Dr Fernando Fernández Aranda, co-leader of the research group on psychoneurobiology of eating disorders and addictive behaviours at IDIBELL, director of the Eating Disorders Unit (ED) of the Psychology Service of the Bellvitge Hospital, and professor at the UB, and Dr Esteve Fernández, former coordinator of the Epibell research programme at IDIBELL, professor at the UB and current secretary of public health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, are two of the 50 university professors who have received this grant, granted by the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) to promote research talent in Catalan universities. 

The teachers selected in the 2024 call for ICREA grants will receive 40,000 euros per year for a period of 5 years. These grants are intended exclusively for teaching staff who do research at the university and, in particular, those who are in a fully active and expanding phase of their research activity. 

The granting of the ICREA Academies will strengthen and promote the internationalization of the research carried out by both researchers, one in the field of eating disorders and the other in the field of tobacco control and cancer prevention. 

Of the selected people (37 men and 13 women), 16 are attached to the University of Barcelona, 12 to the Autonomous University of Barcelona, 8 to the Pompeu Fabra University, 5 to the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, 4 to the University of Girona, 2 to the Ramon Llull University, 2 to the Open University of Catalonia and 1 to the Rovira i Virgili University. 

By areas of knowledge, the distribution was as follows: engineering, technology and architecture (11); social sciences (10); sciences (9); arts and humanities (8); catchment (5); medical and health sciences (4); and natural and agri-food sciences (3). 

These 50 new grants are in addition to the 439 teachers who have already received an ICREA Academy since 2008, the year in which the programme was created. The indicators over the years reflect a high academic impact. Compared to the rest of the teaching staff in the system, the number of competitive research funds increased by more than 60% and the relative citation rate per journal increased by more than 18%. In addition, the number of institutions that fund the research of researchers in the ICREA Academia programme has increased by more than 30%. 

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).