Annual report 2023

Fundación Banco Santander and the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU) grant this award to recognise and advance the professional careers of young Spanish researchers working in the UK.

The winner receives a commemorative sculpture by the artist Cristina Iglesias and a cash prize that can be used to cover any costs related to their research.

The eighth award went to immunologist Roser Vento-Tormo, leader of the Cellular Genetics group at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. The atlases of human reproductive tissues generated in her laboratory using innovative computational and genomics tools have led to major breakthroughs in women’s health.

At the awards ceremony, which took place on 9 October at the Spanish embassy in London, the researcher delivered a lecture about mapping female reproductive organs.

Fundación Banco Santander sponsors this training programme in entrepreneurship and innovation offered by IE University.

The programme is open to all CNIO staff, although it specifically targets researchers interested in turning their discoveries into business opportunities. Scientists learn how to develop business skills, acquire management tools and put their knowledge to good use in the corporate world.

The programme combines in-person and online sessions to work around the participants’ job requirements and consists of the following units: strategy, economic context, finance, marketing, human resources, entrepreneurship and legal matters.

Fundación Banco Santander supports the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) on this programme, which provides new researchers with training in scientific integrity and best practices to promote quality in science.

Good Scientific Practices offers guidelines for every stage of the research process: project preparation, experiment design and implementation; data collection and processing; presentation and reporting of results; evaluation; and scientific dissemination. The programme also teaches and discusses the principles of scientific integrity which ensure responsible conduct and avoid undesirable practices in the course of research.

The contents are complemented by an analysis of today’s complex scientific system, the obligations of researchers, and relations between scientists and society.

Fundación Banco Santander and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) teamed up to develop this programme with the goal of recruiting talented young researchers for the Spanish science and technology sector.

After a rigorous selection process, young scientists from different countries are chosen to work at the CSIC for three years. The beneficiaries receive an annual stipend to cover the costs of their research and education in a variety of intersecting areas: communications, knowledge transfer, entrepreneurship and scientific integrity. They also spend some time working in a non-academic sector, which allows them to pick up new skills and put their abilities to use in a different setting.

During the first quarter of 2023, the scientists chosen in the third edition pursued research projects that attempted to address the biggest social challenges of our time—climate change, the energy transition, preventing disasters, treating diseases, etc.)—from an innovative and multidisciplinary perspective.

Fundación Pro CNIC supports the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research in research on cardiovascular diseases, international cooperation and the transfer of knowledge to clinical practice. It also promotes the adoption of healthy habits among the Spanish population to prevent cardiac and circulatory problems.

Fundación Banco Santander is an institutional patron of this foundation, sponsoring research, development and innovation programmes that benefit people with heart diseases and drive scientific progress in this area.

Fundación Marqués de Valdecilla, based in Santander, is dedicated to providing and promoting medical and care services, and to health-related teaching and research throughout the region of Cantabria.

Thanks to the patronage of Fundación Banco Santander, it was able to acquire a robot-assisted gait training system for neurological patients with impaired mobility. The system consists of a body weight support mechanism and an external robotic assistance device, effectively automating gait therapy on a treadmill.

This system boosts the efficacy of rehabilitation sessions, improving patients’ ability to perform everyday tasks and consequently their quality of life.

Thanks to the sponsorship of Fundación Banco Santander, this non-profit organisation that provides holistic care for persons with kidney disease was able to launch a mobile app called Nefrodiet in 2016.

The app is a tool that helps users follow a diet by monitoring the principal indicators and nutritional components that affect their disease on a daily basis. It also offers basic food-related tips and a dialysis centre locator.

From the moment it was launched, Nefrodiet has been rated one of the best health apps on iSYScore, a scale invented by Fundación iSYS, which specialises in evaluating digital healthcare initiatives. Nefrodiet is updated annually to make it more user-friendly, add new functions and expand the list of foods available in its database.