The Observatory will provide training on gender in research in the European project THERACAT

On February 6, the Dr. Maribel Ponferrada Arteaga, technician on Equality at the Observatory and gender and research specialist, will teach a course in the frame of the European project THERACAT Bio-orthogonal catalysis for cancer therapy in Edinburgh (Scotland). This course is addressed to the trainee research staff that take part of the project.  The training, titled "Gender balance in academia and gender dimension in research" will be 4 hours long and will address gender equality matters in universities and research centres. It will include fundamental concepts on the sex-gender system, the androcentrism in science, gender equality and balance in work and scientific environments, the acknowledgement and overcoming of gender barriers and, lastly, the inclusion of the dimension and the analysis of sex-gender in research projects, especially in the areas of healthcare and medicine.  This way, the course will provide a comprehensive training for the predoctoral students and the ability of developing innovative researches with a non-androcentric perspective.

The THERACAT Bio-orthogonal catalysis for cancer therapy project is coordinated by the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia Foundation (IBEC), and is funded by the call Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Training Networks. The meeting and the different trainings will be carried out in the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, between the 3th and the 7th of February.

This project defines an international and multidisciplinary consortium that trains predoctoral research staff on specific research skills related to cancer therapies, as well as communication, entrepreneur and gender perspective transversal skills.  The project is funded by the European Commission, and 6 academic centres, 3 active pharmaceutical companies and 3 institutions specialised in scientific communication, management and gender equality (Observatory) are participating in it.

The aim of this program is to progress in the development of anti-cancer treatments based in the catalysis and the production of marketable technologies. The program will allow to carry out multidisciplinary research by linking research, innovative installations and skills of both academic and non-academic fields.