The Fundación Jesús Serra scientist support programme has been renewed to provide advice to the new staff of IRBLleida

"In its third edition, the programme will continue to offer support to groups of emerging and young scientists to improve the quality of their proposals. "

Fundación Jesús Serra, of Grupo Catalana Occidente, and the Lleida Biomedical Research Institute Dr. Pifarré Foundation (IRBLleida - Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Lleida Fundació Dr. Pifarré) have, for a third year, renewed the programme to support scientific personnel in the preparation of health research projects. The Fundación Jesús Serra support programme provides necessary advice to researchers, mainly early-career researchers who generally do not have funding, who wish to submit solid projects in all areas and includes aspects of financing and communication. This is intended to maximise these professionals' chances of success in calls for proposals to obtain the resources necessary to continue their projects or start new lines of research.

In the first two years of the programme's operation, more than 50 researchers have received support, helping them to improve their success rates in submitting research proposals.

The support programme was created in 2019 as a result of exhaustive analysis by IRBLleida of the results achieved to date by the institute's newest principal researchers in the Instituto Carlos III's call for Strategic Action in Health (AES2020). It was observed that while many projects had a solid scientific basis, there was room for improvement in peripheral issues such as the justification of transferability, participation of social agents, social impact, adequate budget distribution or advanced experimental design.

The programme is coordinated from the pre-project area of IRBLleida, managed by Serafí Cambray and Núria Bahí, with the participation of Irene Rosell and Judith Muñoz, from the post-project area, and with Meritxell Soria, from the communication area. Together they form a multidisciplinary team that aims to ensure that these groups of emerging scientists and young people improve the quality of their proposals. The programme is divided into 5 modules, so that, alongside providing focused support to new groups, more experienced professionals can also receive support in specific areas.

 IRBLleida Press and Communication

IRBLleida belongs to the Catalan Research Centre Institution (ICERCA - Institució dels Centres de Recerca de Catalunya), which is organised according to a model of good governance and operation that ensures the efficiency, management flexibility, talent attraction and promotion, strategic planning and executive capacity of Catalonia's research centres.

Fundación Jesús Serra is a non-profit organisation created in memory of Jesús Serra Santamans, a recognised entrepreneur and patron and founder of Grupo Catalana Occidente. The Foundation promotes and supports initiatives in the fields of research, business and education, social action, sports and art and culture, all with a common objective: a commitment to social responsibility.