Severo Ochoa Programme 2024-2028

In October 2019, ISGlobal was named for the first time a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence by the Spanish State Research Agency, a body affiliated to the Ministry of Science and Innovation. In 2024, ISGlobal renewed its accreditation, reinforcing the institute's role as an international benchmark.

This accreditation recognises the excellence, scientific contributions, social and economic impact, and ability to attract talent, of Spanish research centres in Spain. The purpose of the award is to fund and distinguish centres and public units that have developed highly competitive, cutting-edge research programmes that are among the best in the world in their respective scientific fields. The award provides funding over a four-year period for institutional strengthening and for training predoctoral researchers.

ISGlobal is the only centre in epidemiology and global public health to be accredited as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence. The accreditation therefore represents a tremendous boost for this research field in Spain and abroad.

ISGlobal's 2nd Severo Ochoa Programme (2024-2028): From Research to Impact

The new Severo Ochoa programme is embedded in ISGlobal’s mission to improve global health and promote health equity, through excellence in research, translation and application of knowledge, and will serve as a catalyst for the implementation of the institutional scientific strategy.

To achieve ISGlobal’s mission in the context of existing and emerging health threats, the new Severo Ochoa Programme aims to further understand the interplay between infectious diseases (IDs), chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and environmental factors, and their combined and individual impact on human health.

The overarching aim of the new Severo Ochoa programme is to catalyse the use of data and analytical tools—greatly enhanced during the first Severo Ochoa Programme—to elucidate disease determinants and mechanisms, and to develop strategies for interventions with impact. The development of participatory approaches that strengthen citizen science methodologies will link research and innovation to society for impact.

The programme will be developed through two complementary "research to impact" streams, that will channel cutting-edge research and innovation from basic biomedical science to impact, through a comprehensive “bench-to-community” approach:

1. STREAM I. UNDERSTANDING MOLECULAR MECHANISMS AND HEALTH DETERMINANTS OF MAJOR DISEASES. Stream I aims to enhance current areas of excellence in basic host-pathogen and exposome research, reinforcing multi-omics techniques and building synergies across them.
2. STREAM II. GENERATING KNOWLEDGE AND TOOLS FOR POPULATION HEALTH RESILIENCE. Stream II aims to enhance current areas of excellence in disease detection, health promotion and surveillance, and climate change and health by applying innovations in data science and field-deployable tools. We will enhance citizen science approaches to develop fit-for-purpose tools and models for public health protection.

In summary, the second Severo Ochoa programme will consolidate capacities developed during the first Severo Ochoa programme with a focus on strengthening multi-omics methods. We will further promote multidisciplinarity and collaboration across our five research programmes and through cross-faculty knowledge hubs, and expand ISGlobal’s central role in international networks. This approach will reinforce our cohesiveness and international competitiveness.

Key Initiatives

Some examples of key initiatives promoted by the new Severo Ochoa Programme are:

1. Expand ISGlobal’s PhD and postdoctoral programmes (talent attraction). We will strengthen our approach by promoting a new generation of global health PhD and postdoctoral researchers who will work across the two Streams and related research programmes. In this regard, the Severo Ochoa accreditation has enabled the institute to launch an international PhD Call, the Severo Ochoa International PhD Call in Global Health 2025, through which 10 scholarships for national and international students have been offered. Also, 4 postdoctoral researchers have joined the institution to increase the critical mass within each Stream.
2. Reinforce research infrastructures and cross-cutting technologies by integrating three senior technicians, to i) reinforce the Immune Response & Biomarkers Core Facility, ii) build capacity in single-cell omics, and iii) manage a FAIR cohort data platform containing longitudinal cohort databases with exposome-related data.
3. Consolidate Research Hubs to strengthen cross-programme synergies. Support for the coordination of institutional research hubs.
    
4. Foster scientific careers. We will set up an integrated leadership programme for junior PIs to strengthen their leadership skills. This will include a dedicated Doctoral Supervision Workshop.
5. A step forward in the development of international online training. We will expand under- and post-graduate training programmes in global health as a multi-university institute, by consolidating interdisciplinary postgraduate courses on advanced methods developed in the first Severo Ochoa programme and developing new courses linked to the proposed Streams, promoting international learning and enhancing eLearning.
   
   Supported education activities: Summer School 2024 (news piece), Spring School 2025 (news piece) and Spring School 2026, which is in the planning phase. All of them are a consolidation of courses developed in the first Severo Ochoa programme, and the development of new courses linked to the new Streams.
6. Promote participatory approaches. We aim to ensure that the newly developed tools and models are directly applicable to public health protection. We will maximise the impact of research on society by developing best practices in citizen science, implementation science, open science, science communication and outreach, and by using policy-relevant results to guide public health action.
7. Build new and consolidate existing collaborations and networks with strategic partners and increase ISGlobal presence at international fora.
    
8. Support for the organisation of international workshops to stimulate debate on major scientific and transversal topics. 
    
   • Upcoming workshops:
     “The EuroBioC2025 Conference!” (17-19 September 2025, Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, PRBB)
   • Past workshops:
     “SPHERA Webinar: Defending Science, Knowledge, and Public Interest Against Political Suppression” (22 May 2025, online)
     “Workshop Series: Multi-Omics Data Integration in Human Exposome Studies” (Sept-Nov 2024, online)
     “The Barcelona Exposome Symposium” (15 Sept 2024, Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, PRBB)
9. Support advocacy efforts to enhance the influence of ISGlobal in the European Union's policy-making forums.
    
10. Pursue an open innovation approach
    (Train, Grow, Impact)
     
11. Promotion of the “Gender Equity Plan”. Example of key activities: Enhancement of the successful and well-received financial support programme for young mother researchers, launched under the first Severo Ochoa programme.
12. Promote networking events to foster knowledge-sharing across groups involved in the Severo Ochoa Program and across the whole institution.
     
    • Upcoming events:
      “Severo Ochoa Gathering 2025” (2 Dec 2025, Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, PRBB). The main goals of the gathering are to align the work of Severo Ochoa-hired personnel with the broader objectives of the program, foster collaboration across groups and disciplines, and promote integration with translational departments.

Conclusion

To sum up, the new Severo Ochoa Strategic Programme will not only strengthen ISGlobal's research capacity, but will also enhance international scientific leadership and impact, improve the research environment and work to attract new talent.