IFISC receives the "Maria de Maeztu" excellence award
July 13, 2018
We are pleased to announce that IFISC (Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems) has been awarded the “Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu" distinction, entering the selective SOMMa Alliance. IFISC is a joint research institute of the Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB) and the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). The award has been granted by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), belonging to the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, after a highly selective proccess and a thorough evaluation according to the highest standards by an international panel. This award consolidates IFISC as a reference institute in the research field of complex systems. The distinction is granted shortly after IFISC’s tenth anniversary, demonstrating its positive trajectory in research excellence.
According to the Ministry, being awarded as "Severo Ochoa" or "María de Maeztu" represents "the recognition and accreditation of the best centers and units that stand out for their international impact and the relevance of their results obtained in the last four years". Moreover, it targets "the financing of strategic research programmes with the aim of consolidating their scientific capacities and contributing to their international leadership". Since the inception of the program in 2011 until 2017, 25 centers has been distinguished as "Severo Ochoa" and 16 units as "María de Maeztu", 73% of them were in the regions of Cataluña (19) and Madrid (11). IFISC constitutes the first award in the Balearic region.
All distinguished centers and units stand out for the international impact of their scientific contributions, their postgraduate teaching activity, their innovative capacity and their intense relationship with the social and economic environment. They are categorized as world-class entities with highly competitive frontier research programs that are capable of attracting international talent.
The units that have been selected in the "Maria de Maeztu" category, like IFISC, will receive a total funding of 2,000,000 Euros for the next four years plus several contracts for pre-doctoral researchers and access to funding sources restricted to the units of excellence. In 2018, 7 units have been selected within Spain.
