The president of SIEF José Manuel Torres opened the meeting presenting the new scientific society and its challenges, as well as the inclusion of SIEF in the Network of Spanish scientists abroad (RAICEX). The second part of the day focused on the opportunities - and some of the existing challenges - for the professional development of Spanish researchers in France. The event was closed by Mr. Fernando Carderera Soler, Ambassador of Spain to France.
The organization and celebration of this event has had the support of the Embassy, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) and the Ramón Areces Foundation.
The Society of Spanish Researchers in France follows the example of other associations of Spanish scientists already existing in other countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Belgium. The group is open to any researcher who develops his activity in universities, hospitals, technological or industrial centers in France. Among its main objectives include the following: facilitate contact, communication and collaboration within the group of Spanish researchers in France; encourage the exchange of ideas to promote scientific innovation; organize scientific events to disseminate the progress of the research work carried out by Spanish researchers, and facilitate the integration of researchers who have recently arrived in the country.
SIEF has planned to carry out numerous events to meet its objectives; in particular, the promotion of scientific conferences, research symposiums, and presentations by invited researchers, etc. In addition – likewise to other Spanish associations of researchers abroad - SIEF wishes to explore the possibility of establishing future agreements with foundations and various institutions in order to launch scientific exchanges, prizes or grants to facilitate research stays.

Iñaki Echeverría Huarte will represent Spain in the international final round of the FameLab scientific monologues, after winning the national final, which was presided over by H.M. Queen Doña Letizia. Also present at the event were the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Pedro Duque, and the UK ambassador to Spain, Mr. Simon Manley.
FameLab is an international contest of scientific monologues organised in Spain by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) and the British Council, with the collaboration of the Obra Social “la Caixa”.
Iñaki Echeverría Huarte was born in Pamplona and is 24 years old. He studied a Master's degree in modelling and mathematical research and is currently in his first year of doctoral thesis at the University of Navarre. The research line he follows is that of pedestrian dynamics, trying to understand how people behave in risk situations when evacuating certain areas.
He won over the rest of the participants with the monologue “Let me out”, where he describes the FIS (faster is slower) phenomenon proposed by the physicist Dirk Helbing in 1995, which suggests that placing an obstacle near the exit doors could facilitate an evacuation in case of emergency.
Mariola Penadés Fon was second, with her monologue, entitled “The silence of my neurons”, which explained the neuronal mechanism by which we inhibit the perception of our own sensory stimuli.
Kevin Fernández-Cosials, 29, came in third. He is from Madrid and is currently doing a Post-Doc at the Escuela Superior de Ingenieros de Minas (School of Mining Engineering) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. In his monologue, entitled “Risky Business”, he explained how our perception of the risk of accidents influences the design of safety systems.
The jury was composed of Carmen Agustín Pavón, a doctor in Neurosciences and scientific divulger; Marcos Pérez Maldonado, a graduate in Physics, who has been the technical director of the Casa de las Ciencias in A Coruña for 20 years; and Pampa García Molina, a graduate in Theoretical Physics and editor-in-chief of the SINC Agency, the first state-wide public agency specialising in information in Spanish on science, technology and innovation.
The final of the seventh FameLab Spain edition was presented by Eduardo Aldán and followed live on the Youtube channel and Facebook page of FECYT by more than 700 people.    
History of FameLabFameLab was created in 2005 thanks to an original idea of the Cheltenham Festival, whose main objective is to promote the dissemination of science by identifying, training and publicizing new talents in science through an innovative format: the scientific monologue.
Since 2007, thanks to a partnership with the British Council, FameLab has been held in more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States. More than 7,000 researchers from all over the world have participated in some of its editions.
Mathematics student Pedro Daniel Pajares was the winner of last year's edition. Another mathematician, Eduardo Sáenz de Cabezón, won the first edition and is nowadays one of the most popular science youtubers in Spain. The biologists Ricardo Moure, Álvaro Morales and Alba Aguión were the winners of the second, third and fourth editions, respectively. All monologues from previous editions are available on You Tube.
All information on and rules of the contest can be found at www.famelab.es

FECYT participated last Monday, April 29, in the conference "Opportunities for researchers in Spain" organized in collaboration by the London delegations of the Association of Spanish Reserachers in the United Kingdom and ACCIÓ, the Agency for Competitiveness of the Company of the Generalitat of Catalonia.
The meeting was held at the Institute of Education of the UCL (University College London). After some welcoming words from the organizers calls for the recruitment of researchers from regional funding agencies Acciò, IkerBasque and Bizkaia talent were presented.
Further opportunities in Spain were afterwards presented by FECYT following the map of the career path for researchers in Spain they annually publish through EURAXESS initiative.
In addition, representatives of the Italian Embassy in London presented the opportunities available for researchers in Italy.
To close the session there was a debate about the consequences of BREXIT for the scientific community in which representatives from the associations of Spanish, Portuguese and Italian researchers in UK participated.

On March the 2nd, the association of Spanish Scientists in Denmark (CED / SFD), which brings together almost 200 Spanish scientists in Denmark, a leading country in technology and innovation, organized the third edition of the "Breaking Down Borders in Research" day in collaboration with the University of Aalborg, the Spanish Embassy in Denmark, FECYT and the Ramón Areces Foundation, having as its central theme "Science in Parliament: from Scientific Research to Legislation and the Regulations".
The meeting included the presentations of the science and technology advisory offices in the parliament of Spain (Eduardo Oliver, of #CienciaenelParlamento), Denmark (Lise Bitsch of the Danish Commission of Technological Foundation) and the United Kingdom (Sarah Foxen of the Science and Technology Office of the Parliament of the United Kingdom).
Scientific Research focused on the benefit of society was the main theme of the second session, where prestigious scientists from different fields explained the challenges they faced in their research in terms of legislation and regulations.
Several speakers participated, among them the professor of microgrids at the University of Aalborg, Josep M. Guerrero, one of the most cited scientists in his field, Diego F. Aranha (University of Aarhus), who focused on explaining the complementary - and non-exclusive as it is commonly believed - relationship between security and privacy in communications, Dr. Luis Uzeda Garcia, Research Engineer at Nokia Bell Labs, among others, and Professor Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen, from the Tecno-Anthropological Research group of the University of Aalborg.
This third edition of the event was a great success, in addition to the previous editions in Aarhus in 2016 and Copenhagen in 2018.

On the 27th and 28th of February, two of the researchers selected in the "Open Doors" open call of the European project Using science for / in diplomacy for addressing global challenges (S4D4C), traveled to Brussels to continue their training in science diplomacy .
On the first day, they participated in the final meeting of the project funded by the European Commission on Scientific Diplomacy (EL-CSID), which presented the conclusions and recommendations after four years of work on the subject. Here you can see the final report.
On the second day, a meeting was held at the CSIC Delegation to the EU, where they were received by the Ambassador of Spain in Belgium, Ms. Beatriz Larrotcha. In this event, they had the opportunity to know the work of the different Spanish scientific institutions with representation and delegation in Brussels (CSIC, SOST-CDTI, CRUE-CRUP, Alianza4Universidades, YERUN, Carlos III Health Institute, CEIA3, University of Alcalá, Rey Juan Carlos University, Campus Iberus, Cei-Mar) and see how science is a key dimension for Spain in the environment of the European capital.
Likewise, the Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs organized an agenda of bilateral meetings with different Counselors of the Embassy so that they could know first-hand the daily life of a diplomatic mission. Finally, the researchers held a meeting with the newly appointed president and treasurer of the Society of Spanish Scientists in Belgium (CEBE), who explained the main objectives of the association.
In the coming months, the beneficiaries of this call will visit Bonn and both agendas will include visits to research centers, institutions and multilateral organizations.
This project has received funding from the Research and Innovation framework Horizon 2020 of the European Union under grant agreement 770342.