Girona hosted the Institut Català de la Salut Research Conference, which this year addressed the challenges and research strategies in respiratory diseases. The annual event aims to publicize the research being carried out at the research institutes that are part of the ICS. The fifteenth edition, which took place on October 24, was organized by IDIBGI.
The meeting announced the winners of the call for the different ICS 2024 Research Awards, awarded by the Scientific Council of the ICS. And the award for the Best Health Research Article presented by researchers in training through a doctoral programme was awarded, ex aequo, to Sara Calvo, from IDIBELL and Bellvitge University Hospital, and to Judit Prat, from VHIR. Calvo is a member of the research group on Epidemiology of bacterial infections and research into the pathogenesis and molecular bases of antimicrobial resistance. The winning work reflects a retrospective study of the disease caused by pneumococcus.
The conference included several presentations and two round tables. The one dealing with the research career at the ICS was moderated by Dr. Maria Molina, scientific director of IDIBELL and scientific director of CIBERES. Robert Montal (IRBLleida), Cristina Rey (Gerencia Camp de Tarragona), Cristina Vilaplana (IGTP) and Andreu Vilaseca (VHIR) participated in the meeting, discussing how to implement the planning of recognition of the research career for ICS healthcare staff. A working group has identified the challenges and designed an action plan to recognise and promote research careers, and the participants agreed that progress in this area was urgently needed to ensure the continuity and improvement of research in ICS centres at different levels, always taking into account the different biosanitary disciplines involved in the advancement of health research.
The Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) is a biomedical research center created in 2004. It is participated by the Bellvitge University Hospital and the Viladecans Hospital of the Catalan Institute of Health, the Catalan Institute of Oncology, the University of Barcelona and the City Council of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
IDIBELL is a member of the Campus of International Excellence of the University of Barcelona HUBc and is part of the CERCA institution of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In 2009 it became one of the first five Spanish research centers accredited as a health research institute by the Carlos III Health Institute. In addition, it is part of the “HR Excellence in Research” program of the European Union and is a member of EATRIS and REGIC. Since 2018, IDIBELL has been an Accredited Center of the AECC Scientific Foundation (FCAECC).