About Lead-Jordan project

Lead-Jo fostered long-term strategic links between UCEM, Philadelphia University, and other key partners from Jordanian HEI, governmental institutions, civil institutions, and NGOs for sustainable work on gender equality in leadership positions within Jordanian HEI. The outcomes created more extensive networks, enabling the partners to collaborate and create future research initiatives by providing a solid base for research in gender equality at the leadership level within higher education institutions and industry. It significantly led to knowledge transfer and a better understanding of local challenges and problems. ​

Furthermore, the proposed project helped build relationships for future joint research funding bids, post-grad study, and Transnational Educational Delivery in the area of gender equality. Gender equality at the leadership level remained a critical area for improvement with a broad range of complex factors that had yet to be resolved. Exploring training and capacity development options and accrediting Jordanian efforts regarding gender equality in top management was possible to align them with global best practices for equality. ​The partnership helped UK partners, through PI contact, lead the gender debate in the region and guide local institutions in improving progress toward Equality in Jordanian Higher Education and Leadership via societal and structural changes.

Higher Education institutions typically focus on providing access and support to females rather than measuring their progress and success. Cultural differences aside, there appear to be fundamental challenges at play that only a Gender Equality Partnership can address. Therefore, this project aims to investigate and implore barriers by investigating ostensibly structural and societal factors.

Project Deliverables

The expected outcomes of the project are:

1. Capacity development of Early career researchers through interaction with PIs, multi-disciplinary knowledge sharing, and cross-country comparisons. One of the critical outcomes includes participating in early career researchers from Jordan. We expect them to acquire technical and professional skills in the project and disseminate it to academic contacts.

2. Development of a research roadmap, including an outline action plan for further research in the area of gender equality in the short, medium and long terms

3. Development of research links with UK researchers will help better appreciation of best practices and will allow for comparative studies.

4. The proposed project will help integrate multiple disciplines focusing on gender diversity, justice, and equality for leadership roles in High Education Institutions in Jordan. It will provide a critical forum to bring together early career researchers and professionals with expertise in various methodical, cultural, social and organizational evidence-based approaches to ensure the development of multidisciplinary approaches in tackling gender equality challenges.

5. Recommendations to institutions on how to improve gender equality in higher education

6. Open access Journal articles and conference papers

Our Six Funded Projects on Gender Equality

In the built environment sector, one of the world’s most significant challenges still prevails – gender equality. UCEM is proud to have won SIX externally funded research grants from the British Council, which will explore this topic and could influence and champion change for gender equality. UCEM is one of the most prominent universities to research gender quality when it comes to externally funded projects, and has now received five research grants from the British Council on this topic. What’s more, through partnerships with other universities based across the world, this project has effectively become a nexus of six countries collaborating to investigate gender equality in detail.

Research is vital and is an answer to many growing issues around us today but it is extremely difficult or sometimes impossible to pursue it without dedicated funds. Therefore, the 6 prestigious and very competitive grants that we have won from the British Council worth £150,000 on the extremely important topic of Gender Equality, specifically in Brazilian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Pakistani and Vietnamese education and industry sectors will ensure the projects are delivered in this complicated area along with capacity building to create awarenessa and wider impact in these countries. These projects will set up consortiums of critical stakeholders who will investigate, collect and analyse data from partner countries, publish outcomes, build the capacity of relevant people, and ensure that this project delivers substantial and lasting change in gender equality.

Please Find more information about our current and previous projects by visitng: 

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Our Project Team

Find out about our project Team at:

The team consists of UK and Jordanian PIs:

Dr Muhammad Rana (UK): m.rana@ucem.ac.uk

Dr Ala'a Alshdiefat (Jordan): ahlam_sh@hu.edu.jo

Dr Wendy Finlay (UK): w.finlay@ucem.ac.uk

Our Recent Publications (Free Access)

Explore our latest publications, results, and relevant articles in the area of Gender Equality

1. "Exploring the Underlying Barriers for the Successful Transition for Women from Higher Education to Employment in Egypt: A Focus Group Study" Social Sciences 13, no. 4: 195. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci13040195

2. "Factors Impacting Women Gaining Leadership Roles in the Jordanian Construction Sector: Architects and Civil Engineers" Buildings 14, no. 4: 944. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14040944

3. "Gender Equality in Architecture and Construction: An Assessment Framework at the Institutional and Sectoral Levels in Jordan" Buildings 14, no. 3: 764. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14030764

4. "Sustainable Gender Equality: A Comparative Perspective on STEM Education and Employment in Jordan" Sustainability 16, no. 6: 2273. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16062273

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