A delegation from the International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) received in Madrid on Thursday, September 5, the award recognising it as a Severo Ochoa (SO) Centre of Excellence for the period 2019-2024.

The Spanish Minister of Science, Innovation, and Universities, Ms. Diana Morant, handed out the personalised award statue to Dr Eugenio Oñate, founder and first director of CIMNE, and scientific director of the SO programme at the centre.

CIMNE representatives receive the SO award at the ceremony.

CIMNE’s managing director Ms. Anna Font, the head of the Project Management Office, Ms. Sandra Pérez, and the chair of the Fundraising Unit, Dr Fernando Salazar, also attended the event in CaixaForum Madrid as part of the CIMNE delegation.

The ceremony, organized by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities and the Spanish Research Agency, honoured all SO Centres and María de Maetzu Units of Excellence for their contribution to advanced research, attesting to their commitment to research quality, innovation, and social impact.

The Ministry of Science issues the competitive SO accreditation for a five-year period to research centres with the highest level of impact and competitiveness in their field. The reviewing panel takes into account the institution's dissemination and tech transfer activities, as well as their international notoriety and global scientific contributions.

CIMNE delegation at the event. From left to right: General Manager, Ms. Anna Font; Head of the Project Office, Ms. Sandra Pérez; Founder Dr. Eugenio Oñate, holding the award, and Head of the Fundraising Unit, Dr. Fernando Salazar.

The Severo Ochoa grant allowed CIMNE to consolidate its internal structure, take on four new research challenges, recruit 27 PhD students and 22 post-doctoral researchers, and contribute to at least 138 new scientific publications during the grant period. The centre also offered a new mobility programme for incoming and outgoing researchers, as well as a series of public coffee talks and seminars to further disseminate its research.

Besides CIMNE, three other institutions from the Catalan Research Centre Network (CERCA) received the SO accreditation in 2019, placing Catalonia at the forefront of centres and units of excellence in high-impact research and technology transfer.

Representatives of the Catalan centres and units of the CERCA system that received SO and Maria de Maetzu accreditations for research excellence.

SOMMa General Meeting

As a prelude to the award ceremony, CIMNE’s Managing Director, Ms. Anna Font, and Dr. Oñate joined other directors of the Severo Ochoa Centres and María de Maeztu Units at the Ministry of Science in Madrid for the SOMMa director network meeting. The event, chaired by its president, Ms. María José Sanz, and the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Universities, Mr. Juan Cigudosa, addressed cross-cutting issues such as the Manifesto for Equal Recognition of Women in Research and Innovation.