The REGARD workshop program is open to female researchers, i.e. assistants, PhD candidates, post-doctoral fellows, lecturers, MERs and other intermediate staff members, as well as female professors. Since 2016, some workshops have also been open to men.

During these 20 years, 59% of the participants were assistants and PhD candidates, 34% post-doctoral fellows, 5% professors and MERs and 3% had other professional status.

To all of you, a big THANK YOU! REGARD would never have existed without your participation.

Experts from different fields shared their knowledge, experiences, tools and tips with each of the participants. Many of them have participated in several editions of the program. Whether it was a professor, an actress or a coach, all the facilitators gave themselves body and soul to accompany the participants in their personal and professional challenges. 

The very first REGARD workshop was held on 19 November 2004 at the University of Lausanne; it was the workshop " There is no such thing as gender neutral teaching ". The most frequently offered workshop was "Project management for successful researchers", with a total of 15 times. Over these 20 years, a total of 342 workshops have been offered.

Very different but complementary topics were addressed such as academic career planning, research project management, communication tools or personal development. However, the workshops all had the same goal: to provide skills and tools for career management and coaching of the future generation of female researchers.

The REGARD workshop programme was initially designed as a two-year program, the first edition of which took place in the period 2004 - 2005. It was only from 2012 that it was established annually and is now in its 16th edition.

In 2004, the Gender Equality Offices of the University of Fribourg, the University of Geneva, the University of Lausanne, the University of Neuchâtel and the University of Italian Switzerland launched the REGARD workshop programme. In 2007, the program continued without the SUPSI. The HES-SO and the EPFL became partners in 2010 and 2016 respectively. Thus, there are currently 6 institutions that support the REGARD workshop program.

During these 20 years, 29% of the participants came from UNIGE, 25% from UNIL, 17% from UNIFR, 13% from UNINE, 4% from HES-SO, 9% from EPFL, 1% from SUPSI and 1% from other institutions.

The REGARD workshop program has received financial support from the Federal Programme "Equal Opportunities in Universities", together with the support of partner institutions, since its inception.

Participation has always been free of charge for researchers and professors from partner institutions. This has been made possible by a total investment of more than CHF 1.8 million over the past 20 years.