The Government of Aragon finances the hiring of 65 predoctoral researchers with 6,9 million euros

They will join the University of Zaragoza and San Jorge, the Health Research Institute of Aragon and five CSIC centers in Aragon. Next year, the Department of Education, Science and Universities will launch four more lines of aid worth 7 million, including, for the first time, junior postdoctoral contracts.

A total of 65 predoctoral researchers are going to join Aragonese universities and other centers and organizations in the R&D&I ecosystem of the Community thanks to the aid line of the Government of Aragon for the hiring of research personnel in training.

The Official Gazette of Aragon publishes today the resolution of this call for grants from the Department of Education, Science and Universities, financed with 6,9 million euros, and which seeks to facilitate the hiring of young researchers who, within their doctoral studies, They participate in specific and innovative research projects.

This regional aid program dignifies the first steps of the research career and provides stability to young researchers with a minimum salary ranging from 25.920 euros, the first three years of the contract; to 27.771 euros, the fourth, after the increases implemented in recent years.

Of the 65 new researchers who join the program, 52 will do so in research centers dependent on the University of Zaragoza, 4 will carry out their work at the Aragon Health Research Institute, another will do so at the San Jorge University, and the 8 remaining in centers dependent on the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), specifically in the Aula Dei Experimental Station, in the Institute of Carbochemistry, in the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragon (3), in the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology ( 2), and in Chemical Synthesis and Homogeneous Catalysis.

By areas of knowledge, the distribution of predoctoral contracts is as follows: Experimental and mathematical sciences (16 researchers), Social sciences (14), Biomedical sciences (12), Technology (11), Agricultural and veterinary sciences (6), Sciences humans (6).

New help lines

Along with this line - which is complemented by another mobility program that more than 80 researchers have already enjoyed and aid for research groups -, next year the Government of Aragon will launch four more calls for a global amount of 7 million euros.

As announced by Minister Claudia Pérez Forniés, from the General Directorate of Science and Research, in 2024 for the first time there will be a call for junior postdoctoral contracts – endowed with 1,5 euros – to finance the incorporation of young doctors in organizations and centers research. This covers a gap in that part of the scientific career, which until now did not receive aid from the regional administration.

In response to a constant demand from the centers, new aid of half a million euros will also be called for the hiring of project management and transfer personnel.

The third new line will provide financial support – after a five-year hiatus – for scientific dissemination and dissemination activities. Finally, the 2024-2026 R&D project program in priority lines will have funding of 5 million euros.

Source: Government of Aragon