The CSIC Equality Distinction aims to highlight and recognize CSIC institutes, centers, and units (ICUs) that have carried out significant work in gender equality. This distinction helps promote gender perspectives as a cross-cutting issue in all aspects of CSIC's operations and advances measures to eliminate barriers that women may face in their professional careers.

The first prize has been awarded to the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ), which has received €5,000 to develop future actions. In turn, the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE, CSIC-UPF) has received a runner-up award for implementing the Equality Plan, introducing innovative actions, promoting inclusive advertising, providing gender-disaggregated staff data, and fostering scientific vocations among girls through outreach activities.

The Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM-CSIC) has also been awarded with the same distinction, and the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM) has been distinguished for the aforementioned reasons and also for its staff's involvement in the design and implementation of gender equality policies.

The core action of the IBE has been the creation of the first IBE Diversity Equality Plan, to be executed during 2024-2026. IBE Diversity Committee coordinators Pilar Rodriguez, Head of Communication and Outreach of the IBE, and Daniel Richter, Principal Investigator (PI) of the Biology and Ecology of Abundant Protists lab, have been responsible for the impulse and will be involved in the management and execution of the plan in the coming years.

Recently, Tábita Hünemeier (PI of the Human Population Genomics Lab) and Judit Sainz (IBE Administrative Assistant) have joined the Diversity Committee to broaden the scope of the plan and explore the many sides of diversity within the IBE community via close collaboration with the LGTBIQA+ and BeyondAbility groups at PRBB.

From the left to the right: Daniel Richter and Pilar Rodríguez, members of the IBE Diversity Committee.
 

The CSIC has awarded the IBE Gender and Diversity Equality Plan 2024-2026

The Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), a joint center of CSIC and UPF, is strongly committed to equality, a focus that gained prominence in 2014 with the creation of its first Diversity Committee. In its first five years, the committee led awareness and training initiatives within the community.

In 2024, following its first internal gender equality survey, supported by the European project ACT on Gender (2020), the IBE Diversity Committee developed its first Gender and Diversity Equality Plan (GDEP). Endorsed by the institute’s leadership, this initiative aims to promote equality in all aspects of research and scientific life.

The GDEP aligns with the CSIC and UPF’s new Equality and Gender-Based Harassment Prevention Plans, addressing specific challenges identified at IBE. To be implemented from 2024 to 2026, it marks a step in advancing equal opportunities in science, particularly in the evolutionary biology field. Additionally, the GDEP seeks to enhance scientific excellence through diversity, in line with European policies on the matter.