Barcelona

Spain has introduced a new career track for young researchers. The initiative aims to increase competition and eliminate the academic patronage that critics say hampers the development of Spanish science.

The Ramón y Cajal programme, named after the Nobel-prizewinning neuroscientist, will offer five-year contracts to 2,000 postdoctoral fellows over the next two years.

Conditions under the new programme — which will name its first 800 fellows this year — will be far better than under the existing Spanish postdoc recruitment system. In addition to a higher salary — Ptas 4.75 million (US$26,000), compared with Ptas 2.9 million — and a contract of five years instead of three, Cajal postdocs will be allowed to lead research projects of their own.

University departments and research centres wishing to join the programme must submit a seven-year plan, covering research and personnel, to prove they will be able to offer permanent positions afterwards. External panels of scientists will evaluate all postdocs' progress after two and four years.

In a clear effort to increase movement between centres, applicants must have spent 18 months working somewhere other than their place of application. The programme will lead to “an improved quality of research, easier mobility and less 'inbreeding'”, said the Ministry of Science and Technology, announcing the programme last week.

The initiative marks “an important change in mentality”, says Ramon Marimon, the science ministry's secretary of state. “It's a turning point for research careers in Spain as it introduces the concept of tenure track and, by opening up research centres' planning procedures to public view, it should guarantee the sustainable growth of research positions.”

Eugenio Santos, director of the University of Salamanca's Cancer Research Institute, says that “for the first time” Spain will have a tenure-track system that is up to international standards of competition and evaluation. He says the programme should attract “a large pool of well-trained young Spanish scientists” who have completed postdoctoral periods abroad and now want to develop their research careers.

Jordi Petriz, a postdoc working on stem-cell research at the University of Barcelona, says he welcomes the “leadership and continuity” the system will offer.