Scientific Excellence and Equity at the Heart of ISGlobal’s 2026 Scientific Retreat

ISGlobal’s Scientific Retreat once again brought together its research community on 19 March, in a day designed not only as a space for scientific exchange, but also as an opportunity to reflect collectively on the current challenges facing research. This latest edition, organised by Juan Ramón González and Elisa Sicuri, gathered nearly 270 attendees and focused on two key issues for the future of the institution and of science more broadly: scientific excellence and equity.

Warnings about the credibility of science

The first keynote lecture was delivered by John P. A. Ioannidis, Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University, who offered an incisive view of the current threats to the scientific literature. Under the title "Why even more research findings are false or not even false", Ioannidis warned of a publication system distorted by incentives that reward quantity over quality.

“The system now offers unprecedented opportunities to produce enormous quantities of papers,” he noted, warning that this dynamic may compromise the quality and credibility of scientific evidence. He also warned of risks such as the pressure to publish, the rise of predatory journals, the proliferation of paper mills, and the lack of transparency in the use of artificial intelligence.

Ioannidis called for greater reproducibility and transparency, urging the scientific community to focus on the real impact of their work rather than simply accumulating impact factors. “The most worrying problem is when science becomes irrelevant, disconnected from where decisions are made,” he warned.

John P. A. Ioannidis and Judit Vall delivered two keynote lectures at ISGlobal’s Scientific Retreat 2026.

The gender gap persists in health and research

For her part, Judit Vall Castelló, Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Barcelona and President of the Catalan Economic Society (IEC), addressed gender-related inequalities in health. In her lecture "Inequality in women’s health", she showed that although women live longer, they do so in poorer health and face greater difficulties in accessing appropriate diagnoses due to multiple systemic gaps.

Among the key factors, she highlighted the chronic lack of funding for conditions that predominantly affect women and gender bias in medical diagnosis, which begins even during medical training. She also underlined the impact of motherhood and menopause on both women’s mental health and their career trajectories.

The researcher also pointed to important structural deficits within scientific research itself, such as the lack of sex-disaggregated data and the underfunding of studies focused on women’s health. In this regard, she reminded the audience that “50% of published studies do not report sex-disaggregated results”, which limits understanding of these inequalities.

Structural challenges and new generations

Beyond the keynote lectures, the meeting gave a voice to early-career researchers, who discussed the current challenges facing research. These included the sustainability of scientific careers, working conditions, and the need to reinforce the value of early-career researchers within the scientific system.

The role of artificial intelligence in research was also discussed, with views ranging from the potential of these tools to improve scientific practice to concerns about their possible impact on employment and on the quality of research.

Through more than forty flash talks and several round tables, the scientific meeting once again highlighted the breadth and diversity of the research carried out at ISGlobal, as well as its commitment to impact in global health. In his closing remarks, Quique Bassat stressed the importance of addressing the challenges identified throughout the day and of maintaining a commitment to high-quality research with real impact.

Forty flash talks and several round tables highlighted the breadth and diversity of our research.