Obtaining this accreditation implies the financing of one million euros per year for 4 years and the endowment of 14 predoctoral contracts of four year’s duration each.
The Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM) of Barcelona has received accreditation from the Severo Ochoa Excellence program that the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation grants to promote national outstanding research centres and units.
The Ministry has announced this morning the provisional winners of the coveted distinction, which aims to fund and accredit research centres that demonstrate scientific impact and leadership at international level and actively collaborate with their social and business environment.
The scientific director of the ICM’s proposal, Josep M Gasol, has expressed his appreciation for this accreditation that reflects the "long and profitable" scientific career of the centre, which will celebrate its 70th anniversary next year.
Josep Lluís Pelegrí, ICM director, stated that the proposal is the result of a whole-year collective deep-thinking process made by ICM workers, "a process that has helped us analyse our present and rethink our future." In this regard, the director added that "the strategic plan has come from the soul, reflecting our collaborative and transversal vision of what science should be".
For his part, Valentí Sallarès, deputy director of Scientific Strategy at ICM, pointed out that "achieving this recognition was a strategic commitment of ICM and we trust that it marks a turning point in the trajectory of our centre". According to Sallarès, "the achievement of this accreditation is a great boost and endorses the team spirit that has guided the whole process, as well as giving us great confidence and hope for the future”.
Obtaining this accreditation implies the financing of one million euros per year for 4 years and the endowment of 14 predoctoral contracts of four year’s duration each. From the point of view of Pelegrí, "this not only represents the strengthening of technological and research capacities, but will also increase the capacity of the Institute to carry out specific actions of sustainability and marine scientific culture”.
In total, in this call, 10 Severo Ochoa excellence centres have been distinguished. Among them, the ICM is the only one to obtain this accreditation for the first time. The rest already had it and have renewed it, as is the case of the Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas (ICMAT), the Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB), and the Centre d’Investigació en Agrigenòmica (CRAG), all of them belonging to the CSIC.
With this accreditation, the ICM is recognized as a leading centre for marine research in Spain and becomes part of the small group of research centres with the Severo Ochoa distinction of excellence.