Spain will recruit 25 world-class scientists from foreign research centers to whom it will award one million euros over four years to pay their salaries, acquire equipment, adapt spaces for them to settle in and hire the personnel they need.
The measure is aimed at researchers of any nationality who wish to come to Spain and who are among the 10% of the most outstanding in the world in their specialty. Therefore, it is not addressed to young scientists who are at the beginning of their careers but to already established researchers. They will have to have carried out their activity abroad for at least five of the last seven years.
The conditions of the call are specified in the Atrae program, which is expected to be approved today by the Council of Ministers. The new program, designed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation directed by Diana Morant, represents a turning point in the scientific policy of the State, which for the first time is open to hiring consolidated scientists selected not for their nationality but for their value. , something that is common in the countries that lead the scientific rankings.
Within Spain, the strategy of attracting first-level researchers from other countries was introduced in Catalonia in 2001 with the Icrea program, devised by Andreu Mas-Colell during his time as Minister of Universities and Research. The Basque Country joined the strategy in 2007 with the Ikerbasque program. These programs have played a key role in strengthening the competitiveness of science and innovation in Catalonia and the Basque Country.
The Atrae program was born with an endowment of 25 million euros that could increase up to 30 million if there is budget availability, sources from the ministry report. This budget will cover four years of activity for the first 25 researchers hired, whose salaries will be at least 80,000 euros per year to be competitive with those offered in other countries.
The intention is that 25 new places are called each year, so that the number of top-level scientists who come to investigate in Spain increases year after year, just as has happened in Catalonia with the Icrea program.
The scientific institutions to which the researchers will join will have to propose their hiring to the Atrae program. Institutions eligible to submit applications include public research bodies; both public and private universities; public health entities and institutions; and other public R D i centers. The call will be managed by the State Research Agency.
The Atrae program is part of the “Plan for the attraction and retention of scientific and innovative talent” promoted by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and approved in June 2022. Other previously announced measures in this plan are aimed at enabling the return of Spanish researchers young people who have started their scientific careers abroad, as well as to attract young researchers from other countries. Among these measures, an investment of 76 million euros stands out to facilitate the incorporation of 375 researchers into the public science and innovation system, which is equivalent to financing of around 200,000 euros per researcher.
