Barcelona City Council recognised 23 projects within the framework of the Young and Emerging Science programme, with 1.8 million euros available in funding and designed to drive local research and back women’s talent. Out of the 23 projects to receive subsidies in the 2024 call, 17 are headed by women, a figure that represents 74% of a total where women are in the majority, accounting for 63% of all the research teams.

The awards ceremony was held in the Saló de Cent in the City Hall and headed by the Fourth Deputy Mayor, Jordi Valls. The occasion coincides with the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February, which seeks to give visibility to and recognise the contribution of women and promote equality between men and women in this sphere.

“We want you here. Barcelona is a city of science. We know there are a lot of scientists who want to conduct research in our city, and they need support, some backing”, noted Valls. “The goal of this call is to generate these opportunities for our talent and to keep it and facilitate the return of those who have left”. The Deputy Mayor emphasised: “We also want to do this correcting the gender inequality that goes against women, as we know it’s even more difficult for them. For the sake of justice and making the most of all the human capital available to us. All of it. This is the best way to drive Barcelona’s progress and economic competitiveness”.

23 projects chosen from the 113 entered in the call

The Young and Emerging Research programme is aimed at emerging doctors and seeks not only to generate new ideas and solutions, but also to facilitate a bridge between academic research and its social impact. In all, 113 projects were put forward in this subsidy call, which looks to retain local talent, with a clear gender perspective, and includes measures on work-life balance, such as longer time frames for obtaining doctoral degrees when taking maternity leave, so that care is not an obstacle. This way the City Council makes a commitment to fostering career equity, helping towards consolidation in an inclusive research environment in Barcelona.

Out of the 23 projects receiving subsidies, 11 are headed by universities, 6 by research centres and 6 by hospitals. The average age of the head researcher or project chief is 36. The programme offers subsidies for facilitating research projects that tackle urban challenges, promote applied innovation and address topics linked to health, elderly people, mobility, mental health, childhood and youth, climate change, water management and equity in democratic memory.

Projects receiving subsidies address areas such as reducing premature exposure to mobile phones among children, treating and reusing rainwater, cooling elderly people’s homes in Barcelona and assessing the effects of pollution on the production of hormones during pregnancy. Universities also submitted projects on microinfrastructures to mitigate climate change with public transport, and on studying the effects of climate change on Alzheimer’s. The municipal contribution to each project is for a maximum of 80,000 euros and projects last two years.

The main goals of each project, the organisations presenting them and the name of the head researcher are as follows:

Consolidating science careers in the city and boosting local talent through competitive municipal research calls

The Strategic Science and Innovation Plan 2024-2027 aims to consolidate subsidies to strengthen research on urban challenges and support for science careers. Barcelona City Council’s Young and Emerging Research call has been held every two years since 2020 and has given 4 million euros in subsidies for projects, providing funding for 56 projects.

In parallel, the Research and Innovation Call is another call organised in collaboration with the Fundació “la Caixa”. Support is also available for projects centring on the climate emergency and on urban innovation through the Ciutat Proactiva programme, Similarly, to incentivise permanent work contracts for doctoral  researchers living in Barcelona, the CreaFeina Investiga programme is also under way to foster the strategic employment of scientific and research staff.