annual report Spanish National Research Council Spanish National Research Council Annual Report Table of contents Introduction 7 1 Organisation 8 2 Human Resources 22 3 Economic Resources 28 4 Scientific Activity 34 5 Research Training 54 6 Knowledge Transfer 60 7 Scientific Culture 66 8 Publications Department 86 9 Library Network and Archives 92 10 Communication Department 102 11 Committee on Women and Science 110 Introduction Barely twenty years have passed since the English physicist Tim Berners-Lee came up with the idea of the World Wide Web while working at CERN, but its effects are being felt in almost every sphere of human activity, and it is even leading to the disappearance of venerable paper-based publications, such as the traditional Annual Report by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), which this year, for the first time, is being presented only in electronic format, following the guidelines laid down by the 2006-2009 Action Plan, which envisages the digitisation of all the CSIC’s publications and internal communications. Indeed, given that the CSIC has a website which is updated daily, the very concept of an “activity report” has lost some of its meaning; today it is possible to follow the institution’s activities directly Rafael Rodrigo via the web, or on a day-to-day basis in the media. President of the CSIC One important milestone to mention in the institutional context, however, was that in 2008 the Executive Council, at its first meeting of the year on 19 February, enacted the new status of the CSIC as a State Agency, as envisaged in its statutes, which were passed by Royal Decree 1730/2007 on 21 December 2007. Over the course of the year the various collegiate bodies envisaged in the statutes have been brought into operation: the Executive Council, Control Commission, Interterritorial Commission, and various meetings have been held enabling them to perform the functions assigned to them. Another milestone was the start of the new 2010-2013 Action Plan, which has an external evaluation system similar to that used in the previous plan (2006-2009). For the first time this new Action Plan encompasses all the CSIC’s functional units (Centres, Institutes, Horizontal Units and Scientific/ Technical Infrastructures), representing another step forward in relation to the previous plan, which only included the Institutes and some of the Horizontal Units. This fact is another historic milestone, as it is the first time that the whole of an institution of the CSIC’s characteristics is evaluated. Also, as a result of the sustained increase in the budgetary allocations to R&D, it was possible to start building five new institutes, three of which belong to the biology and biomedicine area, one to Nanotechnology, another to Agrogenomics, as well as a large animal house, and to buy new premises in Brussels and Rome, lending support to the institution’s internationalisation goals. Another example of our activities in the service of the Spanish scientific community is the remodelling of the Juan Carlos I Antarctic Station, which is expected to be completed in time for the 2010-2011 season. In relation to scientific and technical research, the summaries of the scientific/technical areas and those of the institutional coordinators describing some of the achievements of 2008 stand out. In a general way, the most important thing has undoubtedly been the fact that the organisation has continued increasing the quantity and quality of its scientific publications, its number of patents, projects, agreements and contracts, and has increased its human resources, both in terms of researchers and technical and management personnel. Altogether this has allowed us to continue to drive high quality research in Spain, generate new knowledge and transmit it to society, which in the final analysis, is what supports our work. Thank you, then, to everyone, for the work done. 7 Minister of Science and Innovation Secretariat of State for Research Spanish Nacional Research Council Steering Committee Board of Trustees President President’s Office Ethics Committee Government Audit Office Legal Office Scientific Advisory Committee Inter-territorial Committee Vice-Presidency for Vice-Presidency for Science Vice-Presidency for Secretariat General Organisation and and Technology Research International Relations Institutional Affairs Deputy Secretariat General Deputy Vice-Presidency for Deputy Vice-Presidency for for Financial Management Scientific Programming Institutional Relations and Control Deputy Vice-Presidency Deputy Secretariat General Deputy Vice-Presidency for for Organisation and for Works and Infrastructure Knowledge Transfer Scientific Culture Deputy Vice-Presidency Deputy Secretariat General for Scientific and for Human Resources Technical Areas Deputy Secretariat General CSIC delegations, centres, institutes, department of postgraduate for Information Technology and specialized studies and publications department. 1Organisation MINISTER FOR SCIENCE AND INNOVATION Cristina GARMENDIA MENDIZÁBAL STATE SECRETARY FOR RESEARCH Carlos MARTÍNEZ PÉREZ EXECUTIVE BOARD President Assistant Vice-president for Scientific Assistant General Secretary for Economic Affairs Rafael RODRIGO MONTERO Programming Carlos Manuel ABAD RUIZ Jose Vicente GARCÍA RAMOS Vice-President for Scientific and Technical Assistant General Secretary for Works and Research Assistant Vice-President for Technology Infrastructure Carmen PELÁEZ MARTÍNEZ Transfer Mª del Carmen GONZÁLEZ PEÑALVER José Luis de MIGUEL ANTÓN Vice-Presidency for Organisation and Assistant General Secretary for Human Institutional Relations Assistant Vice-President for Scientific Areas Resources Francisco Ramón MONTERO DE ESPINOSA Juan José de DAMBORENEA GONZÁLEZ Yolanda MARTÍNEZ SEVILLA FREIJO Assistant Vice-President for Institutional Assistant General Secretary for Computing Vice-President for International Relations Relations Clara CALA RIVERO Jose Juan SÁNCHEZ SERRANO Rosina LÓPEZ-ALONSO FANDIÑO Advisor to the Presidency General Secretary Assistant Vice-President for Organisation and Javier REY CAMPOS Eusebio JIMÉNEZ ARROYO Scientific Culture Pilar TIGERAS SÁNCHEZ Advisor of the Vice-Presidency for International Director of the President’s Office Relations Paz JUÁREZ HERRANZ Maria Ángeles GÓMEZ RODRÍGUEZ EXECUTIVE COUNCIL President Researcher, Howard Hughes Director General of the Spanish Office of Rafael RODRIGO MONTERO Medical Institute, New York (USA) Climate Change Joan MASSAGUÉ SOLÉ Alicia MONTALVO SANTAMARÍA General Secretary for Science and Technology Policy Director of the Max-Planck Institute of Quantum General Manager of INGENASA José Manuel FERNÁNDEZ DE LABASTIDA Y Optics, Garching (Germany) Carmen VELA OLMO DEL OLMO Ignacio CIRAC SASTURAIN CSIC Research Professor Director-General for Planning and Coordination Director of Science Policy at the Gobierno Vasco Mª Ángeles DURÁN HERAS Juan José MORENO NAVARRO (Basque Government) Alberto ANSUATEGI COBO CSIC Research Professor Director General for the Promotion of Electronic Javier MARTÍNEZ DE SALAZAR BASCUÑANA Administration Director General for Research at the Juan Miguel MÁRQUEZ FERNÁNDEZ Government of Catalonia CSIC Tenured Scientist Ramón MORENO AMICH Emilio CRIADO HERRERO Director-General for Industry Jesús CANDIL GONZALO Director General for International Cooperation CSIC Higher Scientific Officer Montserrat TORNÉ ESCASANY Francisco LÓPEZ GRACIANI Director General for Advanced Therapies and Transplants Director General for Programmes and Vice-Chancellor of Valencia University Augusto SILVA GONZÁLEZ Knowledge Transfer Francisco TOMÁS VERT Otilia MÓ ROMERO Professor at the Computer Architecture General Secretary of the CSIC Department. Polytechnic University of Catalonia Director General for Personnel Costs and Eusebio JIMÉNEZ ARROYO Mateo VALERO CORTÉS Public Pensions Carmen ROMAN RIECHMANN 9 Annual Report 2008 SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE President of the CSIC General Manager for Technology, Refining, Researcher at the National Aerospace Rafael RODRIGO MONTERO Marketing and LPG. Repsol-YPF, S.A. Madrid Technology Institute (INTA) Eduardo ROMERO PALAZÓN Margarita YELA GONZÁLEZ Director of the CSIC’s Chemical Technology Institute Deputy Director of the National Centre for Scientific Researcher at the Madrid Materials Avelino CORMA CANÓS Oncological Research Sciences Institute. CSIC. María A. BLASCO MARHUEN Pedro SERENA DOMINGO Technical General Secretary of ABENGOA, S.A. José DOMINGUEZ ABASCAL Vice Chancellor of the University of the CSIC Vice-President for Scientific and Technical Balearic Islands Research Director of the CSIC Institute for Environmental Montserrat CASAS AMETLLER Carmen PELÁEZ MARTÍNEZ Diagnostics and Water Studies Joan GRIMALT OBRADOR Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam CSIC Vice-President for Organisation and Louise O. FRESCO Institutional Relations Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Francisco Ramón MONTERO DE ESPINOSA Biology. University of Oviedo Deputy Vice-Chancellor for the European FREIJO Carlos LÓPEZ OTÍN Higher Education Area at the Madrid Complutense University CSIC Vice-President for International Relations Computer Science Faculty. Montegancedo Covadonga LÓPEZ ALONSO Jose Juan SANCHEZ SERRANO Campus, Madrid Manuel HERMENEGILDO SALINAS Scientific Director of Oryzon Genomics, Assistant Vice-President for the CSIC’s Scientific Barcelona Programming Director General of the European Centre for Tamara MAES José Vicente GARCÍA RAMOS Soft Computing (ECSC) Foundation Luis MAGDALENA LAYOS Research