The Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities held a meeting at the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid with six researchers who have benefited from the ATRAE and Research Consolidation calls.
The Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, held a meeting at the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid with six researchers who have benefited from the ATRAE and Research Consolidation calls, where she announced that the Spanish Government plans to approve tomorrow, in the Council of Ministers, an investment of 80 million euros for two new editions of these programmes to attract and consolidate scientific talent in our country.
Morant stressed that these calls for applications are “success stories” to “make Spain a country that knows how to take care of scientists, that incorporates them into the science system and gives them stability”.
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An investment of 80 million euros has been announced to attract and consolidate scientific talent in Spain
In this sense, he highlighted the fact that the new calls will be endowed with a national budget. “We are already answering the question of what will happen after the funds from the Recovery Plan: we are covering it with a national budget because we are committed to increasing investment in science to 2% of GDP by 2023, with public and private funding,” he said.
A new call for proposals for Research Consolidation, with 50 million euros
On the one hand, Morant explained that the government plans to authorise 50 million euros for the third edition of the Consolidation Research call, which aims to consolidate the careers of 250 Spanish and foreign researchers in institutions of the Spanish R&D&I system.
In the two previous editions of this call, coordinated by the State Research Agency (AEI), nearly 169 million euros were awarded, consolidating the careers of 842 researchers of 34 different nationalities in Spanish institutions. Of the total, 731 researchers are Spanish and 111 are foreign.
Second edition of the ATRAE programme, endowed with 30 million euros
The minister also explained that the government plans to authorise the second edition of the ATRAE programme, coordinated by the AEI, which will have a national budget of 30 million euros to attract to Spain 30 world-leading scientists in their fields who have recently carried out their work abroad.
In its previous edition, the call managed to bring 30 researchers of international excellence to our country, 15 Spaniards and 15 foreigners.
“We are managing to return the talent that left us and attract foreign talent that sees our country as an attractive place to do science,” Morant said.
Each of them has a three- to four-year contract with a stabilisation commitment from the host institution. In addition, they have a grant of up to one million euros to develop their line of research in Spain, buy equipment, hire staff and cover their salaries.