Support service, the backroom of research

With the state of alarm declared as a result of the health crisis caused by Covid-19, the activity of the General Research Support Service (SAI) of the University of Zaragoza was suspended, with the exception of specialized personnel made available to the health authorities to support RT-PCR diagnostic tests, as well as the so-called 'essential' services: Animal Facility, Animal Experimentation, Cryogenic Liquids, Cytomics – experiments with cell cultures – and transport. Progressively, the UPS is now returning to normal.

With a staff of 75 technicians and researchers and advanced scientific-technical equipment and facilities, it supports more than 600 research projects per year, both from the university scientific community and from national and international companies, with an annual economic return. of 1 million euros.

Their work is fundamental for the scientific community on campus, but also for the rest of the institutions, companies and entities that require cutting-edge laboratories and infrastructure, in which around 2 million euros have been invested in recent years, thanks to the granting of aid from both the Government of Aragon and the Ministry of Economy.

But they would be of little use if they were not managed by specialized technical personnel, distributed in 18 services encompassed in four divisions: Physical and Chemical Characterization, Biomedical, Animal Experimentation and Transversal Services and an Administrative Unit.

The EFQM 400+ European Excellence Seal that the SAI has just obtained recognizes the quality of its management

Now, all this quiet, constant and professional work of the SAI of the University of Zaragoza, directed by physicist Javier Sesé, has just obtained the EFQM 400+ European Excellence Seal, in recognition of the quality in managing the scientific and technical support to the research carried out on the Aragonese public campus.

Only two universities in Spain – La Laguna (Tenerife) and Zaragoza – have a Research Support Service accredited with this international seal awarded by the Management Excellence Club, official representative in Spain of the European Foundation. for Quality Management (EFQM). Thanks to this European award, this service is placed at the head of the excellent public organizations in Aragon, equaling the level of excellence 400+, only achieved by the Library of the University of Zaragoza in 2011.

This assessment is not free, but is linked to the high satisfaction obtained by users and the workers themselves, as well as the quantitative and qualitative increase in key results, such as the level of productivity. All this reinforces the firm commitment of the SAI of the University of Zaragoza to consolidate itself as a sustainable, ethical and responsible organization in the management of its work and committed to society.

The SAI will be the other side of the research but, without a doubt, it will be of excellence.

Physical and Chemical Characterization Division

• Physical Measurements Service
• Materials Electron Microscopy Service
• Chemical Analysis Service
• X-ray Diffraction and Fluorescence Analysis Service

Biomedical Division

• Animal Facility Service (UZ-IACS: joint management of the University of Zaragoza-Aragonese Institute of Health Sciences)
• Sequencing and Functional Genomics Service (UZ-IACS)
• Experimental Surgery Service (UZ-IACS)
• Electron Microscopy Service of Biological Systems
• Microbiological Analysis Service