The Elinor Ostrom Fund
Creating an inclusive environment at SBE
Inclusivity is one of SBE's core values. Here at SBE, we believe that diversity makes for a stronger, more creative and innovative community. Thus, it is one of our priorities to create an inclusive environment where all members of our community feel welcomed and can thrive.
As part of our commitment to inclusivity, SBE supports the Elinor Ostrom Fund. The Fund, which was founded by Professor Lisa Brüggen in 2014, supports female scholars in an effort to increase diversity at Maastricht University's School of Business and Economics.
Providing support via grants and community building
One way the Fund supports female academics is through grants. These grants are designed to support female academics in the early stages of their careers. The grants may be used to fund costs such as research or teaching assistance, a research visit abroad, research expenses, teaching innovations, administrative support, a student assistant, coaching or other activities that help the applicants in their careers.
The Elinor Ostrom Fund also organises several workshops and social events throughout the year. The goal of these activities is to create a strong network of female academics who can support each other and learn from one another.
In the spotlight
Research on willingness to get vaccinated against Covid-19
In a recent discussion paper, Elinor Ostrom grantee Roselinde Kessels together with colleagues Jeroen Luyten, Sandy Tubeuf identify the predictors associated with the willingness to get vaccinated against Covid-19 once a vaccine becomes available. They find that the majority of Belgians intend to vaccinate, though uptake is lower in groups at lower risk of severe forms of Covid-19.
Gender equality in academia: creating an environment where all talent can flourish
In a recent article, several SBE academics discuss some of the reasons behind the striking gender imbalance in academia.
Fall 2020 Elinor Ostrom grant winners announced!
Congratulations to Carla Haelermans, Ines Wilms, Julia Kensbock, Katrin Marchand and Sonja Fransen who were recently awarded Elinor Ostrom grants!
There is not one cause for the issue, so you can’t work with just one solution. It is a challenging and multi-faceted problem. Yes, some women opt out of academia; however, you can also say that some women opt out under a system that we have created
I think that there are still many leaders within academia that are quite traditional and thus do not assign value to output other than hard-core economic publications. This can be a disadvantage for women who are often good in multiple output fields, such as teaching, social impact work and leadership, but may not excel in publishing hard-core economic papers
To transform the academic pipeline and to stop losing female talent, we need to change the culture to make it inclusive. To do that, we need to transform its leadership. The leadership needs to understand how to create an inclusive academic environment
