The Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) has opened the call for PhD contracts to be performed at Maria de Maeztu Excellence Research Units. The period to apply is from January 12th, 2023 to January 26th, 2023 at 14:00h CET
The CRM is one of the six Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence awarded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) on the 2020 Call. The ‘Severo Ochoa’ and ‘Maria de Maeztu’ Excellence Centers and Units program aims to recognize public research organizations, in any scientific field, that stand out for the relevance and international impact of their research.
The award provides funding for the proposed strategic research plan, aimed at consolidating the centre’s scientific capabilities and enhancing its ability to attract talent over the next four years. It is obtained after a rigorous evaluation process carried out by an international committee consisting of top scientists, in accordance with the most demanding standards.
The CRM is offering FIVE fully-funded PhD positions to candidates who are interested to pursue their PhD Studies at the centre, in the following research areas:
| REFERENCE | Nº OF POSITIONS | DESCRIPTION |
| CEX2020-001084-M-20-1 | 1 | Analysis and PDE´s (Research groups/supervisors in this line) |
| CEX2020-001084-M-20-2 | 1 | Neuroscience (Research groups/supervisors in this line) |
| CEX2020-001084-M-20-3 | 1 | Combinatorics, logic and algorithmics (Research groups/supervisors in this line) |
| CEX2020-001084-M-20-4 | 1 | Climate change and Natural Hazards (Research groups/supervisors in this line) |
| CEX2020-001084-M-20-5 | 1 | Algebra, Geometry, Number Theory and Topology (Research groups/supervisors in this line) |
The positions are funded through the call “Ayudas para contratos predoctorales para la formación de doctores/as 2022”. Applications will be open from 12 to 26 January 2023 through the following link. The call is managed by the Spanish Agency for Research (AEI, acronym in Spanish).
For further scientific information, please contact with the corresponding supervisors. If you are interested in applying to this call or have any enquiries, please contact crmprojects@crm.cat with the subject “FPI-MDM-YourName”.
Eligibility Criteria
At the time of submission, candidates:
- Should have not received funding from the Spanish Programme for Research with the aim to pursue his/her PhD studies.
- Should hold a degree which would formally entitle him/her to join a doctoral programme for the academic course 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 (i.e should have finished an European Master Degree, be taking such degree or registering for it in 2023). The expected master could be in fundamental or applied mathematics, or other relevant topics, depending on the research line (engineering, computer science, etc). Should have not been granted any other PhD scholarship with a duration of 12 months or more, and she/he should not have a PhD degree.
- Should be in the position to be legally accepted in the PhD Programme of the UAB, UB or UPC .
- Advanced English speaking, willingness to learn Spanish if not a speaker yet.
Hiring Conditions
Hiring conditions are set by the Spanish Ministry, and they will be detailed in the Call for “Contratos predoctorales 2022”. Here are the main features for the previous call (note that quantities may slightly change):
- 4-year PhD fellowship with an annual evaluation. The gross salary will be approximately 16,640 euros gross for the first and second years, 17,830 for the third year, and 22,290 for the fourth. Gross means here that you would get about 85% of that in your bank account (i.e., 15% of income and social security taxes).
- The programme also includes a package of about 6,880 Euros to attend conferences, fieldwork and/or secondments during the duration of the fellowship.
Application Procedure
If you don’t have a MINECO account:
- Go to MINECO in “Registro Investigador” option. This first step consists in creating your personal account with your personal data at the MINECO website. This account will not be useful only for this call but for any MINECO funding call. In the RUS (“unified register for candidates”) form please make sure that the response to the question “¿Es también investigador?” (“are you also a researcher?”) is “Sí” (“yes”)
- Once you create your account you will receive an email for the account activation. You should press the link of that email so as to activate your account. From this moment on you will receive any communication from the MINECO in that email account. Please, do not change this contact information until the final resolution of the grant.
If you have a MINECO account:
- Login to the website https://aplicaciones.ciencia.gob.es/ayudaspredoctorales/ and click “Añadir”.
- Select by Reference Code (see above). Note that you can only apply for ONE Position.
- Click “Crear Solicitud” and then choose “Editar” option.
- Fill the 4 sections (“Personal data”, “Academic data”, “Requirement of the candidates” and add the corresponding documents: CV, academic record, etc.)
- Once the application is complete, click “Definitivo” to generate the application form and make sure that you send it by electronic signature (Spanish residents in Spain). Through the Spanish consulate if you are abroad (foreign researchers and Spanish citizens nor residents in Spain). The postal address is the following:Subdivisión de Planificación y Gestión Administrativa
División de Programación y Gestión Económica y Administrativa
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Calle Torrelaguna 58 bis, 28027 Madrid
Xavier Ros-Oton among the 65 most cited mathematicians in the world
ICREA professor at the Universitat de Barcelona and CRM affiliated researcher Xavier Ros-Oton appears on Clarivate's Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list, which this year reinstates the mathematics category after two years of exclusion.Citations are a strange way to...
New Horizons for H- and Γ-convergence: From Local to Nonlocal (and viceversa)
The researchers Maicol Caponi, Alessandro Carbotti, and Alberto Maione extended the H- and Γ-convergence theories to the setting of nonlocal linear operators and their corresponding energies. The authors were able to overcome the limitations of classical localization...
Diego Vidaurre joins the CRM through the ATRAE talent programme
Diego Vidaurre has joined the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica through the ATRAE programme, bringing his expertise in modelling spontaneous brain activity across multiple data modalities. His work focuses on understanding how the brain’s intrinsic dynamics shape...
El CRM a la Setmana de la Ciència: una ruta entre dones, formes i pensament
El CRM va participar en la 30a edició de la Setmana de la Ciència amb una ruta guiada que va combinar les biografies de dones matemàtiques amb obres d'art del centre, connectant ciència, història i creació artística.El 12 de novembre, el Centre de Recerca Matemàtica...
Stefano Pedarra Defends his PhD Thesis on the Interaction between Tumour Cells and the Immune System
Stefano Pedarra has completed his PhD at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica with a thesis exploring how tumour-cell metabolism shapes the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. His work brought mathematics and biology into direct conversation, from building models to...
Els estudiants participants a la prova de preselecció de Bojos per les Matemàtiques visiten el CRM
La prova de preselecció de Bojos per les Matemàtiques va reunir estudiants de tot Catalunya a la UAB i al CRM, amb presentacions a càrrec de Montse Alsina, presidenta de la Societat Catalana de Matemàtiques, Núria Fagella, degana de la Facultat de Matemàtiques i...
Jordi Mompart highlights the role of artificial intelligence in sport at the XIII GEFENOL-DIFENSC Summer School
The XIII GEFENOL-DIFENSC Summer School gathered over thirty researchers from across Europe to explore how statistical physics helps explain complex phenomena in biology, ecology, networks, and social systems. In his closing lecture, Jordi Mompart (UAB) examined how...
Critical Slowing Down in Genetic Systems: The Impact of Bifurcation Proximity and Noise
An international collaboration including researchers from the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM) has shown that when several bifurcations occur close to one another, their interaction can dramatically amplify critical slowing down effect - the progressive slowdown of...
Two CRM researchers begin their Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships
Gustavo Ferreira and Tássio Naia, CRM postdoctoral researchers and new Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellows. Gustavo Ferreira and Tássio Naia, who joined the CRM in 2023 through the María de Maeztu programme, have started their Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral...
Matroid Week at CRM: A Collaborative Dive into Combinatorial Geometries
From October 13 to 17, 2025, the CRM hosted Matroid Week, a research school on combinatorial geometries and matroid theory. Courses by Laura Anderson and Geoff Whittle explored intersection properties and structural emergence in matroids. The event fostered deep...
László Lovász receives the 2025 Erasmus Medal in Barcelona
Mathematician László Lovász received the 2025 Erasmus Medal from the Academia Europaea yesterday at the PRBB in Barcelona, where he delivered the lecture “The Beauty of Mathematics”. Renowned for his work in graph theory and discrete mathematics, Lovász has shaped...
Combinatorial Geometry Takes Shape at the CRM
For one week in early October, the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica became a meeting ground for the world of combinatorial geometry. The Polytope Week research school gathered more than fifty participants from three continents to study the interplay...












