Institutional declaration #8M2025 of the Government of Catalonia

Institutional declaration on 8 March, International Women’s Day

On 8 March, International Women’s Day, we come together to assert, more than ever, the strength of the feminist movement as a driver of change and social transformation. We celebrate the progress made and recognise the struggles overcome, but we also give visibility to the persistent difficulties in the search for real equality and warn of the danger of setbacks in the face of a reactionary wave that is already upon us.

Feminism, as a movement of all women and based on diversity, has been a beacon of hope, creating spaces for reflection and action in our towns and cities, where more and more people recognise themselves as part of a great movement that fights to build more just, equal and inclusive societies.

This transformative force has empowered women, broken down barriers and established new horizons for freedom and equality. Regulatory developments and organised demonstrations have been fundamental in building a world where women’s voices are being heard with increasing power.

Thanks to the feminist movement, significant progress has been made in sexual and reproductive rights and labour rights. And care work has also been placed at the centre of the political and social agenda. However, there are still many global challenges to be faced, such as the wage gap, the vulnerability and feminisation of poverty, the lack of real co- responsibility of men in reproductive and care tasks, the low representation of women on boards of directors, the double discrimination of racialized women and gender-based violence.

Despite persistent difficulties, we have managed to earn positions of economic, political and cultural power. The increase of women in leadership positions in institutions, companies and organisations, as well as the passing of laws for equal pay, are signs that this transformative force continues to break glass ceilings and eradicate sticky floors.

The intersectional feminist approach has become a key tool on the road to progress in the achievement of collective social rights, in the development of public policies that guarantee the rights of all citizens and in building a more equal, just and democratic society.

And we cannot forget that in the last decade we have witnessed demonstrations against gender-based violence that have been a firm and united cry against patriarchal values, which highlight the sexual and structural abuse present in all areas of our lives.

But despite this progress, we still have many obstacles, challenges and resistance to overcome in order to achieve real equality.

We cannot ignore that extremist and reactionary positions have arisen that, from a point of view of anti-feminism, want to dismantle the conquests that have cost us so much. Neo- masculinity, a kind of masculinity that allies itself with fascist and ultra-conservative right- wing views and that disguises itself in new strategies that use social networks to generate hatred and division, constitutes a growing threat to women’s rights and our freedom. This new masculinity has a particularly harmful impact on young people, who need spaces of feminist empowerment and resistance more than ever. In fact, according to the results of the second 2024 Sociopolitical Survey by the Register of Opinion Studies (CEO), more than half of men aged 16-24 strongly or somewhat agree that the feminist movement has gone too far.

Throughout the world, especially in conservative contexts, feminism has faced a harsh attack. All developments in women’s rights are threatened by restrictive laws and speeches that question the rights gained.

In many corners of the world, war and armed conflict continue to be the most gruelling face of inequality and violence. Palestinian, Afghan, Syrian, Ukrainian and other conflict-affected women suffer not only the destruction of their lands and communities, but also a double oppression: war violence combined with patriarchal oppression. To them, to their silenced voices, to their struggles for survival and their rights, we give our support and express our solidarity.

Today, we have many reasons to call upon all administrations to continue working towards gender equity: the Government of the Generalitat, provincial councils, county councils and all city councils. We know that our communities are the closest spaces of transformation and from where we can build creative, efficient and social strategies to confront this reactionary counterattack. Let’s continue to make progress on the road to equality, with a firm commitment to creating institutional, social and political feminist frameworks throughout the country that protect the rights of all women and girls.

It is essential to weave alliances between feminist and women’s groups, environmental groups, anti-racist groups and other progressive organisations to strengthen the power of our common struggles. These alliances must be accompanied by transformative public policies and proposals. We must join forces in our struggle, because equality is not only a right, but also a tool for social change for the whole of society.

We will move forward, not only for the past that has made us strong, but for the future we want to build together. A future in which gender equity is a reality.

For a feminist future. For a freer and more egalitarian society.

Feminists today, feminists always.

 

 

Annual Report 2023

We present the 2023 annual report, highlighting the advances and achievements made by the CERCA Institution. During 2023, I-CERCA continued to support CERCA centres, promoted collaboration activities, training, and facilitated knowledge transfer and synergy creation.

A significant part of the year’s activity focused on developing actions aimed at promoting and communicating knowledge transfer within the CERCA System. These activities are linked to the strategic plan for innovation and knowledge transfer promoted by the Department of Research and Universities through the Directorate General for Transfer and Knowledge Society.

It is also worth mentioning the campaign ‘At CERCA, the future is our present,’ which aims to disseminate and bring the Catalan research centre system closer to the public.

Plan to boost knowledge transfer and innovation in social sciences and humanities

The program to boost innovation in social sciences and humanities aims to promote the transfer of knowledge and innovation in the social sciences and humanities centres of the CERCA system (CED, CREI, IBEI, ICAC, ICP, ICRPC and IPHES).

Dr. Jessica Meijer, head of innovation and business development at LURIS, the transfer unit of Leiden University, collaborates with the institution CERCA to carry out the programme. It was launched in January 2024, and it is based in training and knowledge of good international practices.

A collection of videos explain the project through interviews with members of the centres, Jessica Leiden and CERCA staff.

Annual Report 2022

If the year 2021 can be considered to have marked the turning point in the evolution of I-CERCA, advancing the system of centres towards a European model, the year 2022 has meant the consolidation of the research and development model in Catalonia with the approval of the Science Law on 21 December. The long-awaited new law provides the system and, therefore, the CERCA centres with the legal and economic tools necessary to develop and compete within the international scientific community and defines the CERCA centres and the Fundació Institució dels Centres de Recerca de Catalunya as members of the CERCA system.

This was also the year in which two training actions were launched that will define the evolution of the system in the coming years. The first is the ÀGORA training program, aimed at the management group of the centres. The program includes different topics of interest ranging from the update in labour legislation to the push for internationalization, the diversification of funding sources, the implementation of the Responsible Research and Innovation agenda (RRI) in the centres or the improvement of citizen participation in research and innovation.

The second program launched is aimed at those responsible for the research impact strategy. The aim of this activity is to train this group of professionals to develop good impact narratives with a view to 2024, the year in which a new call for impact assessment (RIA) is planned.

In summary, the action of I-CERCA during 2022 has meant an evolution of the activities it had been developing successfully and has opened up new opportunities that should bring growth to both the system and the institution.

Ombudsperson operating regulations

The actions of the CERCA Ombudsperson are aimed at ensuring compliance with the CERCA Code of Conduct, preventing irregularities in the CERCA system and providing young researchers with a framework to generate trust in compliance with rules

CERCA Conference 2022

This year, the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) will be hosting the meeting at its facilities in Tarragona (Avda. de los Països Catalans, 16, 43007, Tarragona), for which we are very grateful.

After a number of years in which we have been unable to hold the meeting or do so with restrictions on numbers and distancing, we are delighted to be meeting you all again in person and sharing a morning to discuss strategic aspects of interest to the evolution of the CERCA system.

Among the participants is Prof. Avelino Corma, research professor and founder of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ – CSIC/UPV), an internationally recognised expert in solid acid and bifunctional catalysts and the 2014 Prince of Asturias Award winner for Technical and Scientific Research.

For more information, contact comunicacio.cerca@gencat.cat.

Annual Report 2021

The year about to end will be seen as a turning point in the evolution of the CERCA Institute. Obtaining the first positive results in the European Commission Horizon Europe calls for applications and funding from the General State Budget for the CERCAGINYS project will undoubtedly mark the an advance in the institute in coming years.

We may safely say that the initial CERCA Institute instrument for implementing a common policy of action as a core benchmark for research centres is now consolidated and has evolved coherently toward a system of research centres in Catalonia (the CERCA system), with more in common with the French and German models of centre systems.

 

Annual Report 2020

The system has now reached a degree of maturity, making it time to move towards more ambitious positions and bring us closer to what we would like to be. Believing we can have a system of centres similar to the Max Planck Society should not be a chimera or a dream, but our goal.

Viewing the centres as a whole has always been CERCA’s aim. It will surely be a source of joy to all research centres in Catalonia, which, it should be remembered, are deeply embedded in the Catalan university system.

Campaign: #JoSocReCERCAire

The celebration of the CERCA Institute’s 10th anniversary was cut short by the COVID-19 outbreak. One year on and we have finally been able to celebrate the 10+1 anniversary, in conjunction with all the centres.

We have produced 14,000 T-shirts with the slogan #JoSocReCERCAire (I am a researcher) to distribute among all the centre’s staff. The aim of the action is to reach this public, with whom we have no direct contact, and create awareness and identification with the brand.

The T-shirt design incorporates many of the CERCA centres’ fields of science.

  • An engraving of the figure of a horse, discovered in 2019, along with many other figures, on the walls of the Font Major cave in Espluga de Francolí, a sanctuary approximately 15,000 years old.
  • The entropy formula, developed by Claude E. Shannon in 1948, is the measure of uncertainty regarding a source of information. In this context, Shannon’s formula measures the number of questions needed to obtain the correct answer.
  • The recognition sequence of endonucleaseHindIII restriction. Type II restriction enzymes, such as HindIII, cut double-stranded DNA at its recognition sequence site. The discovery of these enzymes in the 1970s led to the development of recombinant DNA technology, genetic engineering and other technologies, producing such results as the production of synthetic insulin and the sequencing of the human genome.
  • Graph of an electrocardiogram signal, representing biomedical advances.
  • Binary code, representing computing and telecommunications.
  • Carbon atom, the basis of organic matter and the biological world.
  • The silicon atom, the basis for the microchip, on which computational evolution and its applications have been built.

Annual Report 2019

This year we have seen how the CERCA Institute as a whole has become the eighth-ranking institution in receiving funding for EU Horizon 2020 projects. Thanks to the databases the Commission opened some time ago, we have been able to see how the CERCA centres, taken together, have become a major
attractor of European funds.