Communication channels for Gender Bias Awareness

Persistent gender inequalities in academia, particularly in senior positions within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, are well documented. Despite near parity at earlier career stages, women remain significantly underrepresented at higher academic ranks. Beyond visible disparities such as pay gaps or career progression, subtle and implicit gender biases—ranging from hiring and promotion practices to microaggressions and task allocation—play a crucial role in sustaining this imbalance. Traditional Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) implemented across European higher education institutions have not sufficiently addressed these invisible biases, nor have they been rigorously evaluated for their long-term impact.
To address this gap, we designed a large-scale Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). The aim of the RCT is to test the effectiveness of innovative communication strategies in raising awareness of subtle gender biases among academic researchers.
A total of at least 150 researchers from STEM disciplines will be randomly assigned to one of three groups:
Board Game Group – Participants will play a validated educational board game specifically designed to highlight and discuss gender biases in academia. This gamified approach fosters active engagement and peer discussion, making biases more tangible.
Video Lecture Group – Participants will watch a 20-minute lecture delivered by a certified expert, or attend a 30-minute conference-style talk, providing structured knowledge about the mechanisms and consequences of gender bias in academic settings.
Control Group – Participants will not receive any intervention, serving as the baseline for comparison.
This experimental design enables a rigorous evaluation of which communication tool—interactive gaming or traditional lecture-based learning—is most effective in fostering awareness of subtle gender biases. The insights gained will provide valuable evidence for policymakers and higher education institutions seeking to design impactful strategies that go beyond structural reforms and address the often invisible drivers of inequality.

Persistent gender inequalities in academia, particularly in senior positions within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, are well documented. Despite near parity at earlier career stages, women remain significantly underrepresented at higher academic ranks. Beyond visible disparities such as pay gaps or career progression, subtle and implicit gender biases—ranging from hiring and promotion practices to microaggressions and task allocation—play a crucial role in sustaining this imbalance. Traditional Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) implemented across European higher education institutions have not sufficiently addressed these invisible biases, nor have they been rigorously evaluated for their long-term impact.
To address this gap, we designed a large-scale Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT). The aim of the RCT is to test the effectiveness of innovative communication strategies in raising awareness of subtle gender biases among academic researchers.
A total of at least 150 researchers from STEM disciplines will be randomly assigned to one of three groups:
Board Game Group – Participants will play WAGES Academic (see: link), an established educational board game created by Stephanie Shields, specifically designed to highlight and discuss gender biases in academia. This gamified approach fosters active engagement and peer discussion, making biases more tangible.
Video Lecture Group – Participants will watch a 20-minute video delivered by a certified lecturer, or attend a conference-style talk of approximately 30 minutes. The session will provide structured knowledge about the mechanisms and consequences of gender bias in academic settings.
Control Group – Participants will not receive any intervention, serving as the baseline for comparison. To maintain participant engagement, the control group will instead attend a lecture on greenwashing, delivered in Lyon.
This experimental design allows for a rigorous evaluation of which communication tool—interactive gaming or traditional lecture-based learning—is most effective in fostering awareness of subtle gender biases. The insights gained will provide valuable evidence for policymakers and higher education institutions seeking to design impactful strategies that go beyond structural reforms and address the often invisible drivers of inequality.
It should be noted that no pre-test was administered to participants, as we considered it could introduce bias. Instead, the control group serves as the baseline, in line with the methodology applied by Chan et al. (2019). Additionally, because of concerns about participants’ daily interactions and the risk of information spillovers between groups, this approach was deemed essential to ensure the robustness of the study design.

2025-07-10

2025-07-11

A survey measuring key variables of gender bias awareness in certain areas: biases after childbirth, biases within publication, superficiality of current gender policies. General concept: measuring awareness in a scale 1 to 5 through a series of question.

A flyer was sent the participants of the 12TH EUROPEAN SOLID MECHANICS CONFERENCE. In order to get three groups:

The project consists
in randomly assigning participants in three groups:

(1) One group that plays a proven board game on gender bias on the Academia.

(2) One group that watches a 20-minute standard video/conference on gender bias by a certified lecturer.

(3) One control group with no treatment.

A flyer was sent to participants of the 12th European Solid Mechanics Conference in order to recruit volunteers for three groups.
The project consists of randomly assigning participants to one of three groups:
Board Game Group – Participants play a validated educational board game on gender bias in academia.
Video/Conference Group – Participants watch a 20-minute standard lecture or conference on gender bias delivered by a certified lecturer.
Control Group – Participants receive no treatment.

We aimed to follow the classical steps of an RCT:

Recruitment – Invitations were sent to potential participants at the 12th European Solid Mechanics Conference without fully disclosing the scope of the experiment. The workshop was presented under the theme of “Work-life balance” in order to minimize the risk of selection bias.
Randomisation – Three groups were formed from those willing to participate. Randomisation was conducted using the online tool randomizer.org. Participants were then assigned to different rooms via email instructions, according to their treatment group.
Treatment implementation – The assigned interventions were delivered only to participants in their respective groups. The board game used was WAGES Academic, developed by Stephanie Shields (https://wages.la.psu.edu/about-wages-academic/). In Lyon, Hélène Périvier delivered a live conference on gender bias in academia in place of the video lecture.

Post-test – After the intervention, a post-test was administered to all participants to evaluate the impact of the treatments. The test is described in detail in the Annex.

It should be noted that no pre-test was administered, as we considered it could introduce bias. Instead, the control group serves as the baseline, consistent with the approach of Chan et al. (2019). Additionally, due to concerns about participants’ daily interactions and the risk of spillovers across groups, this methodology was considered essential to preserve the integrity of the experimental design.

By a computer with this website:

https://www.randomizer.org

150

No

No clusters planned.

Our main target is 150, but at least 110-150

Our ideal setting: 50 researchers per arm (Game, Video/Conference, Control group).

We set on a large pilot.