Horizon Europe Program

Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) is strongly committed to gender equity among its staff and throughout the research system. Current and future gender equity measures are applied in accordance with the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program definition, including equivalencies with the Gender Equality Plan.

Compliance of INRS measures and policies

These three policies guide INRS regulations and tools on gender equality, including three of the five themes suggested by the Horizon Europe Program:

Gender balance in leadership and decision-making

Gender equality in recruitment and career progression

Measures against gender-based violence, including sexual harassment

The other two themes (work-life balance and organizational culture and the integration of gender into research and teaching content) will be covered by activities developed in 2025, as described in the section “Planned developments regarding gender equality at INRS.”

Existing documentation

INRS has produced three public documents adopted by its Board of Directors, the objectives of which meet the requirements of the Horizon Europe Program:

Sexual Violence Policy

Harassment, Discrimination, and Incivility Policy

Policy on equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Equal opportunity employment and employment equity programs

INRS is subject to the equal access to employment and employment equity programs of the governments of Québec and Canada. These programs impose gender representation targets in the various professional categories at INRS, which must be reported on a triennial basis for each program.

Dedicated resource

Since 2020, INRS has had an equity, diversity, and inclusion advisor on staff. This person works full time to transform the organizational culture and practices to make them more inclusive and equitable for women and other minority groups in a university setting.

Strengthening gender equity skills

The Policy Against Sexual Violence (VACS) requires all members of the INRS community to complete annual training on sexual violence.
The INRS Human Resources Department organizes an annual month of awareness-raising and training activities on harassment, discrimination, and incivility.
The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Advisor offers personalized support to members of the INRS community to meet their specific needs, as well as regular training on gender equality tied to the following topics:

• Awareness of the concepts of equity, diversity, and inclusion

• Recruitment and the inclusion of diversity in teams

• Best practices in equity, diversity, and inclusion in research

Planned developments regarding gender equity at INRS

The following measures complement the information described above and will meet the other requirements of the Horizon Europe Program.

Institutional Action Plan on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

This action plan, developed through extensive consultation within the institution, will ensure the continuity of the first EDI Action Plan (2020–2024) while broadening the topics covered.

See the 2025-2030 Action Plan 2025-2030

Additional topics include:

Work-life balance and organizational culture
Integration of gender mainstreaming in research and teaching content

In addition, this action plan incorporates numerous training objectives, thus covering all the themes recommended by the Horizon Europe Program.

Rollout of a new self-identification tool by the Human Resources Department

The rollout of a new human resources management portal, scheduled for the 2025 calendar year, includes a secure self-identification module that will be offered to all INRS staff.

This new tool will enable the production and sharing of an annual report on targets and progress in terms of gender representation within the various professional categories. The report will include the same exercise carried out for the student community based on institutional data already available.

Learn more about the document on conformity with the requirements for implementing a gender equality plan for the Horizon Europe program.

View the document (PDF)

Have questions? Write to us confidentially at

edi@inrs.ca