CREAF's research by young talent, distinguished with 3 doctoral and postdoctoral grants awarded by "la Caixa" Foundation

The research of excellence driven by young talent awarded by the "la Caixa" Foundation has distinguished 3 CREAF researchers through the INPhINIT and Junior Leader calls.

Marcos Fernández Martínez and Lluís Gómez Gener are recipients of Junior Leader postdoctoral grants, while Faqrul Islam Chowdhury has received a INPhINIT PhD grant. The competitive INPhINIT and Junior Leader calls have a dual objective: to support the best talent in Spain and Portugal in order to keep it in the country with the best professional conditions and, at the same time, to internationalise the research system of both countries by attracting professionals from outside their borders.

Through this call, CREAF's research into biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, global change and Earth observation is positioned alongside international centres specialising in high-impact fields.

Through this call, CREAF is fully integrated into the group of specialised centres and universities which promote high quality research with a social impact in Spain and Portugal. CREAF's frontier research into biodiversity, the functioning of ecosystems, global change and Earth observation is therefore placed alongside centres specialising in medical fields of great impact. Among others, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), the Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) form part of this group. Strengthening scientific talent The research grants programme of the "la Caixa" Foundation is one of the most important of those promoted by private entities in Spain and Europe, both for the number of grants awarded and for the variety of disciplines it covers. In the 2021 call that is now being published, 65 doctoral and 45 postdoctoral grants have been awarded to excellent research staff, with the aim of offering them an attractive environment in which to carry out benchmark research. The annual INPhINIT and Junior Leader awards are intended to strengthen scientific talent and provide training in transversal skills to research staff. The specialties distinguished by the INPhINIT programme in the 2021 call are basically human and molecular biology, physics and medicine. The Junior Leaders - co-funded by the European Commission through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Action - are aimed at recruiting excellent research staff of any nationality who wish to continue their research career in the areas of health and life sciences, technology, physics, engineering and mathematics.