Ibero-American authorities have agreed to test a joint doctoral and postdoctoral training programme before considering a permanent scheme. They will also advance a common researcher charter and review gender equality policies in science.
The Alicante meeting has moved an agenda first set in Valencia in 2024 from planning towards implementation. Ministers and senior officials agreed to launch a pilot for the Programa Iberoamericano de Cooperación en Formación Doctoral y Posdoctoral.
The trial phase will test the programme’s academic and administrative arrangements. It will also assess its financial operation before any expansion into a stable cooperation instrument. The declaration links the initiative to balanced talent mobility and closer ties between universities and research centres.
The stated aim is to strengthen scientific capacity across the region. The declaration describes doctoral training as having a multiplier effect and says it can help build a larger critical mass of researchers. A recent example of research reaching clinical practice appears in this Bellvitge kidney report, on a robotic living-donor transplant.
Spain’s Secretary of State for Science, New idea and Universities, Juan Cruz Cigudosa, said the declaration links training with mobility and researchers’ professional development. He said countries need to prepare new generations of researchers and help them work with institutions abroad, while improving the conditions for their work.
Ibero-American Secretary General Andrés Allamand also presented the pilot and proposed charter as tools to keep knowledge circulating within the region. The agenda was first set at the joint ministerial conference in Valencia in 2024; the Alicante meeting marks its move into implementation.
The Organisation of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) has supported doctoral training through its Paulo Freire Plus scholarship programme. Secretary General Mariano Jabonero said it has benefited 25 researchers from across the region. He cited graduates’ contributions to Costa Rica’s pension system reform and efforts to promote public transport electrification in Honduras.
Countries also agreed to continue work on the Carta Iberoamericana del Personal Investigador. It is intended as a shared structure of principles and rights that can strengthen recognition of research as a profession, align criteria and ease mobility. The charter is still being defined.
On gender equality, governments will monitor and evaluate structural measures in higher education and policies covering science and new idea, including technology. They will systematically collect information on plans and institutional structures to produce a regional overview for the first time. Joint work will develop fuller indicators and review how academic careers and scientific output are assessed. Countries will also seek to encourage career choices free from stereotypes.
The declaration tasks the Secretaría General Iberoamericana (SEGIB) with coordinating the agreements and tracking their progress, with the OEI and the Programa CYTED involved where appropriate. It will draw on the Programas, Iniciativas y Proyectos Adscritos (PIPA) and the Redes Iberoamericanas.
