INCLUDE: Partnerships and impact on diversity, equity, and inclusion

External partnerships play a critical role in shaping higher education pedagogy, curriculum design and institutional transformation, particularly when addressing complex inequalities that extend beyond institutional boundaries. This paper examines how collaboration between universities, research organisations and community partners can support inclusive organisational change and education design. Using the European Union Horizon-funded INCLUDE project as a case study, it explores how intersectional and intersectoral partnerships enable higher education institutions to generate impact beyond the academy. Persistent gender bias remains embedded in biomedical research and medical education, and women continue to be underrepresented in university leadership positions across Europe. Traditional approaches to inequality have often overlooked the ways in which intersecting identities including gender, race, disability, class and age shape participation, knowledge production and career progression. An intersectional framework provides a more comprehensive understanding of these overlapping dynamics. Related work on research and innovation networks suggests that structured collaboration across institutions can embed diversity, equity and inclusion principles into organisational learning and capacity-building practices. However, a significant gap remains regarding how partnership models can be systematically designed to operationalise intersectionality within higher education and medical research contexts. This paper draws on preliminary findings from the INCLUDE project, in which existing Gender Equality Plans across partner institutions are systematically assessed. The study also analyses relevant literature and identifies examples of good practice that support the adoption of intersectional approaches within institutional change processes in the medical research and innovation sector and higher education institutions. By examining this collaborative model, the paper contributes to discussions on how external partnerships can support sustainable, inclusive transformation across research and education systems.