The Centre for Social Studies is committed to promoting and guaranteeing a research and training environment free from any forms of violence, discrimination, and moral or sexual harassment. Over the last few years, it has been developing a set of documents and procedures that seek to establish and operationalize the principles of responsible investigation. These guiding documents are available on CES webpage.

The Code of Conduct is particularly relevant. Based on the mission, guiding principles and values that govern CES, it defines a set of standards of conduct in research practices, the relationship between all people and institutions involved, and the Plan for Gender Equality.

To monitor the implementation of these and other procedures of good research, training, and extension practices, CES also has a set of institutional bodies that, in the case of doctoral training, complement the primary interaction between students and their supervisors/ es or with the Coordination of doctoral programs:

• Pedagogical Monitoring Unit (Unidade de Acompanhamento Pedagógico), with representatives from each doctoral programme;
• CES Ethics Committee, in matters relating to the validation of good research practices;
• CES Ombudsman, receiving complaints, denunciations, or reports with the possibility of anonymity and total guarantee of secrecy and confidentiality, with total independence, exemption, and freedom regarding decision-making bodies.

It is also worth highlighting, at the UC level, the role of the UC Student Ombudsman whenever other ways of resolving problems are exhausted or this is considered the most appropriate solution, where there is, similarly to CES, an internal reporting channel of the University to report any situation involving people who are members of the UC Community, which allows anonymous reporting.

CES is also producing internal reflection and research on gender equality and harassment in academia, seeking to deepen the intersectional perspective on these topics. This ongoing reflection was even more pressing by the harassment allegations made public in 2023, which targeted CES and some of its researchers. Faced with these complaints, the CES set up an Independent Commission to clarify possible situations of harassment. This Committee will also produce recommendations to review existing documents and mechanisms at the CES. In this review process, the Management Board and Presidency of the CES Scientific Council are committed to the involvement of Student representatives and regular and transparent dialogue and communication.