CREAL is among the 22 Spanish research centers that will compete for the prestigious Severo Ochoa award

CREAL has passed the first evaluation stage and is positioned among 22 research centers and Spanish units competing in the coming months for the prestigious Severo Ochoa award. In November, winners will obtain up to 10 badges of excellence from the Ministry of Science and Innovation. This is the first year of the Severo Ochoa award.

The selection committees consisted of three international scientists, including two Nobel prize winners. The committee evaluated, in this first phase, the scientific relevance of the research centers, their organization and human resource strategy, and their international competitiveness.

The 22 centers and units that reached the final competition, selected among 60 applications considered suitable of the 75 who applied, are divided by subject areas as follows: 10 in Physics and Engineering, 9 in Life Sciences and Medicine, and 3 in Social Sciences and Humanities.

The Catalonia autonomous region stands out with the most finalists, having 12 centers among the 22 finalists. Remaining centers are in Madrid (7), Andalusia (1), Canary Islands (1) and Valencia (1).

The requirements to participate in this first phase include the following:

• Having a principal scientist with international recognition and proven experience in management.
• Demonstrating an outstanding critical mass. Specifically, organizations must have at least 10 principal investigators, each of whom must have an international impact 50% higher than the world average in their respective field.

The evaluation consisted of the following components: scientific relevance (quality and impact of the scientific production, achievements and most significant landmarks, careers of the scientific director and principal investigators); the center’s organization and human resources strategy (organization and management of the research activities, demonstrated ability in training junior researchers, recruitment, attracting talented people); and, the center’s competitive positioning internationally.