Call for Nominations: Women in Rail Award 2024

Organised by Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE), Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail), European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), CER UNIFE, ALE.

Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail) is established by Council Regulation. It is the new European partnership on rail research and innovation established under the Horizon Europe programme and the universal successor of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking.

Award categories 

• Women Empowerment Award
  • This award recognises a European company/organisation from the railway sector that has gone the extra-mile in making gender-mainstreaming a top priority and fully integrated in its day-to-day decisions and DNA.
  • The nominee committed to a gender-equal policy that led to concrete improvements e.g. in safety, the work environment, work-life balance, education, career opportunities, care facilities etc, and took concrete measures in this respect.
  • The nominee dedicated specific resources (human and financial) to the above measures.
  • The nominee made efforts to reach out into and beyond the rail sector to promote women in rail, for example by designing info campaigns in schools and universities, hence played a substantial role in improving the image of the rail sector as an attractive place to work.
  • Note: Applications can be submitted by companies/organisations themselves or by those who were impacted or inspired by the work of the nominated company/organisation.
• Leadership and mentoring award
  • This award recognises a woman in the railway sector who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and mentoring through concrete actions for promoting women in the sector, thus making a positive impact on the company or organisation.
  • The nominee has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to promoting inclusion and diversity for example by making efforts to recruit locally, by taking specific action in order to attract a diverse workforce, e.g., by reaching out to vulnerable groups of persons in schools, universities, participating in relevant events, fairs, etc.
  • The nominee has implemented concrete actions in the workplace for more and better inclusion through mentoring and training and to make the work environment more attractive for all staff.
  • Note: Applications can be submitted by companies/organisations (nominating an individual) or by those who were impacted or inspired by the work of the nominated individuals.
• R&I in Railway Award
  • This award recognizes a female engineer or a woman working on technical aspects, from academia and/or from the railway industry with outstanding results of concrete research activities that positively impacted the European railway industry.
  • The nominee has inspired and acted as a role-model to others in their company or organisation, or to women who wish to go for a research and innovation career in the rail sector.
  • Note: Applications can be submitted by companies/organisations (nominating an individual) or by those who were impacted or inspired by the work of the nominated individuals or by the individuals themselves.

Prize Information

• Winners to receive meeting with high-level EU stakeholders; InnoTrans tickets (entry, transport, accommodation); networking opportunities within the rail community and a physical award during InnoTrans; invitation to present their initiative/project at ERA; organising webinars etc, coaching.
• Award ceremony
  • The award ceremony will take place on Wednesday 25th September at the EU stand of InnoTrans.

Who can apply?

• Applications can be made either by those who have been impacted or inspired by the work of the nominated person, team or organisation or by those inspiring persons, teams or organisations themselves, in one of the categories.
• Nominations should be based on projects or initiatives with concrete outcomes.

Eligibility Criteria

• The total duration of the project/initiative/activities/measures should be at least 1 year.
• The project/initiative/activities/measures should contribute to the Global Agenda SDG5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

For more information, visit EU-Rail.