The Technological Campus Foundation of Algeciras (FCTA) has presented its new Office of Career Research Advice, an initiative aimed at guiding and accompanying young people from the Algeciras Bay Campus who wish to embark on a career in research. The project, funded by the Department of University, Research and Innovation of the Government of Andalusia, is structured through the portal carrerainvestigadorafcta.com and is complemented by its own plan for economic aid which in 2026 reaches four calls.
The coordinator of the FCTA, Jesús Verdú, explained during the presentation that the office stems from the need to provide specific support to those who contemplate pursuing research from a territory that, in academic terms, is situated on the periphery. Verdú acknowledged that starting a research career in Spain is a long and complex process, and that this difficulty is heightened in areas like Algeciras and the Campo de Gibraltar, where access to information about funding mechanisms, deadlines, and calls is not always straightforward.
In this context, the office is conceived as a technical support service that will provide researchers with organized and accessible information about the tools available to develop their careers. The objective, according to Verdú, is for the university ecosystem of the campus to be complete and rooted in the territory itself, so that local talent has the same opportunities as in other academic environments with a greater research tradition.
The web portal that has been put into operation offers five main sections: an explanation of what the research career consists of, a guide with the phases of the academic itinerary from bachelor's degree to consolidation as a researcher, updated information on national and international funding sources (FPU, FPI, MSCA, ERC scholarships and others), access to resources and training courses on scientific communication or the use of artificial intelligence in research, and a section dedicated to disseminating results with guidance on publications, conferences, and open-access repositories.
The legal secretary of the FCTA, Gema García Ocaña, detailed the four calls for aid that the foundation has launched for the current year, as part of a plan that began at the end of 2024 with the new phase of the entity under the leadership of the University of Cádiz and has been expanded in successive editions.
The first call is directed to teachers and researchers with a contractual link to the Algeciras Bay Campus, for activities such as participation in conferences through oral communications or posters, publications in high-impact journals, and organization of workshops and seminars in the four centers of the campus. This line has a budget of 15,000 euros, with a limit of 1,800 euros per aid.
The second call is specifically oriented towards young researchers and is directly linked to the new advisory office. It includes aids of 1,200 euros for students completing their final degree project and who plan to enroll in a master's degree at the University of Cádiz, and 1,500 euros for those completing their master's thesis and entering a doctoral program.
The third line of aid consists of a training activities fund open to the entire campus community, from experienced researchers to undergraduate students. It includes three modalities: training courses, attendance at conferences, and transfer activities, and rewards for academic excellence. This call has a budget of 5,000 euros.
The fourth and most substantial call focuses on R&D+i projects, knowledge transfer, and teaching innovation. With a budget of 30,000 euros and a limit of 5,000 euros per project, it seeks to promote collaboration between research groups on campus and the business fabric, as well as the exploration of new tools and learning methodologies. According to the legal secretary, this line was completely exhausted last year with the applications received, which led the foundation to increase its budget for 2026, making it the most financially significant item in the annual action plan.
Regarding deadlines, the calls for initiation to research remain open until December 11, those aimed at teachers and researchers, and for training until October 15 —with the possibility of extension until November—, and the R&D+i projects until July 11. The complete guidelines are available both on the office's website and on the foundation's page.
During the event, Manuel Guernica, a researcher linked to the campus and beneficiary of the FCTA aids, also spoke, sharing his experience as an example of the type of career trajectory that the office aspires to facilitate. Guernica, who is preparing to start his doctoral thesis, noted that the support he received through the undergraduate student scholarship allowed him to publish articles in high-impact journals, a step that, he claimed, would not have been possible without the support of the foundation. The researcher emphasized the importance of organizations like the FCTA informing students from their first year about the workings of the research career and the requirements to access pre-doctoral calls.
The Office of Career Research Advice is funded by the Department of University, Research and Innovation of the Government of Andalusia, and has the institutional support of the University of Cádiz, the City Council of Algeciras, and the Commonwealth of Municipalities of the Campo de Gibraltar.