Juan de la Cierva Scholarship
Spanish scientific postdoctoral scholarship
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The Juan de la Cierva Scholarship (JdlC) is a Spanish post-doctoral scholarship, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, that allows outstanding young researchers to establish a postdoctoral career in Spanish research institutions.[1] It is, together with the more senior Ramón y Cajal Scholarship, the two most prestigious nationally funded research scholarships to follow a scientific career in Spain.[2]
History
The scholarship honors the Spanish inventor Juan de la Cierva. It started back in 2004 with 350 annual scholarships,[3] and it has been awarded every year since then, to date (January 2023).[4] It has provided 2 to 3 years of funding, depending on its modalities, which have varied over time.[1][5]
The program offered 3-year contracts with the idea of attracting talent from abroad.[6] The scholarship suffered drastic reductions in funding during the European debt crisis, which seriously affected Spain. In 2012, the funding and positions were reduced a 40%,[7][8] and their calls delayed.[9] In 2014,[10] the JdlC program was expanded, opening two modalities: the more junior "Formación" with 2 years of contract, and the later "Incorporación", with another 2 years of contract,[1] which in 2017 became 3 years.[11] However, in 2021 the second modality was suppressed again, while at the same time incrementing the funding of the first modality in a 122%[12][13] using the Next Generation EU funds.[14]
More recently, there have been rising concerns on the program by the scientific community, protesting around its low salaries and employment instability,[5] its discrimination against pregnant women,[15] or its bureaucratic processes.[16]
Impact
The scholarship has been funding prestigious researchers in Spain, often bringing them from overseas, across all disciplines, including Biology,[17][18] Physics,[19][20] Mathematics,[21] Medicine,[22][23] History,[24][25] Social sciences[26] or Engineering.[27] This scholarship has enabled high impact research, such as a number of publications in Nature[28][29][30][31] or Oxford University journals.[32][33] Some notable Juan de la Cierva scholars are Carolina Mallol, Manlio De Domenico, Mayo Fuster Morell, Eva Miranda or Sílvia Osuna Oliveras.