Mónica Palacios Tolvett, professor and researcher at the School of Occupational Therapy of USACH’s Faculty of Medical Sciences

“I understand research as an act of political and social transformation. When we talk about communities, territories, women, youngsters and children, we speak about spaces that many times are in the “otherness”, that is, outside of power and decision-making instances. Often unheard, unseen, stereotyped and stigmatized. I believe that all this is a field of research. And we, in this context, promote decolonized research, that is, research conducted in the real contexts of people, in which they are listened to and their knowledge is taken into account.

Why is gender equality in science, technology and innovation important?

“A feminist view of research means breaking with the patriarchy in research, which does not necessarily mean having more women but breaking with hierarchical, patriarchal and authoritarian rationales in research. Then, we have to point to research with a gender and diversity approach that allows everyone to participate.