The three-year, European co-funded project “XENIA: Higher Education Inclusiveness Index  (XENIA)“, implemented from 15^th January 2020 to 14^th January 2023, received a remarkable evaluation score of 94/100 by the ERASMUS+ Managing Authority. 

XENIA was aiming at turning HEIs into inclusive places that promote social dialogue irrespective of gender and sexual orientation, and lowering (potentially eliminating) organisational and operational barriers for equal opportunities. The project was funded by the ERASMUS+ EU program and its consortium included seven (7) partners from five (5) EU member-states, namely Italy, Ireland, Slovenia, Spain and Greece, with the DAISSy Research Group of the Hellenic Open University (HOU) as the sole Greek partner.

The project’s main outcome has been the XENIA HEI Inclusiveness Index, a comprehensive tool designed to assess Universities’ inclusiveness in combating discrimination and exclusion based on gender and sexual orientation. 

The DAISSy Researh Group of HOU was actively involved in all seven (7) Work Packages (WPs) of the project as well as in all major intellectual products and deliverables, such as the development of the Inclusiveness Index for HEIs. Furthermore, DAISSy-HOU being the only Greek partner, was responsible for the implementation of all XENIA actions in Greece, such as, the literature review and desk research, the Index’s pilot implementation, and the dissemination and exploitation of all its results. Additionally, DAISSy-HOU had the responsibility of coordinating two core WPs, namely WP3 Test Deployment and Final Validated XENIA Inclusiveness Index and WP5 Evaluation. 

Specifically, DAISSy-HOU as the WP Leader, developed the following deliverables:

XENIA Validation Plan (D3.1), ΧΕΝΙΑ Validation Report (D3.2), Final XENIA Index (D3.3), Mainstreaming Guidelines & Operational Manual (D3.4), Policy recommendations (D3.5), Assessment Strategy (D5.1), Mid-term Assessment Report (D5.2.), and the Final Assessment Report (D5.3).

The DAISSy Researh Group of HOU’s XENIA team is more than proud since, the ERASMUS+ Managing Authority characterized the XENIA deliverables as of “high quality” and provided only positive feedback for the project.

For more information about the XENIA project and on other activities of DAISSy-HOU:

• Website: http://daissy.eap.gr/en
• Facebook: @DAISSyResearchGroup
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email: info@daissy.eap.gr.

The 14th February Saint Valentine’s Day, the day dedicated to lovers, is usually celebrated worlwide. For this celebration, the Anti-Discrimination and Culture of Differences Section of the Centre SInAPSi from the Federico II University (Italy) organised a social campaign to disseminate all the forms of love with photos taken by the students themselves. The love celebrated by the staff of the section, as well as the one celebrated by the students who took part in the social campaign, is love in all its forms, a love without any kind of stereotypes and prejudices.

Some of the photos can be found on the Section’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, bulismoomofobico.it, or on the hashtag #esichestnunèamor

The involvement of the students was also a way of publicising the Xenia project. “Xenia: He Inclusiveness Index” is a project co-funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme and involves a consortium of 7 partners from 5 European countries (Ireland, Italy, Greece, Slovenia and Spain). The project aims to promote the social and educational inclusion of sexual and gender minorities in European universities by developing and implementing an innovative index to measure the inclusion of sexual and gender minorities and provide tools for each university to improve its level of inclusion.

The “XENIA: Higher Education Inclusiveness Index” is three-year project, aiming at turning Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) into inclusive places that promote social dialogue irrespective of gender and sexual orientation and lower (potentially eliminate) organisational and operational barriers for equal opportunities. It is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU and it is implemented by a consortium of 7 partners from 5 countries, with DAISSy Research Group of the HOU, being the Greek partner, responsible for two workpackages and participating in all activities.

To stay up-to-date on the progress of the project, please visit our website: www.xeniaindex.eu.

For more information on XENIA and other DAISSy projects & activities:

• Website    : http://daissy.eap.gr/en/projects/xenia/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @XENIA Erasmus+ Project
• Linkedin   : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter      : https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email        : info@daissy.eap.gr

The XENIA consortium of 7 partners from 5 European countries(Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece and Slovenia) symbolically chose the commemorating day of May 17th, the International Day Against Homo-lesbo-bi-transphobia, to start the survey administration to students at the “Federico II” University in Naples, University College Dublin in Ireland, University of Barcelona in Spain, Hellenic Open University in Greece and University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.

The date, celebrates when the World Health Organization no longer considered homosexuality as a mental illness and it is dedicated worldwide to initiatives to prevent and raise awareness against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The consortium has developed an inclusiveness index to evaluate inclusion based on gender identity and sexual orientation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in order to make Universities ‘safespace’ forall.

Students, academic staff and expertises will be asked to respond to a series of questions about their HEI in relation to five key institutional categories. Once they havecompleted the whole questionnaire they will receice an overall score summarizing the level of gender and LGBQ+ inclusion in their HEI, a report about strenghts and weaknesses and a series of best practice that can guide the progress towards their improvements.

The survey is anonymous and data collected will be processed guaranteeing the anonymity of the participants. Whats more the results will be used exclusively for the project’s purpose.

The “XENIA: Higher Education Inclusiveness Index” is three-year project, aiming at turning Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) into inclusive places that promote social dialogue irrespective of gender and sexual orientation and lower (potentially eliminate) organisational and operational barriers for equal opportunities. It is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU and it is implemented by a consortium of 7 partners from 5 countries, with DAISSy Research Group of the HOU, being the Greek partner, responsible for two workpackages and participating in all activities.

For more information on XENIA and other DAISSy projects & activities:

• Website    : http://daissy.eap.gr/en/projects/xenia/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @XENIA Erasmus+ Project
• Linkedin   : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter      : https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email        : info@daissy.eap.gr

On March 29th and 30th 2022, the fourth transnational meeting of the European project XENIAtook place at the University of Barcelona. Finally, almost 2 years of online meetings and monthly call via Zoom due to the COVID-19 travel restrictions the consortium was able to meet and work face-to-face.

Great enthusiams and collaboration animated the two working days with partners from Ireland, Greece, Slovenia, Italy and Spain thatare currently working on the implementation of the XENIA index to gauge, assess and implement the level of inclusion, equality, diversity (EDI) of women and LGBT+ peoplewithin the university context.

January 2020 marked the start of this innovative journey of Xenia He Inclusiveness Index, a three-year Erasmus + project,with SInAPSi from the University of Naples as leader of a motivated consortium, composed of organizations from 7 European Institutions all present in the meeting.

Xenia is made of committed people that put their knowledge and heart in finalizing a unique tool that can ensure that everyone can live peacefully academic life, at any level of the organization, so that the University does not become a place for a few selected group of people but a safe place where everyone can be respected and protected.

The “XENIA: Higher Education Inclusiveness Index” is three-year project, aiming at turning Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) into inclusive places that promote social dialogue irrespective of gender and sexual orientation and lower (potentially eliminate) organisational and operational barriers for equal opportunities. It is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU and it is implemented by a consortium of 7 partners from 5 countries, with DAISSy Research Group of the HOU, being the Greek partner, responsible for two workpackages and participating in all activities.

For more information on XENIA and other DAISSy projects & activities:

• Website    : http://daissy.eap.gr/en/projects/xenia/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @XENIA Erasmus+ Project
• Linkedin   : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter      : https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email        : info@daissy.eap.gr

The need to turn university environments into more inclusive spaces to any form of gender expression and sexual orientation, through an IT algorithm,is the core of the Xenia Project.

In June 2022, XENIA took part in the “Málaga Innosocial competition”, II edition, after the IT partner of the consortium Internet Web Solutions spotted the local contest organized by the Málaga Municipality together with an active local association.

The objective of “Málaga Innosocial competition”is to recognize and make visible any initiative at the local and provincial level that provides an innovative and efficient solution to unresolved social problems.

With XENIA, Technologyhas been put at the service of social change.

Currently there are no specific tools or mechanisms that systematically address stigma against sexual and gender minorities and/or marginalized groups and to promote the dynamics of social and educational inclusion of LGBT+ and cisgender women in EU higher education institutions.

The XENIA project and its platform https://www.xeniaindex.eu/ available in English, Italian, Spanish, Greek and Slovenian with an innovative algorithm, more than 50 indicators and 175 best practices offers a highly inclusive tool for all the European universities and organizations.

Fingers crossed to XENIA participation in this competition!

The “XENIA: Higher Education Inclusiveness Index” is three-year project, aiming at turning Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) into inclusive places that promote social dialogue irrespective of gender and sexual orientation and lower (potentially eliminate) organisational and operational barriers for equal opportunities. It is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU and it is implemented by a consortium of 7 partners from 5 countries, with DAISSy Research Group of the HOU, being the Greek partner, responsible for two workpackages and participating in all activities.

For more information on XENIA and other DAISSy projects & activities:

• Website    : http://daissy.eap.gr/en/projects/xenia/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @XENIA Erasmus+ Project
• Linkedin   : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter      : https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email        : info@daissy.eap.gr

During March and April 2022, the XENIA Consortium carried out the pilot study of the XENIA Index in Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain. The pilot study aimed to identify and correct potential defects and drawbacks of the XENIA tools and Index before replicatingthe test on a larger size.

Staff responsible for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, 44 students, and 13 faculty and administrative/technical workersfrom 4 Higher Education Institutions contributed to the project’s pilot phase. Participants tested the XENIA tools (matrix or survey, depending on their academic profile), reportingon their institutions’ inclusiveness across five categories: Institution, Policy & Programmes, Pedagogy and Academic Programming, Support Services, and Academic Life. Then, they were asked to evaluate the user-friendliness of the XENIA toolsand the overall ability of the XENIA Index to capture the dynamics of inclusiveness within the Institutions.

In general, in all participating countries,the pilot attracted considerable interest from the target audiences. The tools were mostly considered very good and useful to assess how the Institution is doing in relation to equality based on sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. As a result of the pilot phase, a small number ofminor amendments have been made.The more extensive test of the Index is now ongoing.All the results will be released in November 2022.

The “XENIA: Higher Education Inclusiveness Index” is three-year project, aiming at turning Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) into inclusive places that promote social dialogue irrespective of gender and sexual orientation and lower (potentially eliminate) organisational and operational barriers for equal opportunities. It is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU and it is implemented by a consortium of 7 partners from 5 countries, with DAISSy Research Group of the HOU, being the Greek partner, responsible for two workpackages and participating in all activities.

To stay up-to-date on the progress of the project, please visit our website: www.xeniaindex.eu

For more information on XENIA and other DAISSy projects & activities:

• Website    : http://daissy.eap.gr/en/projects/xenia/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @XENIA Erasmus+ Project
• Linkedin   : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter      : https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email        : info@daissy.eap.gr

Based on all the pilot Deployment inputs, and completed by the Hellenic Open University/ DAISSy Research Group, in cooperation with all the partners, the two main Deliverables of the XENIA project are out!

The Mainstreaming and Operational Manual purpose is to serve as an easy-to-use and with clear instructions guide that provides all the necessary information on how to embed the XENIA Index in any Higher Education Institution. Thus, as a reference instrument, the XENIA Mainstreaming Guidelines & Operational Manual aims at supporting any European HEI interested in using the Index and its tools to evaluate the equality and inclusiveness strategies that they adopt in order to address diversity on the grounds of sex, gender and sexual orientation within their contexts.

The set of XENIA Policy Recommendations, that also stemmed also the results of the XENIA Index implementation, target to provide valuable evidence, insight and data for Policy makers to inform and influence the formulation, design and implementation of more effective policies, programs and initiatives to promote inclusion in the Higher Education field.

Lastly, the XENIA Policy Recommendations combined with the corresponding Index, the suggested “Best practices” and the XENIA Mainstreaming and Operational Manual can become a valuable set of tools for HEIs to further develop and secure an educational environment that actively supports the participation for all on the basis of the Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) principles.

The “XENIA: Higher Education Inclusiveness Index” is three-year project, aiming at turning Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) into inclusive places that promote social dialogue irrespective of gender and sexual orientation and lower (potentially eliminate) organisational and operational barriers for equal opportunities. It is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU and it is implemented by a consortium of 7 partners from 5 countries, with DAISSy Research Group of the HOU, being the Greek partner, responsible for the two Deliverables and participating in all activities.

You can find both on the website, https://www.xeniaindex.eu/.

For more information on XENIA and other DAISSy projects & activities:

• Website    : http://daissy.eap.gr/en/projects/xenia/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @XENIA Erasmus+ Project
• Linkedin   : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter      : https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email        : info@daissy.eap.gr

The DAISSy Group of Hellenic Open University participated in the 4^th Transnational Meeting of the project XENIA, in Barcelona, 29-30 March 2022. The meeting was organized at the University of Barcelona (Deparment of Psychology) and was held in hybrid mode, with both in-person and remote attendees.

The discussion was moderated by the SInaPSi centre of the University of Naples Federico II, Coordinator of the project Consortium. After a brief overview of their joint progress so far, the Consortium partners discussed the current status of the project and their plans for the next months.

Particular attention was paid to Work Package N. 3 – Validation Plan, the completion of which is led by Hellenic Open University. The afore-mentioned work package involves the pilot implementation (in stages) of social survey tools for assessing the Inclusiveness of European academic communities as regards sex, gender and sexual orientation. The whole process will be supported by a dedicated, accessible web platform.

XΕΝΙΑ, a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission, is run by a Consortium of 7 Partners from 5 countries (Ireland, Italy, Greece, Slovenia and Spain). The project aims to promote social and educational inclusion of sexual minority and gender marginalised groups in EU HEIs, by developing and implementing an innovative inclusiveness index (“the XENIA Inclusiveness Index”) to support Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in EU HE contexts.

• Website  : http://daissy.eap.gr/en/projects/xenia/, https://www.xeniaindex.eu/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @ XENIA Erasmus+ Project
• Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter : https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram  : @daissy_researchgroup
• Email : info@daissy.eap.gr

The Deliverable 2.1 – Xenia Inclusiveness Index of the Erasmus+ project XENIA is now fully available online in English. This document describes in detail the main activities that have been performed to develop the XENIA Inclusiveness Index – Beta version (Work Package 2 of the XENIA project). It also provides information aboutthe entire assessment process for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and how the Index will work.

The Index will assist European HEIsin evaluating the equality and inclusiveness strategies that they adopt to address diversity (specifically based on sex, gender and sexual orientation) within their contexts.

The beta version of XENIA Inclusiveness Index consists of three key elements:

1. Matrix for the HE specialised personnel, consisting of a series of objective indicators that assess the inclusiveness of a HEI;
2. Survey for students and staff of HEIs to gauge the subjective perceptions of inclusiveness in the HEI;
3. XENIA Index, that is a vector index that allows to summarise the information collected and record and interpret changes in specific values of the assessment process.

XENIA is a 36-month-lasting Erasmus + project that is currently been implemented by a consortium made up of 7 partners from 5 European countries (Italy, Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, Greece). Five European Universities (one in each country directly involved in the project) are about to start the piloting test of the Index beta version.

All materials are completely free and accessible from this link: https://xeniaindex.eu/pdf/wp2.pdf

For more information on XENIA and other DAISSy projects & activities:

• Website    : http://daissy.eap.gr/en/projects/xenia/, https://www.xeniaindex.eu/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @XENIA Erasmus+ Project
• Linkedin   : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter      : https://twitter.com/daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email        : info@daissy.eap.gr

On the 28th May 2021, XENIA consortium participated in the third transnational meeting of the project. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting, originally planned in Athens, took place in online mode on the basis of an agenda developed by Sinapsi the coordinator and shared jointly by all partners.

After the greetings led by the coordinator Sinapsi, an overview of activities implemented under Work Package 2 and a special insight to XENIA Inclusiveness Index made by the IT partner Internet Web Solutions took place. In particular, partners discussed about the weighting of indicators for the objective matrix and development of indicators to capture students and staff perceptions about HE inclusiveness.

This innovative tool will calculates the score of tested HEI in each different area and overall, suggesting best practices to reinforce or improve their situation in each assessed area and overall. The results can be printed or shared on the main social networks and published in a dedicated section called ‘All Star Corner’ available anytime to ensure XENIA future sustainability.

Hellenic Open University, the responsible partner for Work Package 3 presented the activites tobe undertaken in the coming months. The work will be focused on piloting and rendering the XENIA Index – Beta version before it is official launch to the geneal public.

Xenia is a Project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission which involves a Consortium of 7 Partners from 5 countries (Ireland, Italy, Greece, Slovenia and Spain).

The project aims to promote social and educational inclusion of sexual minority and gender marginalised groups in EU HEIs, by developing and implementing an innovative inclusiveness index to support equality, diversity and inclusion in EU HE contexts.