Abstract

Gender equality is one of the priorities of the European Union and also one of the first priory in the Research Governance of IRCCS hospitals (Italian Scientific Institute for Research, Hospitalization and Healthcare) which represents the excellence of the Italian research and the Italian National Health Service Systems. Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) are tools for planning and organizational change used by organizations to set priorities, concrete goals, and specific measures to improve gender equality within the organization and in the field of healthcare and research, following an in-depth evaluation of the current state. Research Managers and Administrators (RMAs) have to support the development of GEPs and our pilot study aims to explore the culture of gender equality in IRCCS hospitals and priority areas for future actions. We propose a survey of the gender equality perceptions in IRCCS hospital, preliminary identifying clusters of researchers' needs and identifying an initial theory-grounded framework for guiding future actions in the field, potentially overlapping other European realities.