MOVEMENT 1 — DIVERSITY
Diversity as a fundamental condition of Social Impact in Health.
© Social Impact in Health S.L.
Diversity is often treated as a question of inclusion. EIRA approaches it as something more fundamental: a condition for Social Impact in Health.
If impact is to improve real lives, it must recognise the differences that shape talent, evidence, care, institutions and human experience. Movement 1 — Diversity follows that question from Curator judgement to Laureate recognition, through EIRA Gathering 2026 and into the year of knowledge and community activation now beginning.
Activation of the Movement
The journey towards EIRA Gathering 2026 began long before the public Gathering. On 1 December 2025, the EIRA Curators were invited to explore diversity as the annual reality that would shape the next cycle.
From that first call, the year took form through listening, judgement, selection and preparation — a process that would bring three recognised perspectives into one shared conversation about Social Impact in Health.
Curators 2026
The Curators of EIRA Gathering 2026 helped shape the annual reality, identify perspectives capable of illuminating it and protect the quality of recognition behind the Gathering.
Their role is not to act as a jury. Curators bring trust, judgement and continuity to the process, helping EIRA recognise work that can deepen how the community understands Social Impact in Health.
The Curators Selection Dinner 2026
In April 2026, the Curators gathered at Alkimia, accompanied by Recaredo, for an intimate evening of conversation and judgement around the annual reality of diversity.
The dinner created the time and trust needed to reflect deeply on which perspectives could best make diversity visible as a condition for Social Impact in Health. It was the moment when the three 2026 EIRA Laureate perspectives came into focus.
From Recognition to Conversation
Recognition was the beginning, not the end. In the months that followed, Curators and Laureates worked together to turn each recognised perspective into a conversation for the community.
José María Batalla worked with Dr. Marta Aymerich; Dr. Teresa Pont with Dr. Elena Carreras; and Dr. Manel del Castillo with Dr. Josep Tabernero. The aim was not to prepare speeches, but to sharpen the questions, examples and takeaways that would travel to the stage.
EIRA Gathering 2026
BARCELONA — 15 SEPTEMBER 2026
On 15 September 2026, the journey became a shared experience at Auditori L’Illa, Barcelona.
EIRA Gathering 2026 brought Curators, Laureates and the wider community together around one reality: diversity as a fundamental condition of Social Impact in Health. The evening connected history, recognition and dialogue — and opened the year that now follows.
PHOTOCALL & COCKTAIL
Welcome Gathering
Before the stage opened, the community gathered in the foyer to reconnect, meet new people and begin the conversations that would shape the evening.
The photocall and welcome cocktail were not separate from the Gathering: they were its first community moment.
Opening the Year of Diversity
Sergi X. Trilla opened EIRA Gathering 2026 by introducing The EIRA Movement and framing diversity as the annual reality for the year ahead.
The invitation was simple: to look at diversity not only as inclusion, but as a condition that changes what we are able to see, value, care for and transform.
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Roots of the Movement
Curator Pere Regull brought together Ana Maiques, Antoni Vilaró, Vicenç Oliver and Dr. Núria Pardo to connect the history of the Trifermed Awards with the movement that followed.
Their conversation traced how years of recognition, relationships and shared experience created the continuity from which The EIRA Movement could emerge.
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NEURODIVERSITY AS CREATIVE AND HUMAN VALUE
José María Batalla / La Casa de Carlota
The first 2026 EIRA Laureate, José María Batalla / La Casa de Carlota, joined Curator and 2019 Laureate Dr. Marta Aymerich in a conversation about talent, dignity and creativity.
Their perspective challenged a paternalistic idea of inclusion: difference can create real cultural, economic and human value — but only when organisations are prepared to reconsider how they recognise talent and how their systems need to change.
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SEX AND GENDER AS A DESIGN CRITERION FOR EVIDENCE, EDUCATION AND CARE
Dr. Teresa Pont — Making Invisible Bias Visible
Dr. Teresa Pont opened her recognition with a short theatre scene that made an uncomfortable reality visible: apparently neutral clinical decisions can produce unequal outcomes when diversity is absent from the evidence and the way we interpret it.
She then joined Curator and 2024 EIRA Laureate Dr. Elena Carreras to explore how sex, gender and invisible bias affect research, medical education, clinical practice, diagnosis, treatment and care.
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Dr. Teresa Pont in Conversation
In conversation with Dr. Elena Carreras, Dr. Teresa Pont moved from the staged example to the wider system: how bias enters evidence, education and clinical decisions — and why incorporating sex and gender is a requirement for more precise, safer and more equitable medicine.
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INSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION AROUND DIVERSE REALITIES
Dr. Manel del Castillo / CAIROS
The third 2026 EIRA Laureate, Dr. Manel del Castillo / CAIROS, joined Curator and 2021 Laureate Dr. Josep Tabernero in a conversation about institutional transformation.
Their perspective asked what health institutions must change when diverse human realities are treated not as exceptions, but as the reality they are designed to serve — preserving purpose while redesigning systems around human complexity.
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COLLECTIVE SENSEMAKING
From Diversity to Action
Founding Curator Montse Vendrell brought the three 2026 EIRA Laureates together for a shared reflection: what value are we leaving outside — in people, evidence and institutions — because we have not yet learned to recognise it?
The conversation turned three distinct perspectives into a question for the room: once diversity changes what we can see, what must change inside our own organisations, institutions and decisions?
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Celebrating Dr. Joan X. Comella
EIRA recognised Dr. Joan X. Comella for his contribution as Curator from 2017 to 2026 and for helping carry the recognition legacy into The EIRA Movement.
A tribute video and a conversation with Sergi X. Trilla marked a moment of gratitude, continuity and transition — recognising what has been carried forward while opening the next stage of the movement.
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The Gathering Closes. The Year Begins.
Sergi X. Trilla closed the stage not with a conclusion, but with an invitation to carry the questions beyond the room.
EIRA Gathering 2026 was the annual activation moment. What follows is the year of diversity: a year in which the conversations, knowledge and questions generated by the Gathering can travel through organisations, institutions and communities.
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The Year of Diversity Is Now Open
The stage closed on 15 September. The conversation did not.
Over the coming months, this space will grow with the knowledge generated from EIRA Gathering 2026 and with the ways the community carries the questions forward. The Gathering created the starting point; the year that follows is where that knowledge begins to travel.
Knowledge from the Gathering
The conversations of EIRA Gathering 2026 were designed to travel beyond the room. This space will bring together the materials developed from the Gathering so that its ideas can be revisited, shared, taught and used.
Learning Films
Post-produced short films will turn key ideas from the Gathering into accessible materials for education, reflection and wider use.Edited Transcripts
Carefully edited transcripts will make the conversations available for reading, reference and reuse beyond the original videos.White Paper
The EIRA Diversity White Paper will synthesise the questions, perspectives and learning emerging from the Gathering and the year that follows.Community Activation
This page will document how the questions opened at the Gathering continue through organisations, institutions, conversations, initiatives and individual action.The Conversation Continues
Reflections shared across LinkedIn will show how the community carries the year of diversity beyond the Gathering and into new contexts.The Conversation Continues
The measure of the Gathering is not only what happened on the stage. It is what happens when an idea leaves the room.
Throughout the year, EIRA will follow how the questions opened around diversity continue to move — through people, institutions and communities. Some traces will be visible in new initiatives; others may begin with a single question carried into a different room.
The year is open.