Scientific improvements

Mejora científica

Advancements have continued to be made in talent attraction within the framework of the Chairs of Excellence program in collaboration with Banco Santander. This program led to 17 Chairs of Excellence visiting our campus in the 2009/10 academic year and another 20 in 2010/11. In Appendix I there is a chart summarizing the data of all the calls carried out. Additionally, new chairs have been created in conjunction with the “Rafael del Pino” Foundation and the “Ramón Areces” Foundation.

For the first time, in the 2009/10 academic year three young PhDs joined our university for a two-year fellowship, the result of a joint call carried out by 4 Universities Alliance; in the 2010/11 academic year, six others joined this program. In addition, in February 2009, the University announced 40 postdoctoral fellowships aimed at young PhDs throughout the world, and they joined our University in the 2009/10 academic year. In February 2010 announcements were made, within this general program, for 20 postdoctoral fellowships and 10 grants for Master program study, the recipients of which then joined the University for the 2010/11 academic year. Finally, within this program, in January 2011, once again calls were made for 20 postdoctoral fellowships and 10 grant for Master program study, the recipients of which will be joining the University in the 2011/2012 academic year.

The two new priority lines in Biomedical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering will allow us to begin new research activities aimed at international excellence. To this end, Biomedical Laboratories have been created and work is being done on the new Juan Benet II building.
Within this policy for attracting talent, in December 2009 International Calls were published on the University’s webpage to select faculty for the new areas of Biomedical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering through an external international committee. More than 80 applications were received and evaluated by a Committee of Experts, headed by Professor Juan Lasheras. Five candidates in each of the areas were selected and invited to give a public conference and hold an interview with the Committee. As a result of this process new professors of prestige who have carried out outstanding scholarly research were incorporated into the faculty. In November 2010 a new International Call was published to select faculty in the field of Aerospace Engineering. The Committee of experts has selected three new professors from the 22 applications received.
To recognize excellence in research, in May 2009 supplementary financial increments specifically linked to research and teaching merit, and, for the first time including remuneration for publishing merit, were announced. Once the necessary objective assessment was made, 353 increments were awarded for research, 495 for publication and 241 for teaching.

On February 25, 2010, the Governing Council approved the new organizational structure for research at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. It is consists of the Research Service, dedicated to managing research projects, developing the research program and supporting Research Institutes and Groups, and the Scientific and Technological Park, aimed at the transfer and commercialization of research results, as well as the management of the business incubator (spin-off) and support for the joint research centers.
This new structure can be seen in the following graph:

In the last 2010 call for fundamental non-oriented research projects, the number of projects awarded was similar to 2009, which shows that Campus Carlos III maintains a high level of competitivity, although funding has decreased by 33%. Moreover, in 2009 the number of contracts with companies in accordance with article 83 of the LOU (Law governing Spanish universities) not only did not decrease, but in fact increased by 80% with respect to 2008, reflecting the dynamism and capability of our research groups and the interest they continue to awaken in the business world.

At the international level we must highlight the growing participation of researchers in networks, as well as in the Seventh European Framework Program. The research groups are more and more important in this type of projects, which can be seen in the fact that the University is currently coordinating four European projects (one from the People Program and three from the Cooperation Program). Additionally, the number of University research groups participating in international calls continues to grow. Out of the 31 projects approved in 2007-2010, research groups that had obtained European funding for the first time participated in 20 of them, 65% of the total. The increase in this regard of groups in the areas of Humanities and Social Sciences and Law is noteworthy, with 33 projects presented. Eight of these were awarded, a success rate is 24%, which is a very positive figure bearing in mind the average of success for European projects.
Campus Carlos III has an office in Brussels, called OPERA, within the framework of the 4 Universities Alliance begun in 2010. OPERA supports the four universities in order to improve their representation in European forums for debate where research policy that will frame future actions is discussed and formulated, and facilitates greater participation and leadership of university researchers in Community research programs. At the national level, research is reaffirmed as outstanding: CCIII coordinates three R+D activity programs among research groups in the Madrid Region in the area of Technology, and participates in ten Spanish Technology Platforms.
One of the CCIII pillars is the scientific quality of its faculty, which, in one way, is made manifest in research sexenios (six-year period of evaluation). In the last report (2009) from the Fundación CyD, UC3M holds first place among Spanish universities in the number of successful sexenios), with 91% sexenios approved, and holds third place in the number of professors requesting these evaluations, more than 90%.

The number of articles published has increased notably in the two years of Campus Carlos III’s development. In addition, in 2010 the ratio of publications of impact per permanent faculty is 1.07, a 33% increase in the number of WoS publications since 2008.

The number of Doctoral Theses defended at CCIII has risen considerably in the last two years, with a 52% increase from 2005 to 2010. Likewise, there has been a steady rise in the number of theses per permanent professor.