Renewal of IRB Barcelona’s ‘Severo Ochoa’ Award of Excellence
Today the Ministry of the Economy and Competiveness has announced that the Severo Ochoa Award given to 8 centres in the first call in 2011 has been renewed for another four years
The award brings with it another 4 million euros (1 per year) for IRB Barcelona
Four more years of excellence
This morning the Secretary of State for I+D+I has announced that the first eight ‘Severo Ochoa’ Centres of Excellence ─whose strategic plans for 2016-2019 have been positively evaluated ─ have been awarded this distinction again—a distinction that brings with it 1 million euros a year over four years.
In the opinion of the evaluators, these centres have not only revalidated their position as references in international research but many of them have consolidated their scientific leadership during the last ‘Severo Ochoa’ Award period.
The Secretary of State stated that the centres in question stand out for the international standing of the science they perform, as well as for their capacity to innovate and for their strong relations with the business sector. Moreover, these centres are international references capable of attracting talent from around the world.
The renewal of the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Award coincides with IRB Barcelona’s 10th anniversary celebration, held yesterday in an institutional event in the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona (CCCB). This celebration brought together about 400 people, including members of the Board of Trustees, scientific leaders, public figures, the IRB Barcelona community, collaborators and friends. "This is the best birthday present that the Ministry could have given us today," said the very grateful director, Joan Guinovart, to the director general Scientific and Technical Research, Marina Villegas, who represented the ministry at the event.
The eight centres are as follows: Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), the Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas (ICMAT), the Instituto de Ciencias Fotónicas (ICFO), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas Carlos III (CNIO), the Instituto de Investigación Biomédica (IRB Barcelona), the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
In addition, the Secretary of State for I+D+i presented three new ‘Severo Ochoa’ Awards, and four ‘María de Maeztu’ Units of Excellence.
More information from the Secretary of State for I+D+I (Spanish Press Release)
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Several media have reported on the presentation ceremony of the ‘Doctores Diz Pintado’ National Cancer Prize, in which Núria López-Bigas, head of the Biomedical Genomics Lab at IRB Barcelona, received her award. During the event, López-Bigas called for all political parties to sign "a national pact for science involving long-term decisions".
Each year the Fundación de Investigación del Cáncer de la Universidad de la Salamanca (FICUS) - Centro de Investigación del Cáncer (CIC) presents the 'Doctores Diz Pintado' Prize with the aim to promote and acknowledge the contribution of young Spanish researchers to Cancer Research.
The newspaper La Vanguardia has reported on the award of the “Doctores Diz Pintado” National Cancer Research Prize, to Núria López-Bigas ICREA researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) in recognition of her work on the accumulation of mutations in the genome. Referring to López-Bigas, the jury highlighted "the relevance and impact of her work, which focuses on genomics and has wide applications in personalised medicine."
