This resource offers recommendations for written, oral, and visual communication in Catalan and English, aimed at research center personnel and journalists, with the goal of promoting neutrality and equality through diversity, visibility, and the elimination of traditional stereotypes.
The Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQUAS) and nine research institutions in Catalonia, including VHIO, have developed the guide Recommendations for Inclusive Communication in Health Research, with the aim of promoting inclusive language in health research through written, oral, and visual communication recommendations. This tool, which has been prepared in both Catalan and English, is intended as a support for inclusive communication in health research institutions, complementing official linguistic guides and style manuals of the institutions.
Inclusive communication is essential to ensure that everyone feels represented and valued. Recognizing this need, the guide contains examples and strategies of preferable and not recommended uses to show their practical application and with the aim of providing resources, raising awareness, and contributing to the full, respectful, and non-discriminatory inclusion of any group and diversity. For this reason, as explained by its authors, the document not only includes examples on gender treatment but also other diversities, such as communicative treatment of disabilities, illnesses, and cultural groups.
Our goal with this guide is not only to meet the standards of inclusive communication in written or oral language but also to promote inclusive visual communication.
Additionally, an infographic with key messages has been presented to offer a more accessible resource. Both documents are aimed at the scientific and administrative staff of these institutions, as well as their management, research system personnel, journalists, and other interested individuals, to provide simple and direct recommendations visually to explain and disseminate research inclusively, as well as specific advice in different formats and in two languages.
These publications have been developed within the framework of the Hipatia Community, which works for the updating of policies and management practices, the elimination of unconscious bias, the promotion of cultural change, and the incorporation of the sex and gender perspective in research. Specifically, for this initiative, a working group coordinated by AQUAS has been created, comprising professionals from the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC), the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (IMIM), the Barcelona Biomedical Research Institute (IRB Barcelona), the Lleida Biomedical Research Institute (IRB Lleida), the Sant Pau Research Institute (IIB-Sant Pau), the Parc Taulí Research and Innovation Institute (I3PT), and the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO). The graphic design of these materials has been carried out by the social communication agency La Sembra.
Here you can access the full guide and here is a visual summary
