Every month, for you, EPWS presents the characteristics and activities of one Member Association.

Read all the previous Interviews with our Members here

Our member for August is the Spanish association IUIEG, Instituto Universitario de Investigación de Estudios de Género de la Universidad de Alicante (The University Institute for Gender Studies Research of the Alicante University).

For the IUIEG, Helena Establier Pérez, Director of the University of Alicante Institute for Gender Studies Research; Editor in Chief of the journal Feminismo/s and Director of the Research Group “Research in Gender” (IG) have accepted to answer the EPWS questionnaire.

Contact this association: iuieg@ua.es

Contact this member: Helena.Establier@ua.es

Association website: https://ieg.ua.es

EPWS: If you wanted to describe your association in one sentence, what would you say?

The University Institute for Gender Studies Research (IUIEG) is an institution devoted to scientific and technical research in Gender Studies at the University of Alicante.

EPWS: What are the objectives of your association?

The IUIEG aims to encourage, support and coordinate research in the field of Gender Studies at the University of Alicante.

EPWS: What is the history of IUIEG, in a few words?

Since 1998, the University of Alicante Women’s Studies Centre (WSC) was a space for reflection, action and dissemination on gender issues, as well as for the promotion of equality between women and men.  From 2015 onwards, the WSC became a Research Institute and, since then, it has refocused its efforts towards scientific study and analysis in the field of Gender Studies.

EPWS: Could you explain the organisation of your association?

IUIEG is made up of over sixty PhD lecturers from different Departments of the University of Alicante, who apply a gender perspective to their fields of study: Humanities, Public Health, Law, Social Sciences, Education, etc.  The IUIEG is also contributed by pre-doctoral research staff and students of the Joint PhD Degree in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies. IUIEG’s management team consists of a director and an academic secretary, supported by a five-member Academic Committee and an administration and service staff team.

EPWS: What are its recent achievements?

IUIEG is especially productive in scientific publications. On the one hand, it publishes biannually the scientific journal Feminismo/s, one of the most relevant national publications on gender studies, included in prestigious international databases such as Proquest, DOAJ, MLA, REDIB, Ulrich’s, Google Scholar, Erih Plus, etc. The journal Feminismo/s began in 2003 and has published 32 issues so far. The IUIEG has also a collection of research monographs entitled Lilith, the latest volume of which is Ciberfeminismo en España: discurso teórico y prácticas digitales.

On the other hand, the Institute provides education programmes, such as the Joint PhD Degree in Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, where the University of Alicante participates along with seven other Spanish universities, offering five lines of research: Gender, History and Cultural Production; Gender, Health and Sexual Orientation; Gender, Economy, Law and Equality Policies; Gender, Gender Violence and Education; Feminist Theories, Citizenship and Globalisation.

The organisation of conferences, seminars and courses to undertake research in gender studies is one of the IUIEG’s key activities.  Actually, in the academic year 2018-2019, the University of Alicante has hosted the 4^th IUIEG Colloquium on plural masculine and the usefulness of the concept ‘Masculinities’ for research purposes, with the contribution of around twenty researchers specialising in the study of masculinities, one of the most innovative lines of research in the field of gender studies. During the meeting, the WHO (World Health Organisation) European Regional Office presented for the first time its “Strategy and report on men’s health and well-being”, where the men’s health and masculinities unit of the University of Alicante’s Research Group in Public Health have actively participated.  This strategy focuses on a number of priority areas of action to improve men’s health and, at the same time, contribute to the achievement of gender equality.

The IUIEG also proposes and develops scientific and technical research programmes in the field of Gender Studies.  At present, the IUIEG coordinates the European Project “Lights, Camera and Action against Dating Violence” (REC/VAW/AG/2016/02/776905), awarded by the DG Justice “Rights, Equality and Citizenships Programme 2014-2020”, and several national competitive research projects, on the promotion of active protectors of gender violence in adolescence and pre-adolescence, on gender, humour and identity: development, consolidation and applicability of linguistic mechanisms in Spanish, and on gender, commitment and transgression in Spain (1890-2016).

EPWS: What is your agenda for the coming months?

Next autumn, two international conferences will take place at IUIEG: “The Public and Private Realms. Gender, Commitment and Transgression between the 19^th and the 21^st Centuries” and  “International Conference on Verbal Humour”. Also, the 5^th IUIEG Colloquium will be held: “Gender, Body and Sexuality”.  In June 2019,  the Feminism/s issue No. 33 will be published, with a monograph series on dialogues between participatory democracy and intersectionality and  building frameworks for social justice, and in December 2019, issue No. 34 will be released, with a monograph series on women writers in French.

EPWS: Are you collaborating with other EPWS members?

Not yet, but we hope to be able to do so soon.

EPWS: What do you expect from EPWS? In what ways can it help you develop your action?

We are willing to participate in some international initiatives in the field of scientific research, collaborating with other similar institutions in joint projects and research staff exchanges.