Third edition of the Fundación Jesús Serra Research Awards postponed until 2021

"The Fundación Jesús Serra, of Grupo Catalana Occidente, has postponed the celebration of the 3rd edition of its research awards until next year, given the current situation caused by the impact of COVID-19."

The Fundación Jesús Serra has therefore informed all researchers who applied, as well as possible interested candidates, that:

• Entries already submitted will remain eligible for the competition unless it is expressly stated otherwise, in which case this entry will be withdrawn. Those who decide to go ahead will only have to update any documentation that has undergone any changes as of 11 January 2021, whether the process has been completed or is in the process of completion and each case will be evaluated individually.

• Those interested in submitting new entries will be able to do so from 11 January 2021 until 07 April 2021.

The Fundación Jesús Serra has created a section on its website https://www.investigacionfjs.com where interested researchers can find all the information related to the postponement of the awards and the extension of the application process.

The Fundación Jesús Serra Research Awards are aimed at scientists up to the age of 45 who conduct their research in Spain and specialise in the fields of nutrition and diet and their influence on health. There is a gross cash prize of €70,000 that is split into two categories: basic research and clinical research, receiving €35,000 each. For the first time, the third edition of the awards includes the research project evaluation, which will consider the innovative characteristics, scope and impact of the research and the potential social benefit that can be achieved.

The Research Awards and other projects of the Fundación Jesús Serra have been affected by COVID-19. For this reason, the decision was taken to focus this year's initiatives on cooperation and support projects related to the pandemic.

The chairman of the Fundación Jesús Serra, Federico Halpern, stated that "we believe it is important to invest in research and even more so in our current times. At the Fundación Jesús Serra, we are working with this goal in mind and that is why we decided to make a donation to one of the research groups of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), which is focused on finding a vaccine to protect the population against COVID-19".

Follow our social networks via #PremiosInvestigacionFJS for all the latest news about the Fundación Jesús Serra Research Awards.More information at https://www.investigacionfjs.com

About the Fundación Jesús Serra

The Fundación Jesús Serra, of the Grupo Catalana Occidente, is a private non-profit organisation established in memory of Jesús Serra Santamans, a renowned businessman and sponsor, and founder of Grupo Catalana Occidente. It aims to support initiatives of a cultural, business, teaching, musical, sporting, social and research nature.

In terms of research, in addition to the Fundación Jesús Serra Research Awards, the Investigadores Visitantes Fundación Jesús Serra programme for visiting researchers also stands out, which it has run in collaboration with the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC), the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) and the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) for the last eight years. Its purpose is to secure the placement of prestigious researchers at these institutions in order to initiate and develop lines of action arising from the generation of common scientific interests.