The Jesús Serra Foundation and IRBLleida have created an accompaniment programme to support new professionals at IRBLleida in applying for projects in the biomedical field

The Jesús Serra Foundation, of Grupo Catalana Occidente, and the Institut de Recerca Biomèdica de Lleida Fundació Dr. Pifarré (IRBLleida) have joined forces to present the first edition of a programme to accompany scientific researchers in the preparation of health research projects. This initiative is presented within the framework of the call for Strategic Health Action by the Instituto Carlos III. The Jesús Serra Foundation accompaniment programme provides necessary advice to researchers, mainly early-career researchers who generally do not have their own funding, in order to present solid projects in all areas, including aspects of financing and communication. This is intended to maximise the chances of success in the call for these professionals to obtain the resources necessary to continue their projects or start new lines of research.

As part of the Jesús Serra Foundation's desire to support research, especially by young scientists, and always with a view to development and training, Lanace has created this union between the two entities with the aim of strengthening all those sections that are peripheral but important to projects with a solid scientific basis and with the possibility of being financed. This project is part of the Jesús Serra Foundation's commitment to supporting research, especially by young scientists, and always with a view to development and training.

The accompanying project programme was created in 2019 as a result of exhaustive analysis by IRBLleida of the results achieved to date by the institute's newest principal researchers in the Instituto Carlos III's call for Strategic Action in Health (AES2020). It was observed that many projects had a solid scientific basis, but had room for improvement in peripheral issues such as the justification of transferability, participation of social agents, social impact, adequate budget distribution or advanced experimental design.

The programme is coordinated from the pre-project area of IRBLleida, managed by Serafí Cambray and Núria Bahí, with the participation of Irene Rosell and Judith Muñoz from the post-project area, and with Meritxell Soria from the communication area. Together they form a multidisciplinary team which aims to ensure that these groups of emerging and young scientists improve the quality of their proposals. The programme is divided into 5 modules, so that, alongside giving focused support to new groups, more experienced professionals can also receive support in specific areas.

Last year, by carrying out a pilot test of the programme, the number of projects achieved in the AES2020 call was tripled and the amount of research funding raised increased four-fold, from 203,000 euros to 786,000 euros. More specifically, the projects that were part of the accompanying programme increased their score by an average of 7.4 points out of 100 compared to the score obtained in previous calls. These results have been key to promoting the collaboration between the Jesús Serra Foundation and IRBLleida to create the Accompaniment Programme of the Jesús Serra Foundation, which will allow the continuity of this support activity, accompanying researchers who require it.