2nd TWIN4MERIT Summer School
September 3, 2025
TWIN4MERIT International Thematic Symposium: Rethinking Research Assessment
November 4, 2025
The TWIN4MERIT project is pleased to invite the research and academic community to its fourth public webinar, continuing its exploration of excellence, equity, and responsible research assessment within European higher education.
Webinar Title: Is ‘Merit’ Truly Meritocratic?
Date: Friday, 24 October 2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:00 CET
Platform: Microsoft Teams
Meeting link: here
Speaker: Prof. Alexia Panayiotou, Associate Professor in Management and Organization Studies at the Department of Business and Public Administration, and UNESCO Co-Chair on Gender Equality at the University of Cyprus (UCY)
Webinar Description
Meritocracy is one of the most cherished academic values. The belief that advancement in academia is based on an individual’s capabilities, hard work and ‘excellence’ is so entrenched in the structures of universities that rankings, journal lists, h-indexes, and other metrics are not only unquestioned, but form a crucial part of the meritocracy myth, despite evidence that meritocracy is a flawed concept. Several critical studies have so far highlighted, not only the ideological character of meritocracy, but also how ‘reproduction and legitimization of this seemingly progressive yet destructive discourse’ (Clarke et al., 2024) perpetuates gender and other social inequalities. In our work we problematize both the concept of meritocracy and ‘excellence,’ which we see as an ‘empty signifier,’ and argue that a reconceptualization of both terms, by moving from individual to collective criteria, is one way of opening the space for re-evaluating discriminatory practices.
Why Attend
- Engage with a critical analysis of the “meritocracy myth” in academia
- Reflect on how research assessment structures reinforce inequality
- Explore collective approaches to redefining academic excellence
Duration: 1 hour (10:00 – 11:00 CET)
Structure: ~45–50 minutes presentation + 10 minutes Q&A
For further information, please contact the TWIN4MERIT team at [email protected]
This webinar is organised within the framework of the TWIN4MERIT project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 101079196).
