Professional development opportunities in Spain

Erasmus+ is the EU programme for the areas of education, training, youth and sport for 2014-2020 which supports the actions, cooperation and coherent tools with the

objectives of the Europe Strategy 2020 and its emblematic initiatives. Erasmus+ includes the programmes existing in the Lifelong Learning Programme, the international higher education programmes, such as Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, ALFA III, Edulink and bilateral programmes, in addition to the Youth in Action programme.

Its objective is to improve the European system of higher education through student and academic staff exchanges between Europe and the rest of the world. The objectives include the recognition and validation of individual competences together with equity, inclusion or multilingualism.

The programme is directed at active individuals in the areas of education, training

and the young (students, students on internships, apprentices, pupils, adults, young people, volunteers, university lecturers or other levels, trainers, people working in the field of youth and professionals from the organisations).

On the whole, the individuals taking part in Erasmus+ projects must be settled in a country on the programme. However, some actions, mainly those developed in the areas of higher education and youth are also open to participants from associated countries. The specific conditions for participation on an Erasmus+ project depend on the type of action.

The projects in the area of higher education are mainly directed at students in higher education —short cycle (higher education training cycles), first, second or third cycle—, at university and higher education teaching staff, at personnel from the higher education institutions, trainers and professionals from business.

In the projects from the professional training sector, the main recipients are apprentices and students, professionals and trainers, staff from initial professional training institutions, trainers and professionals from business.

For further information, please send an e-mail to sepie@sepie.es or refer to the webpage of the programme, available at: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus.

The MSCA are a European Commission funding programme aimed at funding training in research and the development of a career based on innovative skills. The programme funds international and intersectoral mobility based on excellence in any area of knowledge (with a bottom-up approach). The basic objective of the MSCA is to provide researchers with new competences and to offer attractive working conditions. Another of the objectives is to break down barriers between academic institutions and other sectors, in particular, industry.

Research personnel from anywhere in the world may apply for an MSCA to carry out research in Europe, provided they meet the requirements for professional experience and mobility of the programme.

Currently there are four types of MSCA:

Innovative training networks (ITN): aim to form a new generation of young creative, entrepreneur and innovative researchers.

Individual Fellowships (IF): designed to offer support to the experienced researcher who is in the mobility process within the academic world, with the option to be able to work outside this.

Research and innovation staff exchange (RISE): aims to support international and intersectoral collaboration by means of exchanges of research personnel and innovation.

Co-funding of regional, national and international programmes (COFUND): aims to encourage regional, national and international researcher recruitment programmes to support excellence in training, the development of a career and mobility. This programme is subdivided in turn into two programmes: for predoctoral researchers and researchers with experience. General information is available on the MSCA web page at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions.

To find open Calls, please see the Participant's Portal at (in English) http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html.

Further information is available at the MSCA National Contact Point in Spain at: http://www.eshorizonte2020.es/que-es-horizonte-2020/horizonte-2020-en-espana/ puntos-nacionales-de-contacto.

These contracts are for five years and are directed at research personnel who have obtained their PhD within the dates indicated in each annual Call.

The objective of these contracts is to promote the incorporation of national and foreign researchers with outstanding careers as well as their stabilisation in the Spanish System of Science, Technology and Innovation.

For further information, you can send an e-mail to the following address: ramonycajal@mineco.es.

These contracts are for two years and are directed at research personnel who have obtained their PhD within the dates indicated in each annual Call.

The subsidy is directed at young PhDs who have completed their postdoctoral education and who, in turn, have demonstrated a capacity for scientific leadership. The host institutions may be universities, public research centres, etc.

For further information, you can send an e-mail to the following address: cierva.incorporacion@mineco.es.

These contracts are for two years and are directed at research personnel who have obtained their PhD within the dates indicated in each annual Call.

The subsidy is aimed at new research personnel who wish to obtain a postdoctoral training at a university or research centre other than the one at which they obtained their PhD.

For further information, you can send an e-mail to the following address: cierva.formacion@mineco.es.

These grants last up to four years and cofund the contracts for predoctoral research personnel whose objective is to develop their PhD in the industrial sector (industrial research or experimental development project) At the time of signing the contract they must have been accepted on a PhD programme.

The objective of this contract is to promote the employability of young researchers in industry.

For further information, you can send an e-mail to the following address: predoctoral@mineco.es.

These contracts are for four years and are aimed at graduates or individuals enrolled on a PhD programme at the time of signing the contract.

The objective is to train predoctoral researchers at universities, research centres, etc., in any discipline.

For further information, you can send an e-mail to the following address: predoctoral@mineco.es.

Lasting four years, these contracts are directed at graduates accepted or enrolled on a PhD programme or enrolled on a programme entitling them to access to a PhD.

The purpose of this programme is to promote the training of predoctoral personnel on high quality PhD programmes to encourage their incorporation in the research and higher education system.

For further information, you can send an e-mail to the following address: solicitantes.fpu@mecd.es.

These contracts are for three years and are directed at university graduates

(graduates, engineers, architects, diploma student, HND 3-year engineer's or architect's degree) and graduates from the vocational training programme (vocational training diplomas).

The purpose is to improve the performance and efficiency of the equipment, the installations and other R&D&I infrastructures of public research bodies (OPI); public universities; other public R&D&I centres; public non-profit and private health entities conducting research; public non-profit and private entities carrying out R&D&I activities; technology centres and centres of support to technological innovation at national level.

For further information, you can send an e-mail to the following address: tecnicos.apoyo@mineco.es.