Letter from the Director

Dear friends,

Thanks for browsing the 2014 ICIQ Scientific Report. I hope you find the information useful.

2014 was a major turning point in ICIQ’s history. The institute was recognized as Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence. This award has allowed ICIQ to develop a strategic project based on the discovery of catalysts for generating fuel (hydrogen) through water splitting using solar energy and on the discovery of catalysts for converting molecules which have a strong environmental impact (such as CO2) or low reactivity (such as methane) into molecules of interest for the chemical and energy industry. The funds obtained through the Severo Ochoa accreditation have also helped us to consolidate our Starting Career Programme, to launch an international mobility plan for PhD students and to set a training agenda for postdoctoral researchers.

From the point of view of the ICIQ family, two new leaders, Drs. Marcos G. Suero and Julio Lloret-Fillol, joined the Institute through ICIQ’s Starting Career Programme (ICIQ-SCP) to incorporate young talented group leaders and help them start an independent research career. Profs. Atsushi Urakawa and José-Ramón Galán-Mascarós got tenure and Prof. Javier de Mendoza retired.

With respect to research achievements, the institute has continued to be very active, and 159 scientific papers were published during the year. The institute reached Hirsch index 97 in December and topped international rankings measuring scientific excellence (www.scimagoir.com; excellencemapping.net).

And let’s not forget our 10^th Anniversary week of celebrations: A Scientific Symposium; ICIQ’s 2nd Quinquennial Evaluation (highly positive at the end), the institutional celebration and the inauguration of the CELLEX-ICIQ High Throughput Experimentation laboratory.

Let’s wait and see what next year has in store for us!

Best regards,

Miquel A. Pericàs