research organization in the field of chemistry and related disciplines. It was founded in 1946 as the Chemical Laboratory of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and today it operates as a public research institute in the field of scientific and research and development activities. As of October 2019, the National Institute of Chemistry had 354 employees, 312 of them (covering all those working in the research sector) carry out research work in 9 sections and two infrastructure centers. Currently 74 graduate students are being trained at KI within the national Young Researchers Program for the acquisition of their PhD degrees. The young researchers represent about 25% of the Institute's staff members, making KI one of the leading Slovenian organizations for graduate-level education and training. Basic and applied research are oriented towards following fields: materials research, life sciences, biotechnology, chemical engineering, structural and theoretical chemistry, analytical chemistry and environmental protection; through which the institute is in line with the needs of the domestic and foreign pharmaceutical, chemical, automotive and nanobiotechnological industries. The work of the Institute is also in line with the priority thematic areas of the EU Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020, which places an emphasis on nanotechnology, genomics and biotechnology for health, climate change, energy, sustainable development and global change and quality and safety of food. The Institute is consortium member of Horizon 2020 project PLOTINA – Promoting Gender Balance and Inclusion in Research, Innovation and Training. The objective of PLOTINA is to enable development, implementation and assessment of self-tailored Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) with innovative and sustainable strategies for the Research Performing Organizations (RPOs) involved. The Institute is also involved in the project tackling gender equality in research: STARBIOS2 – Enhancing Responsible Bioscience, via Slovenian consortium member University of Primorska.

ZRC SAZU is the leading Slovenian research centre in the field of humanities, while it also encompasses research in natural and social sciences. ZRC SAZU is composed out of 18 institutes that conduct range of multidisciplinary studies: geography, Slovenian language, art history, anthropology and spatial studies, archaeology, cultural history, musicology, migration studies, ethnology, ethnomusicology, social medicine, philosophy, Slovenian literature and literary science, palaeontology, biology, research of Karst, history, memory studies. The institution has more than 300 active researchers, some of which teach at the Postgraduate School of ZRC SAZU which offers 7 doctoral programmes. While issues related to gender are cross-cutting issue in many studies conducted at the ZRC SAZU, the institution has been involved in following projects related to the issues of gender equality in academia and research: GARCIA – Gendering the Academy and Research: Combating Career Instability and Asymmetries (2014-2017); R&I PEERS – Pilot Experiences for Improving Gender Equality in Research Organisations (2018-2022). Institute of Culture and Memory Studies ZRC SAZU is moderating webpage about gender and science https://spolinznanost.zrc-sazu.si/ (in Slovenian). Director of ZRC SAZU has adopted Gender Equality Plan in February 2019, which is encompassing institutional changes focusing on areas of mentoring, work-life balance, promotion of scientific excellence of female researchers, raising awareness on gender equality and use of gender-sensitive language.

The Society of Mathematicians, Physicists and Astronomers of Slovenia (Društvo matematikov, fizikov in astronomov Slovenije, DMFA) is a national association that brings together educators, researchers and students. It was founded in 1949. The Society promotes mathematics, physics and astronomy among young people and the general public. It organizes competitions, attended by more than 100 000 competitors every year. It organizes scientific meetings and promotes the scientific achievements of its members. It publishes two magazines: “Obzornik za matematiko in fiziko” [Review for Mathemathics and Phisics] and “Presek, list za mlade matematike, fizike, astronome in računalnikarje” [Cross-section, Journal for Young Mathematicians, Physicists, Astronomers and Computer Scientists]. The Association is active in international associations in individual fields such as European Mathematical Society (EMS), European Physical Society (EPS), International Astronomical Union (IAU), and European Astronomical Society (EAS). Furthermore, it cooperates with several associations, research organizations and pedagogical institutions in Slovenia. Since 2016, following the model of similar societies, DMFA has a special Committee for Women.

The Faculty of Arts (Filozofska fakulteta - FF) is the largest faculty of the University of Ljubljana and consists of 21 departments in the field of humanities and social sciences, as well as one physical education division, and six organisational units. The faculty currently employs approximately 680 persons and has 3,245 BA students and 1,616 MA students enrolled. It has 47 accredited study programmers at the Bachelor level and 77 at Master’s level. At the PhD level there are three interdisciplinary study programs at the level of the University of Ljubljana, and the Faculty of Arts is a responsible coordinator for 43 study fields (Gender Studies included). There are currently 21 research programmes carried on at the institution, and 10 of those are led by female researchers, and the content of 2 programs is gender related. There are also 42 research projects financed by the Slovenian Research Agency; 15 are led by women and five have gender-related content. Amongst the 73 international projects 40 are led by women, and three have gender-related content. In sum: amongst 137 projects at FF, 65 are led by women and 10 explicitly address gender-related topics. Faculty of Arts is currently undergoing the process of drafting of Gender Equality Plan within the Horizon 2020 project GEARING ROLES, which is mapping the state of affairs in career progression of women in research and academia; it deals specifically with the problem of gender imbalance in leadership and decision-making positions; it promotes integration of gender dimension in research and curricula and is working on the prevention of gender discrimination, sexism and sexual harassment in research and academic field.

The Faculty of Education (Pedagoška fakulteta - PEF), University of Ljubljana is Slovenia’s largest faculty for educating future teachers in the pre-primary, primary and secondary stage of schooling. It also offers studies in social and special education, as well as the doctoral programme. The institution employs about 150 active researchers and faculty members. Issues related to gender are part of many research projects and studies conducted at the PEF, frequently cutting across disciplines. We are currently intensively involved in the following projects, concerned particularly with questions regarding gender and gender equality: Enakost spolov na področju izobraževanja [Gender equality in the field of education] (2018-2020); Coding4Girls (Erasmus+-Coding4Girls, 2018-2020).

Faculty of social work (Fakulteta za socialno delo – FSD) is a leading institution for social work education in Slovenia. It was founded in 1955 as 2-year programme and gradually became a faculty and full member of the University of Ljubljana (UL) with providing BA, MA and PhD programmes. It also has a strong research tradition and is a partner in international and national research programmes. FSD is among the smallest faculties at the UL and consist of six departments: Social and legal sciences; Community mental health; Social work with elderly; Social justice and inclusion; Management and research; Theories and methods of help. Faculty also includes three centres: Centre for studies in drugs and addiction, Centre for practice learning and Centre for permanent education. The number of permanent staff is 45 and 32 on part-time contracts, while the number of students at all three levels of study is approx. 650 per year. We offer several courses on gender at different study levels: Gender and violence; Disability and gender in social work; Health and social work from the perspective of gender, ethnicity and disability; Social work beyond heteronormativity; Trauma, recovery and human rights in relation to disability, gender and ethnicity; Care regimes and support networks; Gender and welfare state, disability states for gender perspective: historical and comparative perspective. FSD has been participating recently in following research projects related to gender: BEING ME – Best practices for care and wellbeing education to support the needs of LGBT people as they age (2017-2020); Care work between individualisation, globalisation and socialisation (2014-2017) in partnership with Peace Institute, another member of the group Alt+G. We had adopted gender sensitive language in our documents already in 2010. That means that we use female gender in legal documents of the faculty according to the fact that approx. 90% of students are females. We have used male and female gender form 2007 to 2010.