Women lead many of today’s groundbreaking scientific initiatives, tackling some of society’s toughest challenges.

Science benefits from diversity and inclusion. Yet, gender bias is still a major issue.  Take heart failure trials, for example—over a span of more than 15 years, men were included three times more often than women.

Science needs to change, fast, to reflect the world we live in.

Through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) research funding programme, women scientists are addressing these gaps, breaking barriers, and changing the way we understand the world—making sure science works for everyone.

Carrying forward Marie Skłodowska-Curie’s legacy, they’re proving that when women lead in science, the whole of society benefits.

As Skłodowska-Curie once said: “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.” These scientists are helping us understand — and change — the world for the better.

Here are five inspiring women-led projects addressing urgent issues, from medical research to social inequality — proving that curiosity, determination and inclusion can lead to meaningful change.

Helping migrant women get the education they deserve

Education is power. But, for many migrant women, barriers to literacy stand in the way of empowerment and inclusion. The Gender, Migration and Illiteracy: Policy and Practice for Social Integration (GEMILLI) project, led by MSCA fellow Margarida Martins Barroso, is focusing on this issue.

GEMILLI looks at the experiences of migrant women learning a new language and culture, showing the challenges of gender, migration and literacy. The project highlights how public policies often overlook the realities these women face — treating them as a single group, rather than individuals with diverse challenges. More than just identifying problems, GEMILLI pushes for solutions, calling for more inclusive systems that make education accessible for all.

Rethinking care work: it is time for a change

Care work — mostly done by women — is often undervalued, underpaid or even unpaid. The Civil Society Organizations and the Politics of Long-Term Care Reform (AGenDA) project, led by Rossella Ciccia, is fighting to change that.

As Europe’s population ages, care policies need a major rethink. Right now, women are at a disadvantage — both as caregivers and as those most likely to need care later in life. The AGenDA project examines how gender, migration and social inequalities shape care systems, advocating for fairer cost-sharing and gender-sensitive policies.

AGenDA is bringing new perspectives to the table; helping create a future where caregiving is fairly supported, and care systems work for everyone.

Fighting gender bias at birth

In some parts of the world, people still prefer sons over daughters. The consequences? Gender imbalances, social inequalities and even increased violence against women.

The GlobalKnoT project, led by MSCA fellow Laura Rahm, examines how global programmes—especially those led by the United Nations—are working to stop gender-biased sex selection and female genital mutilation.

These interventions range from social campaigns to large-scale data monitoring efforts that track harmful gender norms.

By working with policymakers, communities and international organisations, GlobalKnoT is helping to show new ways to protect women and girls— turning research into real-world impact.

Closing the gender gap in leadership

Women make up half the workforce, yet they only hold 17% of senior leadership positions in the EU. One reason? Leadership is still seen through a mainly male-dominated lens. The WOMLEAD project, led by MSCA-fellow Caren Goldberg, is searching to change that.

The project looks at how leadership is measured and why traditional models favour masculine traits. It focuses on the concept of servant leadership, which values ethical, relational and emotional qualities higher – traits often associated with women. By shifting the ways, we assess leaders and training people in soft skills, WOMLEAD aims to challenge biases and make leadership more inclusive

A simple idea with big potential: redefine leadership, and the gender gap starts to close.

Making universities safer for everyone

Sexual harassment and gender-based violence in academia often go unreported, leaving victims without support and, most importantly, institutions not being held to account. Project UniswithHeart is working to change that.

By connecting survivors, creating zero-tolerance policies and pushing for institutional reforms at tertiary education institutions, this MSCA-funded project, led by Ana Vidu, is making universities a safer and more inclusive space. One of its achievements is the creation of student-led support networks that help survivors of gender-based violence navigate the complex reporting systems and challenge the institutionalised barriers victims have to face.

With their research spanning multiple countries and through fostering collaborations with policymakers, UniswithHeart is proving that real change is possible and achievable, if institutions put people first.

Celebrating Women in Science

Want to learn more about how the EU is supporting women in science and promoting gender equality in research? Check it out here: Gender in EU Research and Innovation – European Commission.

For more information about MSCA funding and projects, check out our webpage.

• Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen joins EIB Group President Nadia Calviño to start laying the foundations of a pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing. This initiative underlines the importance of ensuring more affordable and sustainable housing in a productive economy.
• At EIB Forum, EIB Group announced upcoming launch of the EIB Action Plan to support housing, which includes a new housing one-stop-shop portal to provide advice and finance to support innovation in the construction sector, build affordable homes and invest in energy efficiency and the renovation of housing stock across Europe. EIB plans investments of around €10 billion over next two years.
• EIB Action Plan and one-stop shop portal are key building blocks of the pan-European investment platform that the European Commission and the EIB are working on and that are open to other players such as national promotional banks and international financial institutions.

The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group are partnering with Europe’s national promotional banks (NPBs) and international financial institutions (IFIs) to develop new financing opportunities for affordable and sustainable housing across Europe. At the EIB Group Forum in Luxembourg today, EIB Group President Nadia Calviño and European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen underlined the importance of tackling one of the most pressing concerns of citizens and governments in the European Union. They advocated a pan-European push that brings together local and national, public and private actors to catalyse finance and urgent action under the Commission’s upcoming European Affordable Housing Plan.

Their call comes as the EIB Group completes work on an Action Plan for Affordable and Sustainable Housing with planned investments of around €10 billion over the next two years. The EIB Plan will support local and national efforts to build more affordable homes, renovate existing housing stock to be more energy efficient and encourage more sustainable and innovative building materials and equipment. The EIB also launched a housing portal, a one-stop shop to support final beneficiaries to access advice and finance. The EIB Group’s investment aims to deliver 1.5 million new or renovated housing units across Europe. The EIB Action Plan and the portal are key building blocks for the pan-European investment platform, which will be open to other players such as NPBs and IFIs. The Council of European Development Bank has also signalled its interest in participating.

Speaking at a special event on housing at the EIB Group’s annual Forum titled “Investing in a more Sustainable and Secure Europe”, President Nadia Calviño said: “Being able to afford a comfortable and warm home is a wish that unites every family and every community in Europe. Helping to make that possible for our citizens is a social responsibility and a fiscal challenge. It is also the foundation of any productive economy. That’s why we at the EIB Group and the European Commission are working full speed on a pan-European initiative that will be open for others to join.”

In his opening remarks at the EIB Group Forum, Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen said: “Ensuring more affordable and sustainable housing is a pressing issue. The Commission will enable Member States to increase cohesion funds for affordable housing and ensure our state-aid rules better support our goal of achieving more affordable housing. The EU is already mobilising substantial funding, for example via the Recovery and Resilience Facility But we will not stop there. Today we are kicking off the work with the EIB, national promotional banks and international financial institutions towards a pan-European investment platform to attract more public and private funding for housing.  And, together with the European Parliament, we will consult intensively with Member States, cities, regions and all stakeholders to deliver the European Affordable Housing Plan.”

The lack of affordable housing in Europe, particularly in larger cities, is highlighted as an increasing concern in relation to Europe’s economic growth and productivity in the EIB Group’s investment survey based on feedback from around 13,000 European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  The report, presented this week at the Forum, also notes low productivity and insufficient innovation in the European construction sector, adding to the cost and time of delivering housing projects. At the same time, the cost of energy and the impact of carbon-dioxide emissions are also a concern.  Two-thirds of household energy consumption are used for heating homes and, with 46 million Europeans living in energy poverty, the energy efficiency of Europe’s housing stock is a key focus.

Working closely with the Commission and its new Task Force for Housing in the context of the European Affordable Housing Plan, as well as Member States, regions, cities and NPBs and IFIs, the EIB Group aims to raise the supply of affordable and sustainable housing in the EU. The approach rests on four pillars, which provide the general framework for the measures described further below:

• Partnerships with the European Commission and NPBIs/IFIs for easier access to finance and advice, based on complementarity with existing structures and products.
• EU-wide rollout: widening the regional scope of EIB Group support with an emphasis on EU countries with less mature housing systems and large unmet needs, where an enhanced advisory component will complement financing.
• Value-chain approach: opening up to new types of housing projects – from innovation in construction to real-estate development to ownership, with policy safeguards.
• Mobilisation of private sector: expansion of the client base to include private, for-profit promoters

In July 2024, the EIB Group’s newly established Housing Task Force organised a kick-off event featuring around 300 public and private stakeholders to discuss scaling up financial support for affordable and sustainable housing throughout the EU. The event was followed by technical meetings in the autumn with stakeholders to help shape a pan-European investment platform alongside the Commission.

Background information

The European Commission is already active on housing, with support through the Recovery and Resilience Facility, Cohesion Policy Funds, InvestEU, LIFE and Horizon Europe, among others.

As outlined in the mission letter of Commissioner Jørgensen, the Commission will publish its first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan. The plan will offer technical assistance to cities and Member States and focus on investment and skills needed. The Commission will in particular develop a European Strategy for Housing Construction to support housing supply, establish a pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing, conduct an analysis of the impact of housing speculation, support Member States to double the planned cohesion policy investments in affordable housing, tackle systemic issues with short-term accommodation rentals and make proposals to tackle the inefficient use of the current housing stock and revise state-aid rules to enable housing support measures, notably for energy efficiency and social housing.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight core priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, the capital markets union, and a stronger Europe in a more peaceful and prosperous world.

The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security.

All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Almost 60% of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.

Fostering market integration and mobilising investment, the Group supported a record of over €100 billion in new investment for Europe’s energy security in 2024 and mobilised €110 billion in growth capital for startups, scale-ups and European pioneers. Approximately half of the EIB’s financing within the European Union is directed towards cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower than the EU average.

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The European automotive sector is at critical turning point, challenged by rapid technological changes and increasing competition. To address the changes ahead, President von der Leyen in January launched a Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the European Automotive Industry, a collaborative and inclusive process designed to tackle the sector’s most pressing challenges. The Commission today puts forward an Action Plan, which builds on the Strategic Dialogue, and presents concrete actions that will ensure a robust and sustainable automotive sector and help unleash its innovative power. To maintain a strong european production base and avoid strategic dependencies, we will make available €1.8 billion to create a secure and competitive supply chain for battery raw materials, which will help support the growth of the European automotive industry.

Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said:

“There is so much untapped potential at the global market, when it comes to innovation and clean solutions. I want to see our European automotive industry taking the lead. We will promote domestic production to avoid strategic dependencies, especially for batteries production.  We will stick to our agreed emissions targets, but with a pragmatic and flexible approach. Our mutual aim is a sustainable, competitive, and innovative car industry in Europe that benefits our citizens, our economy, and our environment.”

Accelerating Innovation and Clean Mobility Transition

EU automotive companies are falling behind on key technologies. To help the industry lead in the transition towards AI-powered, connected and automated vehicles, the Action Plan presents a gear-shift. A dedicated European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance will bring together Europe‘s automotive stakeholders to shape the development of next-generation vehicles and help develop the shared software and digital hardware needed to bring this technology to life. Large-scale testbeds and regulatory ‘sandboxes’ will provide innovators with the freedom to test and refine their technologies for autonomous vehicles. The Commission will further develop the regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles. These actions will be supported by joint public-private investments of around €1billion backed by the Horizon Europe Programme over the 2025-2027 period.

Today’s Action Plan is accompanied by the Decarbonise Corporate Fleets Communication highlighting best practice examples and encouraging Member States to take further actions to green corporate fleets, which account for around 60% of new car registrations.

More flexibility for CO2 Standards compliance

The Commission has taken note of the clear demand for more flexibility in relation to CO2 targets and is committed to addressing this issue in a balanced and equitable manner. The Commission will propose a focused amendment to the CO2 Standards Regulation for cars and vans this month. The amendment, if adopted, would enable car manufacturers to meet their compliance targets by averaging their performance over a three-year period (2025-2027), allowing them to offset any shortfalls in one or two years with excess achievements in the other year(s), while keeping the overall ambition on the 2025 targets. The Commission will also accelerate work on the preparation of the foreseen review of the CO2 Standards Regulation for cars and vans.

In parallel, the Commission is working on ways to boost the demand for European zero-emission vehicles. The Action Plan includes measures that will provide incentives to switch to zero-emission vehicle and strengthen consumer trust through concrete measures, such as improved battery health and repairability.

The Commission will actively work with Member States to optimize these incentive schemes for consumers.

Supporting Supply Chain Resilience and Workers in the Sector

It is crucial that Europe achieves cost-competitive EU cell production that would cover a large part of the supply of batteries and generate European value-added along the supply chain. The Commission will further support the EU battery industry and help it maintain a strong European production base, with financing under the Innovation Fund. The Commission will also look into direct production support to companies producing batteries and non-price criteria for components such as resilience requirements.

To help the EU automotive sector address the challenges related to skills shortages, mismatches and an ageing workforce, the European Fair Transition Observatory, as launched with the Clean Industrial Deal, will develop and collate data, to help pinpoint expected future “hot spots” of employment dislocations and skills gaps. The Commission will expand the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) support to make it faster and broader, allowing companies to trigger support and supporting workers threatened by immediate redundancy. Additionally, the Commission will work with social partners and Member States to increase European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) funding for the automotive sector, supporting workers who want to reskill and look for new job opportunities. The Commission will also use the mid-term review of ESF+ to incentivise Member States to reprogramme more funding for the automotive sector. Furthermore, as announced in the Pact for Skills, the Commission will propose a reinforced initiative to support workers in strategic sectors like the automotive industry, focusing on upskilling and reskilling programs.

Boosting the Industry’s Resilience to Compete Successfully on a Global Stage

To make the EU automotive industry more resilient to fierce competition from overseas, the Commission will ensure a level playing field by using trade defence instruments, such as anti-subsidy measures, to protect European companies from unfair competition. At the same time, negotiations with partner countries will continue, to enhance market access and sourcing opportunities for the automotive industry. Additionally, the Commission will propose measures to ensure that foreign investments in the EU automotive sector contribute to the industry’s long-term competitiveness, while working to reduce the administrative burden on European automakers through regulatory simplification.

Background

Today’s Action Plan is the result of an inclusive and collaborative process, which involved multiple discussions and stakeholder engagement initiated through the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the Automotive Industry launched by President Ursula Von der Leyen on 30 January 2025. The plan also drew on insights from an open public consultation on the future of the European automotive industry, as well as the work of several Working Groups led by Commissioners Šefčovič, Hoekstra, Séjourné, Virkkunen, Mînzatu and Tzizikostas.