Donations give rise to a new IRB Barcelona PhD fellowship

Today, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) has announced the launch of the “IRB Barcelona Futur” PhD fellowship, which will allow a young student to kick start a scientific career by undertaking a 4-year doctoral thesis in the centre.

The fellowship has come about thanks to the fund-raising campaign with the same name that began in December 2016 with the aim to increase public awareness of biomedical research and PhD training. (See the video here, subtitles in English)

During the two-month campaign, #IRBFuturo has raised more than 10,000 euros from numerous donations and the support of the sponsoring companies Merck, Promega, and Waters. All the proceeds will be channelled into the fellowship, which will be topped up by PhD training funds from the centre itself.

Joan J. Guinovart, director of IRB Barcelona, considers the campaign “a good starting point," and explains, "Our initiative has been embraced by many people and this is gratifying. It is important to convey the message that research can benefit everyone and that it therefore deserves to be supported".

“IRB Barcelona Futur” Fellowship

In June the centre will announce the beneficiary of the first fellowship, who will be selected from the students that applied to the 2017 PhD Programme.  “IRB Barcelona Futur” becomes a permanent initiative through which to channel donations from those who expressly wish to support young researchers. In this regard, donations can be made through the IRB Futur webpage, which provides information and describes the various ways in which donations can be made.

Given the focus of “IRB Barcelona Futur” on training and the interest that this activity has received on the part of schools around Catalonia, IRB Barcelona will continue to direct efforts to mobilize Parents’ Associations, with the aim to bring biomedical research closer to young people while at the same time engage schools in activities designed to support research.

More information:

Web “IRB Futur”

IRB Barcelona launches a campaign entitled "Future" to increase public awareness of biomedical research (16 Nov 2016)

About IRB Barcelona

Founded in 2005 by the Government of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona, the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) is “Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence”, since 2011; the seal was renewed in 2015. The 23 groups and seven scientific platforms are devoted to basic and applied research with the common goal of conducting multidisciplinary projects that address important biomedical problems affecting our society, with special emphasis on cancer, metastasis, Alzheimer, diabetes and rare diseases. The institute is home to more than 400 employees from 36 countries. IRB Barcelona's ultimate objective is to translate research results to the clinic and has already established three biotechnology spin-off companies to this end. IRB Barcelona is located at the Barcelona Science Park. IRB Barcelona is part of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).