Of the 30 Incoming fellowships awarded in the 2020 edition of the programme, 2 will fund IBE research. The Junior Leader “la Caixa” postdoctoral fellowships programme is aimed at hiring excellent researchers who wish to continue their research career in Spanish or Portuguese territory.

Joseph Orkin of the Comparative Genomics Lab will study the paleoproteomics of fossil primates and humans and Koryu Kin - a current postdoc at the University of Dundee and forthcoming member of the Multicellgenome Lab - will study the evolutionary origins of body size regulation and cell differentiation using a unicellular relative of animals, Capsaspora owczarzaki.

Both have been awarded with the Junior Leader "la Caixa" fellowship in the 2020 Call and will also be incorporated to the DCEXS-UPF department. In addition to the economical amount, the Junior Leader programme includes an interdisciplinary training programme that focuses on aspects such as innovation and leadership.

About the Junior Leader “la Caixa” programme

The postdoctoral fellowships programme, Junior Leader “la Caixa”, is aimed at hiring excellent researchers—of any nationality—who wish to continue their research career in Spanish or Portuguese territory. Sponsored by Obra Social ”la Caixa”, the objectives of this programme are to foster high-quality, innovative research in Spain and to support the best scientific talents by providing them with an attractive, competitive environment in which to conduct excellent research.

The Junior Leader programme is divided into two different frames:

·       Postdoctorate Junior Leader – Incoming: 30 postdoctoral fellowships for researchers of all nationalities. They will be offered a three-year employment contract to conduct a research project at accredited centres with the Severo Ochoa or María de Maeztu distinction of excellence, Institutos de Investigación Sanitaria Carlos IIII and units evaluated as excellent and exceptional by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia of Portugal. For Spanish institutions, candidates must have resided in Spain less than 12 months in the last three years while for Portuguese institutions, candidates must have resided in Portugal less than 12 months in the last three years.

·       Postdoctorate Junior Leader – Retaining: 15 postdoctoral fellowships for researchers of all nationalities to carry out research at any university or research centre in Spain or Portugal. For Spanish institutions, candidates must have resided in Spain more than 12 months in the last three years while for Portuguese institutions, candidates must have resided in Portugal more than 12 months in the last three years.

By means of a complementary training programme, these fellowships are intended to consolidate research skills and to foster an independent scientific career as an option for the future.