- The University of A Coruña organized at DOMUS, together with the University of Vigo, a meeting for Galician research staff abroad, which was attended by more than 50 people.
- Participation in this meeting is taking place within the framework of the STARS4UDC project, of the Research Personnel Recruitment Office (OCPI-UDC), aimed at promoting talent recruitment activities and actions.
A Coruña, December 27.- Domus today hosted the 15th edition of the Meeting of Young Researchers Abroad (IYI Meeting), a day organized by the University of A Coruña and the Center for Research in Nanomaterials and Biomedicine of the University of Vigo (CINBIO), which served as a meeting point for scientific personnel who are developing their research careers in countries around the world.
The day was attended by the rector of the University of A Coruña, Ricardo Cao, who highlighted “the research potential of the UDC, with teams that have just achieved important projects, many of them attached to one of the three research centers of the University of A Coruña integrated into the CIGUS Network.”
On behalf of the UDC, the director of the Research Staff Recruitment Office, José Mahía, also participated, who presented the talent recruitment policies implemented by the university in A Coruña to attract research staff.
Throughout the day, 20 researchers presented the projects they are carrying out at leading universities and centers around the world, such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or MIT, in different scientific areas, from Genetics or Neurology to Environmental Sciences, Astrophysics and Biology.
As Mahía detailed in his presentation, “in Galicia we are able to train very high-level scientists, which allows us to generate a lot of talent that is sometimes difficult to absorb.” Although mobility and internationalization are part of the current training of these great professionals, “it is necessary that there are mechanisms that make Galicia a hub for recruitment based on three pillars: attraction, retention and return of talent.”
Support office and calls for aid
Since 2016, the University of A Coruña has had the BERCE program – acronym for Welcome, Stabilization and Return of Excellent Science – as the engine of its talent-focused strategy. Through it, it offers personalized support to find the funding call for the research career that best suits the characteristics, needs and expectations of each person, so that they can develop their project and stabilize at the UDC through a competitive process.
Among the most relevant calls at a national level is the Ramón y Cajal grants program, aimed at encouraging the incorporation of research personnel – both Spanish and foreign – with an outstanding track record, so that they acquire the skills and abilities that allow them to obtain a stable position. Also noteworthy are the Beatriz Galindo Grants program, focused on attracting research talent who is developing their professional career abroad; and the ATRAE program, aimed at facilitating the incorporation of research talent of recognized international prestige who has developed a relevant period of their professional activity abroad.
At the international level, the calls for proposals from the European Research Council (ERC), the most important research program in Europe, stand out.
The work developed by BERCE is yielding very good results and increasing the number of beneficiaries of these programs at the University of A Coruña, which already has 35 recipients of Ramón y Cajal grants and 4 ERC projects. In addition, the UDC, in its commitment to attracting talent, has an agreement with Inditex to develop its own program, InTalent, to offer better conditions to research staff who join the university.
Initiatives that add to those launched by the Xunta de Galicia with the Oportunius program, aimed at generating opportunities for excellent research staff who want to develop their scientific career in Galicia, facilitating their stabilization and offering attractive conditions.
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UDC Communication Office