Spain will sign 25 world-class scientists from foreign research centers to which 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 staff they need.
The measure is aimed at researchers of any nationality who wish to come to Spain and who are within the top 10% of the world’s most prominent in their specialty. Therefore, it is not aimed at young scientists who are at the beginning of their careers, but at established researchers. They must have developed their activity abroad for at least five of the last seven years.
The conditions of the call are specified in the Atreu program, which is expected to be approved today by the Council of Ministers. The new program, designed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation led by Diana Morant, represents a turning point in the State’s scientific policy, which for the first time opens up the recruitment of established scientists selected not by their nationality but for its value, something that is common in countries that lead the scientific rankings.
Within Spain, the strategy of attracting top-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 was added to 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 Atreu program was born with an endowment of 25 million euros, which could increase to 30 million if there is budgetary availability, according to ministry sources. 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 what is offered in other countries.
The intention is for 25 new places to be appointed each year, so that the number of top-level scientists who come to do research in Spain increases year after year, just as has happened in Catalonia with the Icrea program.
It will be the scientific institutions to which the researchers will join that will have to propose their recruitment to the Atreu program. Institutions that can submit candidacies include public research bodies; 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 Atreu 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 measures of this plan previously announced are aimed at enabling the return of researchers young Spaniards who have started their scientific careers abroad, as well as attracting 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 funding of around 200,000 euros per researcher.
