New postdocs join IQS under the INVESTIGO Programme

On 5 July, the grant awarding decision under the call for the Investigo Program under the Government of Catalonia was published, following the first call for Investigo in Catalonia. The grant awarding decision bestowed a total of 25 contracts to Ramón Llull University, of which seven are for IQS.

These grants form part of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan led by the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy. One of its objectives is to reform and promote active employment policies, with an approach aimed at recruiting young researchers who can join university research groups and contribute to research, innovation, and sustainability, among other aspects.

Over recent months, and during the summer break, IQS has posted the seven contract offers on different portals and platforms aimed at job searches. The candidate selection process is currently being finalized, and the URL and will soon hire the postdocs who will later join the research groups at IQS.

The selection process is being carried out within the framework of the directives of the Human Resources Strategy for Research (HRS4R), which IQS has been implementing in recent years and which is based on transparency and no discrimination for any reason. The evaluation of the candidates is being conducted using the OTM-R (Open, Transparent, and Merit-based Recruitment) methodology, evaluating the academic background, knowledge, and experience that each researcher can contribute.

It has not been a simple task. Finding researchers who hold a doctoral degree, are under 30 years of age, and are registered with the Catalan Employment Service as job seekers is not easy. Nonetheless, we are managing to identify very interesting candidates who have a lot of drive. In general, these individuals have recently defended their doctoral theses and wish to continue with their professional development as researchers by joining the research groups at our university.

These grants from the Investigo Programme will enable us to add seven postdocs who will help us to deepen our research in various scientific fields over the next two years, in areas such as:

• Producing biopolymers with clean technologies through biocatalysis.
• The green synthesis of polyaromatic organic materials doped with boron-nitrogen.
• Studying photo-antimicrobial activity and the molecular mechanisms of photo-inactivation.
• Developing analytical methods to control certain contaminants and their metabolites.
• Studying the relationships between alterations of aortic flow and progression markers of aortic aneurysms.
• The design and synthesis of antigenic mRNAs from in vitro transcription.
• The design and development of an agent-based model to simulate aporophobia scenarios.

IQS firmly believes that the addition of researchers with these profiles within our groups can produce very positive results in our research activity.

The Investigo Programme is financed by Next Generation EU and the Government of Catalonia.

Dra. Núria Vallmitjana
Director of IQS Tech Transfer