RESEARCH SUPPORT. The Department of Science and Innovation has approved two grants to the BSC-CNS and the BIST to encourage multidisciplinary research with a gender emphasis, as a result of the projects that have been developed over the course of this year.

The Department of Science and Innovation has approved two grants to the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) to encourage multidisciplinary research with a gender emphasis, as a result of the projects that have been developed over the course of this year.

The research subsidies that the Barcelona City Council provides through the Department of Science and Innovation of the Department of Economic Promotion, have allowed to give continuity during 2024 to different programs of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center -National Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS) and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) that contribute to promote science as an economic engine of the city and as a tool to improve citizens’ quality of life.

This new boost will make it possible to advance in different frontier research programs, support talent and female scientists, as well as promote scientific culture. Specifically, the contributions of 350,000 and 200,000 euros of the two new agreements will support the ‘Science, Technology and Society’ programs at the BSC-CNS and the ‘Multidisciplinary Research, Talent and Culture of Barcelona’ project, respectively.

BSC boosts collaborative research, outreach, gender equality and scientific vocations

The ‘Science, Technology and Society’ program was created with the aim of unifying, coordinating and promoting the scientific activity of the BSC-CNS in these areas, by integrating multidisciplinary areas and reinforcing its role as an enabler of social transformation. It is articulated around 4 axes:

Outreach: the dissemination, reflection and debate on science and technology.
Vocations: the promotion of new scientific and technological vocations.
Gender: increasing the presence and influence of women in STEM careers.
Research: through scientific collaboration at the service of society and the public sector in key areas, during 2024 it has been particularly dedicated to development in the field of AI and the generation of tools and models to apply in public decision-making environments

This year, the BSC will not only consolidate its task started during previous years, but will also boost specific research actions and maximize visibility as a center of excellence benchmark worldwide, through new and more ambitious actions.

Multidisciplinary research, talent and culture for Barcelona, BIST’s vision for 2025

The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) is an institution of scientific cooperation of 7 Catalan centers of frontier research, which aims to improve the scientific and social impact of their research and foster multidisciplinary work. The new agreement will allow one more year of support to actions that the BIST Community has defined as priority areas of cooperation in four major interconnected areas:

• Multidisciplinary and frontier research: IGNITE

The BIST Ignite program, ongoing since 2016, aims to promote new multidisciplinary scientific collaborations between members of the BIST Community. This line of support, is closely related to contribute to the scientific capital of Barcelona. The BIST Ignite grants dream the spark to initiate high-risk and high-benefit projects among top scientists from different disciplines, new ideas in unexplored spaces. The results of the 2024 BIST Ignite calls will be made public at the BIST Forum event in January 2025.

• Women, Science and Technology: To the Mothers of Science

To combat the gender gap in science, the ‘To the Mothers of Science’ program works to avoid vertical segregation (the “glass ceiling” and the “leaky pipeline”, which illustrates how as research careers progress, the percentage of women decreases). To the Mothers of Science’ is called every two years to support women with dependent children who are willing to take steps forward in their scientific careers, especially to lead research groups. The selected female researchers of the BIST community (9 in 2024) have received group coaching sessions and a financial support of 400 euros per month for 1 year.

• Talent for science and for Barcelona: WellBIST and BIST Career Week

Attracting and retaining the best talent is a priority for the Community’s research centers. Through BIST, the centers cooperate to offer training that in recent years has also expanded with emotional well-being programs (WellBIST). Courses are being offered on topics such as anxiety management, impostor syndrome, effective communication and teamwork, which have been very well received by both research and support staff at the centers. On the other hand, the BIST Career Week is an activity that takes place annually consisting of a week dedicated to career guidance for pre and postdoctoral staff of the BIST Community and all those who want it from other centers and / or universities. It includes a Job Fair day co-organized with Barcelona Activa.

• Scientific culture: Investiga’m

The BIST and its community, its active agents in the dissemination of science to society. The pilot program ‘Investigate’m’ is based on the methodology of the ‘iScientist’ program, developed by the Davidson Institute for Science Education, which in turn is the educational arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The experts from the Davidson Institute provide support and advice to professionals in science education in the BIST Community, in order to successfully implement ‘Investiga’m’ in Catalonia.