Innovation Applications and Gender Balance Planning
Innovation Applications and Gender Balance Planning
One of the essential parts of a grant application today is a section on the Team and that includes looking at the skills and the gender balance of the organisation as it is at the moment, and planning for how that could become 50:50 Male to Female. That can be a challenge especially for companies with a strong science or engineering focus where the gender balance in degree courses is still dominated by males.
With my assessor hat on I am frequently reading detailed, well prepared applications for funding and it is interesting to see what happens when this area is reached.
With my assessor hat on I am frequently reading detailed, well prepared applications for funding and it is interesting to see what happens when this area is reached.
Approaches include statements like:
“We will make our interviews and application process more female friendly by using more inclusive language.”
“We will employ more women in marketing and other non-technical areas to achieve balance”
But is that a real solution? Does it really reflect an understanding of what the causes of the gender imbalance are?
We know that women are more frequently the carers for young children or elderly parents, we know that childcare costs are often more than a part-time scientific-role salary and we know that often returning to work after having kids can really be a challenge in terms of promotion.
I would prefer to see companies acknowledge these issues in their application and provide some thought-through solutions to explain why they are going to be a better employer for ALL their staff.
How about creating policies which address these issues at source? We are talking about plans for companies that have ambition to be High Growth, to often have £100m or above turnover, so it would be inspiring to see them come up with some real solutions to well-known problems!
Why not include a creche/nursery on site for all staff. Being near their children, and having those costs subsidised by your employer can make a huge difference in deciding where you are going to accept a job.
What about ensuring that promotions and bonuses are decided on performance-related metrics that take account of flexible or part-time working arrangements and are normalised against the number of hours per week you are available to your employer. This simple change would make a vast difference to how part-time staff are valued and how promotions are decided – and give greater visibility to the “extra” that part-timers often put in for free.
Dr Cait Murray-Green
CEO
Strategic Scientific Consulting
We know that women are more frequently the carers for young children or elderly parents, we know that childcare costs are often more than a part-time scientific-role salary and we know that often returning to work after having kids can really be a challenge in terms of promotion.
I would prefer to see companies acknowledge these issues in their application and provide some thought-through solutions to explain why they are going to be a better employer for ALL their staff.
How about creating policies which address these issues at source? We are talking about plans for companies that have ambition to be High Growth, to often have £100m or above turnover, so it would be inspiring to see them come up with some real solutions to well-known problems!
Why not include a creche/nursery on site for all staff. Being near their children, and having those costs subsidised by your employer can make a huge difference in deciding where you are going to accept a job.
What about ensuring that promotions and bonuses are decided on performance-related metrics that take account of flexible or part-time working arrangements and are normalised against the number of hours per week you are available to your employer. This simple change would make a vast difference to how part-time staff are valued and how promotions are decided – and give greater visibility to the “extra” that part-timers often put in for free.
There are many ways of making STEM companies attractive to female workers at all levels. It just takes a little bit of inspiration and thinking outside of the box.
Dr Cait Murray-Green
CEO
Strategic Scientific Consulting
Helping to Develop the Seaweed Industry
This has been a busy year for SSC. · 8 new clients · 2 start-ups taken from idea to pitching – they are waiting for funding at this time. · 100% success rate on grant funding applications · Doubled the size of the SSC team We have been working with several universities in Scotland, rest of UK and in Finland on a variety of market research and scoping projects across Biotech, Robotics, AI and Education support. We have been involved in 9 projects for start-ups coming from the wider entrepreneurial landscape, ranging from individuals through to established companies considering their own spin-outs. Two of them, PolyMara and ElderThrive are now awaiting funding to be able to move forward to operations and employing staff. This is a record for us, and it feels like a milestone accomplishment! The individuals have come with excellent ideas where they needed help getting business plans for funding and help putting their team together, and it has been wonderful to see the benefits of our wider reach from our expanded team helping to locate skills and resource for them. Helping fully formed companies divest ideas into new business units or spin-outs has been a new area for us, it is a different set of challenges from working with universities towards the same outcome, but no less interesting. We have had the opportunity to work with community development companies seeking ambitious outcomes and focussing on re-population of their areas and creation of quality jobs. Cait has again been involved with EU project grant assessments and we have been grant writing too, helping to plan the strategy of which grant funds to apply for as well contributing to the narrative and the editing. One of the other areas where SSC excels is being able to offer additional resource for activities such as sales , useful when a company is wanting to step into a new territory but can’t yet justify the recruitment of an employee of their own. This year we were able to work with a Finnish company WellO2 as they explored the UK market and Cait was on-hand at the Glasgow Vegan Fest assisting Naked Kimchi as they showcased their produce. Our prizes of strategy sessions for Scottish EDGE winning companies have also helped companies think about how to be efficient and effective with their time. Back in Feb we put up a blog about setting challenges and giving yourself and your company targets that are outside the pure economic zone so we’re thinking it is timely to review our own progress in that area. We have found working with community projects very interesting and therapeutic. The visit to Barra was particularly inspiring seeing how a small population can pull together and plan for the future. The expansion of the SSC team has been a large milestone, the feeling that we have achieved critical mass, assembled a team that covers all aspects of putting a business together for a range of technical areas has been useful but also a confidence boost allowing us to dream bigger for ourselves as well as our clients. Cait has been involved with Scottish EDGE as a panel judge and Ansku has continued with her role mentoring companies with NOME . Keeping active in the entrepreneurial community in Nordic and UK helps to get us out of the office and interacting with new sectors and innovations. And we have also managed to achieve our ambition of being able to take a proper summer break, stopping all business activity for a month and making sure that we all got a chance to relax, recharge and spend time in nature and with friends and family. Looking ahead to 2025 SSC feels a more busy, confident place with a really good team able to help and it feels like we are strongly aligned with our mission and ethos to help business ideas emerge and grow within a collaborative, collegiate, and supportive approach.
20 Years!
Introducing Our Team Members!
Barra Leading the Way for a Sustainable Future.
"....... a deeper understanding of our business."
You’ll be aware that SSC have a great team of skilled teaching professionals who have grown their knowledge from long careers working in industry. We have practical business experience and love to share that knowledge with others. Of course we’re very proud of what we do but it’s even better when you hear it directly from your own customers. Niina Karvinen is a project manager for the Erasmus+-funded Blueprint project called the European Social Innovation Campus, ESIC, at the Diaconia University of Applied Sciences in Finland, at their Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovations. After working with SSC on several occasions, Niina was happy to share her thoughts: “While working at Oulu University, I had the opportunity to provide Strategic Scientific Consulting courses to my PhD students and university researchers and participate myself. In the Presentation Skills and Productization of Your Own Expertise Training courses, the contents were carefully planned, identifying the needs of the individual participants and engaged students with tailored learning tasks in various ways during the courses. The participant feedback supports this finding and I was delighted with the outcomes. I still use what I learned in the classes in my everyday life, both in my work and as a PhD student! I highly recommend the customised training offered by Strategic Scientific Consulting for universities and business professionals. These training packages, together with highly talented coaches, can strengthen skills and help you make your voice and message heard”. Thanks Niina! For more information on SSC Skills for Business, Click on "Services: Courses" from this website menu
It’s now February, the darkest shortest days of the year are behind us and hopefully the weather will improve. All that periphery stuff really makes a difference to the wellbeing of a team, even if no-one suffers from SAD the extra effort of getting anywhere, or just keeping awake when all your sensory inputs are telling you to hibernate can take a toll. For businesses this is the time of the year when we often look at goals, set targets, adjust the budget plan and try to inject enthusiasm into the projects and workforce. Looking at the challenges for your company – how many of them that have been set are purely focussed on economic outcomes? How well is your company embracing and challenging itself on the environmental impact or social impact of what you are about? If you are thinking about any grant application in the coming year, you are more than likely to see sections on economic, social and environmental impact, on your plan for Net Zero and your approach to diversity. These areas are important, they are worth consideration rather than a rushed paragraph or two just before hitting submit. For us at SSC, Sustainable Development is a big thing. We truly believe that embracing a better world, with better products and a reduced inequality gap is the best route for businesses everywhere. Profit is important, but it is only part of the package. Having clarity on your status against Net Zero Scope 1, 2 and 3 is going to become increasingly important for the supply chain of all your customers. Why not get ahead on that as well? If any of these areas (Net Zero, Grant applications, Sustainable Development measurables) are important to you or you want to address them in your 2024 challenges then let us know and we can assist with a strategy session. Dr Cait Murray-Green
As business leaders, some of us are starting to get our heads around Net Zero and Scope 1, 2 and 3 requirements. Some of us will be making progress with Life Cycle Analysis; perhaps also traceability of our products and services. And others will be baffled by all the above.
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