Barcelona, a global research hub: IBSA Foundation honours a Spanish researcher at the 2025 Fellowship awards ceremony

IBSA Foundation has celebrated in Barcelona the awards ceremony for the 2025 Fellowships, reaffirming its commitment to young scientific talent on a global scale. Among the six laureates of this edition is Spanish researcher Patricia Rada from CIBER-CSIC in Madrid, winner in the endocrinology category.

The choice of Barcelona as the venue was no coincidence: it reinforces Spain's increasingly central role in the international scientific landscape and acknowledges the growing contribution of Spanish researchers to the programme. In recent years, applications from Spain have represented between 9% and 20% of the total, whilst Spanish researchers constitute nearly 12.5% of the programme's historic winners, establishing Spain as the second country with the highest number of award recipients.

BARCELONA, AN INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH HUB

The event, held at the prestigious Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia, brought together prominent representatives from the academic, scientific and institutional spheres for a day dedicated to the future of research. During the ceremony, a roundtable discussion entitled "IBSA Foundation Fellowship: Empowering Young Talent, Inspiring Tomorrow's Science" was held, where experts debated the new generation of researchers and the trends that will shape science in the coming years. The roundtable featured the participation of:

• Alessandro Ruggiero, General Secretary of the Board of IBSA Group
• Silvia Misiti, Director of IBSA Foundation
• Lluís Montoliu, Scientific Researcher at CSIC
• Elena Labarta, Gynaecologist and Specialist in Reproductive Medicine
• Mar Porras, Global President of STEM Women Association

PATRICIA RADA AMONG THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2025 EDITION

Among this year’s standout names is Patricia Rada, a researcher at the CIBER Biomedical Research Network Consortium and the Sols-Morreale Institute for Biomedical Research (CSIC-UAM) in Madrid, awarded in the field of endocrinology. Her research focuses on the role of protein kinase D2 (PKD2) in pancreatic steatosis, a study that could open new avenues for understanding and treating type 2 diabetes. The recognition of Patricia Rada once again highlights the excellence of Spanish research and the strength of young European scientific talent.

WINNERS OF THE 2025 EDITION

Alongside Patricia Rada, five other researchers were awarded fellowships this year:

• Matthew Hunt, Karolinska Institutet, Solna (Sweden) – Dermatology 
• Victoria Deneke, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna (Austria) – Fertility/Urology
• Young Jun Kim, University of Bern (Switzerland) – Pain  Medicine/Orthopedics/Rheumatology 
• Indranil Singh, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge (USA) – Healthy Ageing/Regenerative Medicine
• Silvia Sideri, Sapienza University of Rome (Italy) – Healthy Ageing/Regenerative Medicine

The IBSA Foundation Research Equity Prize was awarded to Hernán Andrés Morales-Navarrete, from the Universidad de Las Américas in Quito (Ecuador).

A MISSION FOR THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE

Supporting the education and training of young researchers is a key pillar of IBSA Foundation’s mission. “Since 2013, we have invested more than €1.8 million to support 65 projects,” said Silvia Misiti, Director of IBSA Foundation for Scientific Research. “We do not simply fund individual careers; we invest in the collective future of knowledge and in people’s wellbeing.” This vision is echoed by Alessandro Ruggiero, General Secretary of IBSA Group: “As a pharmaceutical company, we focus on innovation, but we are well aware that real breakthroughs do not happen overnight. We believe that giving bright young minds the opportunity to pursue basic research is the only way to build the path of discoveries that will lead to the therapies and applications of the future.”

TRENDS FROM A RECORD-BREAKING EDITION

This year’s IBSA Foundation Fellowships reached a new milestone, reflecting the steady growth of a project built on the connection between young talent and research, with no fewer than 398 applications from 64 countries.

The 2025 edition stands out not only for its numbers but also for clear trends. In particular, the “healthy ageing/regenerative medicine” category introduced in 2022 saw strong growth, attracting 136 proposals (more than a third of the total), confirming its status as a key area of scientific interest.

Equally notable is the level of female participation: almost 60% of applications were submitted by women researchers. This figure highlights the increasing presence of women in STEM disciplines and aligns with the Foundation’s commitment to fostering a more inclusive research environment.

RESEARCH ACCELERATES: 7 FELLOWSHIPS FOR 2026

Following the success of this year’s edition, IBSA Foundation has announced a new call for its 2026 Fellowships.

The main update is an increase in the number of grants to seven, each worth €32,000. Researchers under the age of 40 will be able to submit their projects until 31 January 2027 via the dedicated platform, seizing a real opportunity to turn their ideas into scientific advances with lasting impact.