Gender Equality Plan

This Gender Equality Plan is officially approved by the Board and reviewed yearly

Purpose and Context

This Gender Equality Plan (GEP) sets out the Fundació Ersilia Open Source Initiative (Ersilia) commitments, principles, and actions to promote gender equality, diversity, inclusion, and belonging across the organisation. It aligns with the eligibility requirements of Horizon Europe and reflects best practices in equity, diversity, and inclusion.

The GEP is informed by an intersectional, evidence-based, and inclusive approach, recognising that structural inequalities affect individuals differently depending on multiple and intersecting identities, including but not limited to gender, race/ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic background, and sexual orientation.

Ersilia is a non-profit, open-source initiative developing AI tools for neglected disease drug discovery, with a mission grounded in equity and global health justice. This GEP reflects our organisational values and our commitment to ensuring that internal practices and research outputs are equally just and inclusive.

Scope

This GEP applies to:

• All staff, leadership, interns, volunteers, and affiliated researchers

• External collaborators and project participants, where applicable

• All organisational processes, including recruitment, governance, research, and workplace culture

• Research activities carried out as part of Horizon Europe consortia and other funded programmes

Building blocks of the GEP

Public Documentation

This GEP:

• Is formally approved by the board of directors and is made available on Ersilia’s GitBook webpage (https://ersilia.gitbook.com/ersilia-book).

• Is made available in English, the working language of Ersilia.

• Is shared with all staff, collaborators and volunteers at Ersilia.

• Complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The reports produced will also be shared internally and externally and will be available on Ersilia’s platforms (website and GitBook).

Dedicated resources

Ersilia recognises that sustainable organisational change requires dedicated time, expertise, and accountability structures. The following arrangements are in place:

Equality Lead

The Programmes & Partnerships Manager (PPM) will serve as Equality Lead with allocated time to implement and monitor this GEP. The Equality Lead’s responsibilities include:

• Overseeing implementation of GEP actions and targets

• Serving as the primary point of contact for equality matters for staff, collaborators, and partners

• Coordinating data collection, analysis, and annual reporting

• Ensuring new Horizon Europe project applications meet the GEP requirements

• Organising training activities and onboarding equality workshops

Equality Committee

An Equality Committee, comprising the Equality Lead and the Executive Director, will meet twice a year to review GEP progress, discuss data, assess whether targets are being met, and plan corrective actions. Meeting notes will be documented internally.

Wider Staff Participation

Gender equality is the responsibility of all staff, not only the Equality Lead. Staff across all roles are expected to engage with equality training, contribute to a respectful workplace culture, and flag concerns or ideas to the Equality Lead.

Financial Resources

Ersilia commits to allocating proportionate financial resources for training, data systems, and equality-related activities within its operational budget. Resource allocation will be reviewed as part of annual planning and noted in progress reports.

Data Collection and Monitoring

Ersilia will systematically collect, analyse, and publish sex/gender-disaggregated data on personnel on an annual basis. Annual reporting is required under the Horizon Europe eligibility criterion; any reference to ‘biennial’ reporting in earlier drafts has been corrected accordingly.

Data Collected

The Equality Lead will collect and maintain the following data, disaggregated by sex/gender at minimum:

• Workforce composition by role and seniority (staff, interns, volunteers, affiliated researchers)

• Leadership and governance representation

• Recruitment applicant pools and selection outcomes

• Participation in training activities

• Staff retention and any recorded exits

• Participation in decision-making bodies and project governance roles

• Where applicable: gender pay gap and salary bands

Data Collection Process

Data will primarily be collected through HR records, onboarding forms, and internal surveys. In line with GDPR, all personal data will be handled confidentially, stored securely, and only reported in aggregate.

Annual Reporting

An annual gender equality monitoring report will be included in the annual report of Ersilia. The first report will be published within 12 months of GEP adoption, and thereafter annually.

Training and Capacity Building

Ersilia will implement structured awareness-raising and training activities on gender equality for all staff and decision-makers, as required by the Horizon Europe eligibility criterion. Training activities will be evidence-based and tailored to Ersilia’s organisational context, rather than delivered as a standalone requirement. Activities may include:

• Training on gender equality and unconscious bias

• Awareness programmes on inclusive practices

• Capacity building for integrating the gender dimension in research

These training sessions will be held once a year in-person, online, or through self-study materials and coordinated by the Equality Lead. Whenever a new member joins the Ersilia team, a workshop on equality will be held to explain Ersilia’s principles of equality as set out in this document.

Key Thematic Areas and Measures

Work-Life Balance and Organisational Culture

Flexibility is recognised as a key enabler of equity and participation, which Ersilia promotes by:

• Flexible working arrangements: remote work, flexible hours, and asynchronous communication norms are standard across the organisation

• Parental and family leave: Ersilia supports staff in accessing all applicable statutory leave rights. Leave periods will not disadvantage career progression or project participation

• Inclusive organisational culture: Ersilia commits to inclusive language, dignified workplace interactions, and active visibility of diverse role models.

• Post-leave reintegration: staff returning from career breaks will receive support, including catch-up briefings and adjusted workloads during the transition period

Gender Balance in Leadership and Decision-Making

Ersilia is committed to achieving meaningful gender balance in leadership, governance, and project decision-making roles. The measures toward this are:

• Transparent selection and promotion processes

• Application of gender balance principles when selecting representatives for external events, consortia governance, and advisory bodies

In addition, Ersilia commits to gender-neutral and inclusive recruitment practices

• Job descriptions and advertisements will use inclusive, gender-neutral language and be reviewed by the Equality Lead prior to publication

• Recruitment panels will be gender-balanced where team size permits; any imbalance will be documented and justified

• Shortlists with no gender diversity will trigger a review by the Equality Lead before proceeding

• Bias awareness will be embedded in all hiring processes, including consistent evaluation criteria and structured interviews

Gender dimension on research

Ersilia’s mission centres on AI-driven drug discovery for neglected diseases, which predominantly affect communities in the Global South. Integrating sex and gender analysis into our research is both a scientific and ethical imperative. To that Ersilia will:

• Integrate sex and gender analysis in research design when relevant — including in computational models, training datasets, and study populations used in drug discovery projects

• Promote diversity in research teams and study populations

• Ensure ethical and inclusive research practices

• Encourage consortium partners to apply the same standards in jointly designed research activities

Prevention of Gender-Based Violence and Discrimination

Ersilia ensures a dignified, safe, and respectful environment by:

• Enforcing zero tolerance for harassment, discrimination, and gender-based violence

• Providing confidential reporting channels. The Equality Lead will always be available to meet with any team member who needs to speak to them in complete confidence

• Establishing clear procedures for prevention and response

Monitoring, Indicators, and Reporting

Ersilia will define and track the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress against this GEP. The Equality Lead will collect and analyse this data annually.

Indicator	Measured by	Frequency
Gender distribution by role and seniority	HR records, annual headcount	Annual
Gender balance in leadership & governance	Governance records	Annual
Recruitment: applicant pool & hire gender split	Recruitment records	Per hire cycle
Training participation rate by gender	Training attendance logs	Annual
Gender pay gap (where data available)	Payroll / HR records	Annual
Research projects with integrated gender dimension	Project documentation review	Annual
GEP actions completed vs. planned	Equality Committee review	Bi-annually
Number of harassment/discrimination reports	Equality Lead records (anonymised)	Annual

Implementation timeline

Action	Timeline - Responsible persn
GEP adoption and publication	Immediately upon signing — Executive Director
Designate Equality Lead & Equality Committee	Immediately — Executive Director
Baseline sex/gender data collection	Within 3 months — Equality Lead
First Equality Committee review meeting	Within 6 months — Equality Lead + Exec Director
First annual GEP progress report published	Within the first annual report after GEP approval — Equality Lead
Full review and update of GEP	24 months post-adoption — Equality Lead + Exec Director
Ongoing training, monitoring, and reporting	Continuous — Equality Lead