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Over five years, IRB Barcelona has brought in 50 PhD students from 23 countries as part of the “la Caixa” Foundation International PhD Programme in Biomedicine.
Today in the CaixaForum, "la Caixa" Foundation has presented the 40 grants corresponding to the fifth edition of its International PhD Programme in Biomedicine (from 2013 onwards to be known as Doctorado "laCaixa"/Severo Ochoa). This initiative aims to recruit young talented scientists from around the world to the four biomedical research centres of reference in Spain, namely IRB Barcelona, CRG, CNIO and CNB-CSIC.
Last September IRB Barcelona welcomed the 10 students selected in the last edition. Over five years, within this programme, the centre has signed up 50 students (24 female and 26 male) —of which 36 are non-Spanish nationals and the remaining 14 Spanish— from 23 countries.
The awards of the 5th edition of the “la Caixa” grants have been presented by the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, Carmen Vela, the director of "la Caixa", Juan Maria Nin, the director of the “la Caixa” Foundation, Jaime Lanaspa, and the adjunct of the “la Caixa” Foundation, Elisa Duran.
The director of IRB Barcelona, Joan Guinovart, thanked “la Caixa” for “a programme necessary to bring onboard and attract young talent from all over the world to biomedical research centres in the country.” Clara Morral, from Barcelona, gave a thank you speech on behalf of the fellows who recently joined IRB Barcelona and who will finish their PhD training in 2017. Morral has started a project in cancer stem cells with the Colorectal Cancer Lab, headed by the ICREA researcher Eduard Batlle.
"la Caixa" grants, amongst the most generous
The fellowships are allocated 1,500 euros net per month during the first two years and 1,700 euros net per month for the following two years. These amounts are also supplemented each year with additional sums to cover travelling expenses and attendance to congresses. These awards position these "la Caixa” Foundation grants among the most generous offered by the best international research institutes in this field.
With respect to the results of the programme, at June 2013, “la Caixa” fellows had defended four theses, published 26 articles, presented 97 posters, made 37 oral presentations, attended 110 congresses, and applied for four patents.
For more information see press release from “la Caixa” (PDF in Spanish)
More information about PhD opportunities at IRB Barcelona
Link to "la Caixa" Foundation
About IRB Barcelona
The Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) pursues a society free of disease. To this end, it conducts multidisciplinary research of excellence to cure cancer and other diseases linked to ageing. It establishes technology transfer agreements with the pharmaceutical industry and major hospitals to bring research results closer to society, and organises a range of science outreach activities to engage the public in an open dialogue. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 researchers and more than 30 nationalities. Recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence since 2011, IRB Barcelona is a CERCA centre and member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).
