Information session on the PID2026 call brings together nearly 160 people

Around 160 people took part in the UPC's hybrid information session on the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) call for Knowledge Generation Projects 2026 (PID2026), held on Thursday 29 October. Some twenty attended in person in the Assembly Hall of the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB), while the rest followed online. The session was opened by Pedro Díez, Vice-Rector for Research, and was also attended by Mireia de la Rubia, Director of the Research and Transfer Area.

The session, organised by the National Projects Unit, is one of the actions to support the attraction of research funding co-financed by the European Union's European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the ERDF Programme of Catalonia 2021-2027.

Cristina Salinas, Head of the National Projects Unit, presented the main features of the call: modalities, project types, team requirements, eligible budget, FPI predoctoral grants and evaluation criteria. She also reported that in the previous edition the UPC secured 68 projects out of 144 proposals submitted, a success rate of 47.2%.

Carlos Alemán, Professor of Chemical Engineering and former coordinator of the AEI's Chemical Sciences and Technologies subarea, then explained how the evaluation panels and committees work. Each proposal is assessed by four evaluators, two remote and two in person, and is then discussed in committee until a consensus score is reached. Drawing on real cases and practical examples, Carlos Alemán stressed that the call is competitive and that a good project must be ‘more innovative and bold, yet feasible’, than the other proposals. He advised applicants to ensure that the team is the right size, that the budget and requested staff are well justified, that the work plan includes a contingency plan and that the proposal is written with non-specialist evaluators in mind.

Timeline: the UPC's internal deadline for sending the draft to the National Projects Unit is 17 November. The AEI deadline is 24 November 2026 at 14:00.

Session materials: the session recording on Zonavideo UPC, the presentations and the FAQ document will soon be published on the call information page and the event page.

If you have any questions, please contact the national projects officer on your campus or write to nacionals.rdi@upc.edu.