Institutionality
The CINV is a Center of Excellence of the University of Valparaiso. Administratively, it is a non-profit private corporation.
The aims of the CINV are to develop and strengthen cutting-edge scientific investigation in Neuroscience; to place Valparaiso as a national and international reference in Neuroscience; and through outreach, to promote a culture of scientific excellence and appreciation.
Members of the corporation are investigators of the CINV, who also work to promote the regional, national and international networks of collaboration. The CINV is led by a Board of Directors, and managed by an administration team. During the last ten years, the Center was awarded over 20 thousand million pesos in grants from which the Millennium grant contributed 40%. Other sources of income came from the University of Valparaiso (27%), ANID (30%) and other national and international grants (3%).
To improve joint management with the host University and following a policy that supports associative research, the CINV will become a Center of Excellence in Research and Innovation (CERI-CINV) of the University (see the President´s declaration at cinv.uv.cl/en/institutionality/#newinstitutionality). The CERI-CINV will have a non-competitive evaluation every 5 years. To this end, an International Advisory Board (IAB) composed of 2-4 scientists, external to the University with recognized scientific experience, and chaired by the Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation of the host University, will be in charge of the external evaluation process of CERI-CINV. The Director may propose, with IAB approval, to incorporate new academics to foster and reinforce strategic research plans as needed. At the time of joining the Center, each academic signs a 5-year performance agreement, indicating expected tasks and responsibilities based on international productivity and extramural funding standards. A scientific and academic evaluation of each researcher will be carried out annually.
The CINV promotes and safeguards ethics in scientific work and finances and condemns and penalizes labor and sexual abuse. Rules of conduct are established to discourage and punish unethical behaviors and to promptly resolve conflicts.
To enforce these regulations, an Ethics Committee is formed by a CINV investigator appointed by the Board of Directors, an external member appointed by the investigators and a member of the Equality and Diversity Unit of the University of Valparaíso.
The CINV also relies on existing regulations at the UV, through its Equality and Diversity Unit (http://igualdadydiversidad.uv.cl). These principles will be complemented with guidelines promoted by the Ministry of Science in Chile and international organizations such as the Athena SWAN scheme.
To promote equality and inclusion, some specific measures implemented in the CINV are:
1) Preference is given to women in open calls to fill positions in cases of equal evaluation.
2) There is a co-financing system for child care for CINV employees.
3) Young researchers are supported in their professional and research development, including their gradual insertion into higher level positions with more leadership responsibility in the CINV.
4) The Center offers financial support for postdoctoral researchers for 2 years to carry out independent research in an established laboratory, encouraging and promoting innovative lines of investigation that will be competitive for external funding sources.
