Are you planning to apply for a funding programme that requires you to consider gender and inclusion? Do you want to make your research more gender-sensitive and inclusive? Then you have come to the right place!
This section of our support package will guide you step by step through the entire (research) project cycle. We highlight common challenges, offer practical advice, and explain what to keep in mind when integrating gender and inclusion throughout your innovation process.
The most important thing to understand is: inclusion isn’t an add-on – it needs to be embedded at every stage of the innovation process.
Not sure where to start?
Use the infographic below as the main navigation through the project cycle. If you prefer a text-based overview, open the quick orientation guide here. The downloadable PDF also includes this guide at the beginning.
| If you want to… | Start here |
|---|---|
| understand what Inclusive Gendered Innovation means and why it matters | Introduction and key terms |
| check whether sex, gender, or diversity dimensions are relevant to your idea | Step 1: Idea & Initiation |
| design a funding proposal that integrates inclusion from the beginning | Step 1: Project design, team, and proposal preparation |
| understand users, target groups, samples, or data more inclusively | Step 2: Analysis |
| develop concepts, solutions, products, services, or guidelines with stakeholder input | Step 3: Concept |
| prototype, test, implement, or refine your solution inclusively | Step 4: Implementation |
| communicate results, support uptake, and plan sustainability | Step 5: Dissemination & Sustainability |
| keep inclusion visible throughout the project | Ongoing: Management, Monitoring & Reflection |
| clarify concepts such as sex, gender, diversity, intersectionality, SG&DA, IGI, or IGIP | Glossary |
Start with four questions:
- Who is affected?
- Who might be excluded or affected differently?
- Which sex, gender, or diversity dimensions may matter?
- How will your project design, methods, team, analysis, implementation, and dissemination respond to this?
Applying for a funding programme with a strong gender and inclusion dimension? Our practical advice can help. The infographic below guides you step by step through the entire (research) project cycle. Click on any box in the figure to explore each step in detail.
This part of the Support Package is based on the case studies we conducted within the INSPIRE project for Vinnova (Reidl and Beranek, 2025) FFG (Schiffbänker and Walker 2025), The European Commission (Holzinger et. al 2025 and FONRID (Wienand and Araki et. al 2025) and on the comparative perspective of the ecosystem perspective (Karaulova et al. 2025. Moreover, we included our own experience with inclusive gendered innovation projects.