In this program we have two luxury guests: Francisco Vilaplana, president of RAICEX, and Rodrigo García, president of CENL.
By Beba ARLANZON
Between 20,000 and 25,000 Spanish researchers and scientists currently work abroad. These are the figures that RAICEX, the Network of Associations of Spanish Researchers and Scientists Abroad, is considering. In this episode we talk with Francisco Vilaplana and Rodrigo García about issues relevant to all of us: the difference between mobility and flight of talent, the need to obtain in-depth information about the country in which you want to work before settling in it, the reception, mentoring and return programs, the relationship with the Spanish authorities (Embassy and Central Government), scientific policy and diplomacy, the internationalization of Spanish science, approvals and accreditations, collaboration between the world academic and the private sector, the work of the different commissions or the initiatives to disseminate science. A totally “glocal” episode, since we do not forget CENL: from its beginnings on a notice board at the Universiteit van Amsterdam to the myriad of activities it carries out today.
Francisco Vilaplana is president of RAICEX and ACES (Association of Spanish Scientists in Sweden). He is a chemical engineer from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and a PhD in Materials Technology from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, Stockholm). He has an important international career in the academic world, since he has also worked in Australia and the Netherlands. At this time he is developing his research work in both the public and private sectors. He is a professor at KTH and Head of the Carbohydrate Science Division at the Department of Chemistry. He directs a research group focused on plant biomass biotechnology, which studies the development of sustainable processes to valorize natural resources and convert them into new food products or biobased materials of plant origin. Since 2023 he is founder and director of KTH FOOD, whose goal is to find a sustainable and healthy food system.
Rodrigo García is the president of the Association of Spanish Scientists in the Netherlands (CENL). He has a degree in Biotechnology from the University of Salamanca, a Master’s degree in Bioinformatics from the University of Valencia and a PhD student at the ITN Marie Curie COSMIC. His work focuses on the development of multiscale mathematical models of the germinal center. He has worked in laboratories of very diverse nature and focus, from cancer molecular biology to nanotechnology or bioinformatics. He has been linked to the associative world for years. In 2014 he was selected as one of the 100 Leaders of Tomorrow worldwide in the first global and intergenerational forum for young leaders in the Biotechnology sector, the Gap Summit 2014, organized by the Think Tank Global Biotech Revolution. He had previously been vice president of the Spanish Federation of Biotechnologists (FEBiotec), president of the Salamanca Biotechnology Association (ABSal) and director of the III Biotechnology Week in the National Year of Biotechnology.
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