FLIARA joined the SWIFT project’s online engagement webinar, Integrating a Feminist Perspective in Research Projects, on December 12, 2024, which brought together a diverse range of European initiatives to reflect on feminist methodologies and their application in research. The session, facilitated by Marta Rivera, SWIFT project coordinator, served as a valuable platform for sharing experiences, addressing challenges, and exploring innovative gender-focused approaches to research.
Louise Weir, FLIARA Project Manager, represented the project by presenting its mission of supporting women-led innovations in farming and rural areas across Europe. FLIARA’s approach of embedding gender as a core pillar and co-creating knowledge with women innovators underscores its alignment with feminist research principles.
The webinar also showcased the sister project Grass Ceiling, which complements FLIARA’s efforts by empowering rural women and increasing the visibility of socio-ecological innovations led by women in agriculture and rural communities. Together, the two projects emphasised the importance of fostering inclusive and equitable innovation ecosystems.
The session opened with an introduction to the participating projects, followed by a shared reflection on two critical questions:
- What challenges do we face while conducting and managing engaged research with society and eco-social challenges within European projects involving multiple actors?
- How is “research” understood and conducted with a gender or feminist perspective in our project? Or, how are these aspects considered, if applicable?
During the plenary discussions, participants examined challenges such as balancing diverse stakeholder goals, overcoming resource limitations, and ensuring findings are translated into meaningful outcomes. Víctor R. Martínez, a member of the FLIARA project, contributed to the discussions, emphasising the importance of intersectional and participatory approaches to research while addressing the complexities of multi-actor engagement.
The event concluded with a collective reflection on advancing feminist perspectives in research and the need for continuous collaboration to tackle eco-social challenges.
This webinar reinforced FLIARA’s commitment to feminist research methodologies and its broader vision of driving sustainable, gender-inclusive innovation in rural areas.