University of Galway is to lead a new research project running across 10 European countries focusing on enhancing the role of women in agriculture and rural life.
FLIARA, which stands for Female-Led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas, proposes an innovative approach to improve understanding, awareness, and recognition of women’s role in a more sustainable rural future. The project, funded under the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme, will also work towards developing more effective policy and governance frameworks that can support and enhance the capacity of women who live and work in these areas to contribute to it.
“At University of Galway, we are here for the public good,” President of University of Galway Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, said at the project launch. “This project speaks to that mission in such an important aspect of the lived experience of women in our rural communities.
“We give credit here to our colleagues in their work respecting the role of women in sustaining and maintaining rural life for the generations which have gone before us and how they are key to renewing it today and into the future. In particular, the winning of Horizon Europe funding for this project is testament to the excellence of the work and to its significance not only in Ireland but more generally. Tréaslaím leis an obair agus guím gach rath ar an togra thábhachtach seo.”
The project is being led at University of Galway by Associate Professor Maura Farrell.
“To overcome Europe’s rural challenges and embrace potential opportunities, there is a need for all individuals and communities to participate in rural innovation,” Professor Farrell said. “Traditionally, rural women’s employment opportunities and contribution to innovation has been overshadowed, and often suppressed, by a patriarchal ethos.”
FLIARA is a three year project, which aims to combine futures and case study methods, alongside network building and policy benchmarking, while being underpinned by a co-created conceptual and assessment framework. It will actively involve female farmers and female rural entrepreneurs.
