The first call of the IBEC Thematic Networks, supported by the Severo Ochoa Program, was launched in 2024 to foster scientific collaboration and strengthen synergies across IBEC’s research groups. The goal was to identify key areas in which there was potential for collaboration within IBEC groups, and to build a forum for discussing ideas and collaborative projects.
Following this internal call for proposals, IBEC identified five key areas within bioengineering with high potential for inter-group collaboration: rare diseases, artificial intelligence, nanomedicine, quasi-living systems, and the central nervous system. Each of these thematic networks includes the participation of at least five IBEC research groups, ensuring a truly multidisciplinary approach.
Selected networks
- NET-NANO: Next-generation nanomedicine
- NET-RARE: Multidisciplinary approaches to tackle rare diseases with personalized medicine (diagnostics and therapies)
- NET-AI: Artificial Intelligence for Bioengineering
- NET-QUASI: Quasi-living systems: Merge and Emerge
- NET-CNS: Bioengineering approaches to understand, model and modify healthy and pathological central nervous system (CNS)
Calendar
| Deadline for proposals | 07/05/2024 |
| Evaluation of proposals by IBEC’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) | May 2024 |
| Announcement of selected networks | May 2024 |
| Beginning of networks | September 2024 |
| Retreats closing the networks | May–June 2025 |
| Presentation of network results at the IBEC symposium | October 2025 |
About the 2024 call
Network activities
Each network included funding to organise:
- Up to 5 half-day workshops held at IBEC. Each workshop included talks/contributions from IBEC group members, plus an invited talk by an international researcher.
- A final day-long retreat held in the vicinity of Barcelona.
- Costs for inviting the international researchers, up to 4 from Europe and one intercontinental.
- Funding for a small collaborative project, emerging from the participating groups.
Network rules
- Each network had to be composed of at least 5 IBEC groups.
- Each network has an executive board, composed of one representative from each group. One of the representatives acts as network coordinator.
- Network representatives could be PIs, senior researchers or post-docs; senior researchers and post-docs needed the approval of their PI to participate in the call.
- Each PI, senior researcher or post-doc could apply to be representative of only one thematic network. There was no limit to the number of applications each IBEC research group could participate in.
- The exact number and format of workshops, and of the final retreat, were decided by the network representatives within the maximum budget.
- Talks by invited speakers are open to everyone (not just network members) and announced on the IBEC website as IBEC seminars. Ideally, visits of international researchers also include visits to the network labs and as much interaction as possible.
- Network meetings are open to anyone interested within IBEC, not only the groups involved in the original application.
- At the final retreat, each network funds a small collaborative project among the ideas that emerged during the network: a specific, concrete “proof-of-principle” idea involving 2–3 people from the network. Its budget is part of the overall budget of the network.
Funding
The maximum funding for each network was 25,000 €. The allocation was decided by the network members, with the following recommended distribution:
- 7,000 € for seminar organisation (speaker travel and accommodation, catering and meeting rooms).
- 8,000 € for retreat organisation (venue rental and meals).
- 10,000 € for the small collaborative project.
Each network designated a programme manager responsible for venue reservations, speaker travel arrangements and other logistical tasks, with support from the Communications department upon request.
Application procedure
Each network submitted a short application for funding detailing:
- Specific name and topic of the network, focused on a topic of interest to several IBEC groups.
- Reason for choosing the topic, and how it is represented among the participating IBEC groups.
- Proposed list of invited speakers, and how their visits would be organised.
- Proposed calendar and format of workshops, and of the final retreat.
- Proposed procedure to allocate the funding for the collaborative project, taking into account potential conflicts of interest.
- Budget.
Evaluation procedure
All applications were evaluated by IBEC’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) according to the following criteria:
- Potential of the topic to science in general and to IBEC (33%).
- Potential to lead to interesting collaborations, within IBEC and with potential invited groups (33%).
- Adequacy of network organisation and proposed plan, including gender balance and the consideration of basic and applied/clinical aspects when selecting invited speakers (33%).
IBEC Thematic Networks are financed by the project CEX2023-001282-S, funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.
