ShareAQU Catalunya guarantees equality and work–life balance in the evaluation of teaching and research staff
Coinciding with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it has been one year since the agreement of the Research Assessment Commission to guarantee equal evaluation for the men and women who make up the teaching and research staff of Catalan universities.
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AQU Catalunya has always been committed to the principle of taking into account the differences between women and men in the analysis, planning, design, and implementation of policies, considering how different actions, situations, and needs affect women and men. This commitment was strengthened in December 2024, when AQU Catalunya’s Research Assessment Commission (CAR) approved a set of measures to ensure that men and women are guaranteed equality and the possibility of reconciling personal and family life when being assessed for their teaching and research work as university professors.
The measures to support the reconciliation of personal, family, and professional life in the evaluation procedures for university teaching and research staff under the responsibility of the CAR have been applied in assessments since its creation in 2003. However, the approval of the LOSU in 2023 required an update of these measures and of how they were applied.
Following the CAR’s agreement, the application framework for the measures regarding the accreditation procedures for associate professors and full professors takes into account diverse professional trajectories resulting from the reconciliation of family and professional life. Therefore, in the evaluation of merits, special circumstances are considered, including maternity and paternity leave, leave of absence or sick leave, or any other justified personal circumstance —such as disability, leave for the care of relatives, and leave or permissions related to gender-based violence or terrorism— that may have resulted in an irregular research and teaching trajectory.
On the other hand, regarding the evaluation procedure for the research activity of both permanent and contracted teaching and research staff, applicants for a research period who adequately justify that they are in special situations arising from maternity and paternity leave, leave of absence or sick leave, or any other justified personal circumstance that has resulted in an irregular research and teaching trajectory are entitled to measures such as including, in their research-period evaluation application, the periods and publications produced during the years in which they were in the aforementioned situations. For example, they may submit four contributions instead of the five normally required. Since the agreement was approved, several people have made use of these measures.