On 27 June, the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) announced the winning projects from the third call for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in Health 2024. This aim of this award is to recognize, support and acknowledge the work carried out by accredited Institutes for Health Research (IIS) to integrate the principles of RRI into their activities.
Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a concept that promotes the active participation of society in science and innovation from the earliest stages of projects, so that future results can be as closely aligned as possible with society’s values.
The four projects recognized in this third call correspond to two initiatives on open science by the Biomedical Research Institute of Málaga-Nanomedicine Platform (IBIMA-BIONAND) and the Institute of Health and Biomedical Research of Alicante (ISABIAL); a citizen participation initiative by the Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS); and the PROGENDERS Decalogue, a gender perspective initiative by the Clínic-IDIBAPS.
The PROGENDERS Decalogue was designed as a practical tool to help conduct research, bearing in mind the sex/gender variable throughout the entire scientific process. It is aimed at professionals who carry out any type of biomedical research, and the objective is to improve the quality of the research being carried out in our environment. It is focused on helping in everyday practice, with recommendations that cover both conceptual and methodological issues, in an explanatory and concise manner. “What we in the Clínic-IDIBAPS Gender and Health Working Group wanted is to provide practical tools to be able to carry out our scientific work in a gender-sensitive way, with the aim of improving the quality of our research,” says Gisela Sugranyes, IDIBAPS researcher and member of the working group.
The Decalogue and the associated article, published in the journal Emergencias (2023;35(4):303-305) were developed by members of the Hospital Clínic Barcelona Gender and Health Working Group, using a systematic methodology. Moreover, the document has the approval of the Health and Gender Clinical Committees of the Germans Trias, Santa Creu i Sant Pau, and Vall d’Hebron university hospitals.
From this year on, it is advisable to follow the recommendations of the PROGENDERS Decalogue in the calls for proposals from the Hospital Clínic’s Directorate of Research and Innovation (Clinical Research Contracts and Internal Research Intensifications, aimed at senior residents and hospital professionals) and from IDIBAPS, both to help candidates to design their projects and the assessors to evaluate them.
