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The European Commission report She Figures 2012: Gender in Research and Innovation shows that in most European countries, men are more likely to be successful in national research grant applications than women.

In the UK, women were successful in 24.5 per cent of their applications in 2009 compared with 28.1 per cent among men, a 3.5 percentage point difference and only a 0.2 percentage point decrease on 2005. Women on average were more successful than men in a minority of European countries including Slovenia, Luxembourg, Iceland and Norway - compared with 17 where the reverse was true.

Rates also differed between subjects. In the majority of countries, men were more likely than women to obtain funding in the natural sciences, while in engineering and technology the balance was slightly in favour of women.

The report says that the data do not establish a clear relationship between the proportion of women in a given field and their success in obtaining funding.

elizabeth.gibney@tsleducation.com