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The new director of an UCM research center takes office

septiembre 2, 2022

As the head of CIEAM, PhD in Evolutionary Biology Hugo Benítez, hopes to increase the university’s scientific capacity and balance the number of women and men dedicated to research.

Hugo Benítez, the new director of the UCM’s Advanced Studies Research Center of the Maule Region (CIEAM for its acronym in Spanish), described in this way one of the goals that he will assume during his three-year term: «We are not an island; our researchers can work both as a team and for the departments». He also pointed out: «The center has functioned for a long time as an island, when in reality we are all academic from the same house of studies».

The Advanced Studies Research Center of the Maule Region, under the Vice-Rector of Research and Graduate Programs (VRIP for its acronym in Spanish) of the UCM, aims to increase the scientific capabilities of the campus, generating answers to problems of regional, national and international interest.

The doctor in Evolutionary Biology emphasized, “The CIEAM has 35 academics with different research areas, ranging from Natural and Biological Sciences to Education Sciences. Given this variety of areas, the idea is to organize teams that can work independently, apply for projects that give life to the University and produce better research for the Maule Region”.

Research and gender equality

In line with the campus’s recently announced Comprehensive Gender Equity and Diversity Policy, the new CIEAM director said he will promote a balance between the number of women and men working in research.

“We started by addressing the gaps last year, when we joined a VRIP graduate for female researchers that allowed us to hire two new female researchers. This program is going to be maintained, to provide equality to each team that we will create,” he announced.

The aforementioned regulation not only deals with matters associated with gender violence in the field of higher education, but also seeks to mainstream this perspective in all the University’s activities/work.

“It is an outstanding debt; there are very few women in the engineering fields, although there are a few more in the health areas. We will try to encourage balance», he stated.

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