IAA code of behaviour

The IAA is committed to making the environment at the institute productive and respectful, and that everyone in its staff can work under the best conditions regardless of age, physical appearance disability, ethnicity, gender, marital status, nationality, citizenship, language, political affiliation or other opinion, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation. The IAA is committed to providing an atmosphere that encourages the free expression and exchange of scientific ideas.

The IAA is committed to preventing any incident of harassment that may occur during any activity of its scientific bodies or offices in which it has or shares responsibility.

Harassment and sexist, racist, xenophobic or exclusionary comments or jokes are not appropriate at any time (including lunches and social events). Harassment is a conduct that exerts unwelcome pressure or intimidation. Such conduct includes, but is not limited to: epithets, slurs or negative stereotyping, verbal (oral or written) or physical abuse, offensive comments, denigrating jokes, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, sexual attention or innuendo, threatening, intimidating or hostile acts, photography or recording of an individual without consent, display or circulation of written or graphic material that denigrates or shows hostility or aversion toward an individual or group.

Particularly serious is the sexual harassment that refers to unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment refers to behaviour that is not welcome, is personally offensive, decreases morale, and therefore interferes with work effectiveness.

We endeavour to provide a safe, comfortable and professional work environment. The IAA staff should be courteous with the opinions of others and be mindful not to exclude anyone from discussions or work-related activities. In particular, any derogatory comments or jokes that may be damaging to the career prospects or sensitivity of others should be avoided. All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Racist, xenophobic, sexual or sexist language and/or imagery is not appropriate.

Any IAA staff member who wishes to report a violation of this policy is asked to speak, in confidence, with the IAA Directorate. Confidentiality will be honoured, to the extent permitted, as long as the rights of others are not compromised.

The organizers of IAA supported meetings/activities are responsible for broad advertisement of the IAA Code of Conduct, that must be advertised on the website of the activity. It must also be displayed and explicitly mentioned by the organizers in the information provided to all participants. The organizers are required to identify two of them as “responsible individuals” to whom anyone can report any incident. The names of these individuals should be made widely known to all participants before starting.

Additional information is provided in the “Protocol of action against harassment at work in the CSIC” (2019/09/12) and the “Protocol of action against violence in the workplace in the Spanish General Administration of State and public bodies linked to or dependent on it” (BOE 2015/12/10) from the Spanish Government.

Granada, May 2020