ICREA Call

ICREA opens annually a call for permanent positions in the Catalan research system for senior researchers. The selected researchers are offered a permanent contract as ICREA Research Professors (tenure).

This call benefits from the Catalonia Talent Bridge programme, so that selected candidates coming from the USA are entitled to a substantial start-up package funding for the first 5 years after their arrival. The funds are intended to cover the hiring of pre and post doctoral researchers, research technicians, equipment acquisitons and most other research costs required to build a fully functional research group in Catalonia. The Catalonia Talent Bridge is an initiative of the Catalan government to support talent recruitment coming specifically from the USA.

The selection of candidates for ICREA positions is based on peer evaluation and has scientific excellence and leadership as its sole criteria. There are five evaluation panels, covering all areas of knowledge, with some overlap to cater for interdisciplinary and emerging fields.

The basic concept for the evaluation is that it essentially depends on the judgment of high profile experts. We do not want to rely on quantitative measures of academic output, but rather on the well-informed judgment of the experts in recognising excellence. We strive for quality, not quantity.

ICREA fully endorses and shares the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (SFDORA), by which it discourages evaluators to rely only on journal-based metrics (such as Journal Impact Factors) as a surrogate measure for the quality of individual research articles. For the purposes of research assessment, ICREA considers the value of all research output, including qualitative indicators of research impact, such as influence on policy and practice.

ICREA is an equal opportunity organisation and does not allow discriminatory references to gender, age, nationality, racial group, nor any other possible discriminatory issues.

The average ICREA Researcher

7.2

PUBLICATIONS
Articles, books, book chapters and proceedings

535,163€

FUNDS
Research funds obtained in competitive calls

6.7

JOBS
Jobs funded, in full time equivalent

1

TALKS
Keynote or plenary addresses

1

TRAINING
Supervision of PhD and Master theses

1

TEACHING
Undergraduate, graduate and advanced courses

ICREA SELECTION PROCESS

Choosing the right people must be the most critical and consequential job every organisation has to do to stay on top, and in ICREA, this takes a whole new meaning.

At ICREA, selection is aimed at choosing from among the best researchers, those that are perceived to have the most impact on their different disciplines and fields. Many outstanding scholars and academics are turned down, even though we take in as many as we can every year. Needless to say, those that are not selected are no less competent or any less valid in any respect, but choices have to be made, and our capacity is limited by our financial resources. Luckily for the human race, there is no shortage of talent out there, and at ICREA we try to gather as much as we can with every call.

ICREA fully endorses and shares the principles of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (SFDORA), by which it discourages evaluators to rely only on journal-based metrics(such as Journal Impact Factors) as a surrogate measure for the quality of individual research articles. For the purposes of research assessment, ICREA considers the value of all research outputs, including qualitative indicators of research impact such as influence on policy and practice.

Needles to say, ICREA is an equal opportunity organization and does not allow discriminatory references to gender, age, nationality, racial group, nor any other possible discriminatory issues.

We are fully aware that it is the group consensus among the committee members that bestows ICREA selection with its authority. This consensus is never based on numerical balances, but rather, in the refined choice of expert researchers that collectively single out each and every one of our new ICREAs.

We want the whole scientific community to understand how this is done, and to that effect, we have posted here the latest version of the guidelines that our evaluators receive when they accept the responsibility. It is a work in progress, constantly being tuned to stay focused on finding the most promising researchers. The most important element, however, is not written there: common sense, that prevails over anything else at all stages of our selection process.

Please download and let us know if you have remarks, comments or improvements that we can implement to make our selection even better.

ICREA EVALUATORS

The extraordinary success and impact of ICREA researchers in our system is directly related to the quality of the selection and evaluation procedures. Our evaluators are the core of that selection.

The basic concept for the evaluation is that it depends essentially on the judgement of high profile experts. We do not want to rely on quantitative measures of academic production, but rather on the highly informed judgement of the experts in recognizing excellence. We look for quality, not quantity.

ICREA evaluators serve at a given panel for a maximum of 4 years. This ensures the right mix of experience and turnover.

After they have served in a panel, their names are disclosed. The full list of evaluators is available here:

Humanities

88 evaluators

Social & Behavioural Sciences

evaluators

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

evaluators

Engineering Sciences

93 evaluators

Life & Medical Sciences

evaluators

The average ICREA Researcher

7.2

535,163€

6.7

1

1

1

ICREA SELECTION PROCESS

ICREA EVALUATORS

Humanities

Social & Behavioural Sciences

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

Engineering Sciences​

Life & Medical Sciences

Engineering Sciences