The Jordi Gol University Institute for Research in Primary Care (IDIAPJGol) and the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) have awarded the annual IDIAPJGol-ICS Grants for Research in Primary Health Care. Overall, grants and fellowships have been awarded to 23 researchers through five calls aimed at funding research intensification (freeing up time to devote to research), doctoral theses, research stays at foreign institutions, and the promotion of specific projects. All with a shared objective: to ensure that these professionals have the time and resources needed to carry out high-quality research in primary care, the level of care that is in the closest and most direct daily contact with the public.

“IDIAPJGol’s research helps us to maintain a high-quality Primary Care model,” said ICS managing director Xavier Pérez during the opening of the award ceremony. Josep Basora, director of IDIAP Jordi Gol, called for continued growth in funding for research grants in areas such as mobility, so that more researchers can train at internationally prestigious centres and later bring that knowledge back home. Meanwhile, the ICS Director of Primary Care, Ariadna Mas, encouraged those present—more than a hundred professionals from across the territory—to also conduct research “in new technologies and to open new paths in Primary Care.”

International projection and citizen science

In addition to the award ceremony, the event included lectures and testimonials that focused on two key aspects of IDIAPJGol’s future: its international projection and research carried out “with and for” citizens.

Lars Bjerrum, professor at the University of Copenhagen and one of the world’s leading experts in research on bacterial resistance, highlighted the prominent role that IDIAPJGol has gained in recent years in European research projects: “International collaboration is essential to find sustainable solutions […] and to access major sources of funding.” “There are global challenges—such as the fight against antimicrobial resistance, probably the main health challenge of the coming decades—that can only be addressed through international collaboration.” IDIAPJGol is increasingly playing a significant role in this field.

In his lecture, historian and humanist Guillem d’Efak Fullana-Ferré, Head of Community Action, Public Programmes and Communication at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC), offered insights into how art can contribute to health, proposing different ways of integrating it into research and health policies.

Research with a citizen-centred perspective was also highlighted through a round table featuring Sílvia Soler and Cristina Raso from the Collective of People Affected by Long COVID, and Eva Flo from the Endometriosis Association of Catalonia (Endo&Cat). All of them are members of the IDIAPJGol Social Council. Moderated by the Deputy Director of the Scientific Area, Anna Berenguera, their testimonies and the subsequent discussion with attendees served to underscore the importance of involving citizens in research projects so that these take their perspectives into account and respond appropriately to their needs.

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS AWARDED
19th ICS Grant to Promote Research Strategies of Groups through the Intensification of Researchers. This consists of releasing up to 50% of working time to intensify research over two years.

• Antonio Heras Tébar, from the Metropolitan North Research Support Unit (RSU) of IDIAPJGol, to develop the project “Retinal microcirculation as a cardiovascular risk factor”.
• Íngrid Arteaga Pillasagua, from the Metropolitan North RSU, who will promote the project “Consolidation of research in liver diseases in the Metropolitan North Primary Care Directorate”.
• María Rodríguez Barragán, from the Barcelona RSU, who will work on the project “Mental Health and Primary Care”.
• Ester Granado Font, from the Tarragona RSU, who will work on the project “TICS-AP Group: Information and Communication Technologies in Primary Care”.
• Antònia Raya Tena, from the Barcelona RSU, who will research “Mental health well-being / Suicide risk prevention”.
• Berta Rodoreda Pallàs, from the Central Catalonia RSU, who will promote the project “Social determinants of health”.
• Dolors Rodrigo Claverol, from the Lleida RSU, who will develop the “Consolidation of research in Animal-Assisted Interventions in Primary Health Care”.
• Jordi Fernández Blanco, from the Costa de Ponent RSU, who will develop the project “INFADIMED: Childhood and the Mediterranean Diet”.
• Carmen Gallardo González, from the Costa de Ponent RSU, who will work on the project “Development of the research role in nursing through two research lines of the Health Economics in Primary Care group”.

4th Grant for the creation of Stable Release positions for senior researchers. This involves the release of up to 100% of working time for research over four years.

• Josep Lluís Clua Espuny, from the Terres de l’Ebre RSU, to work on the project “EBRICTUS”.
• Glòria Saüch Vilamaña, from the Central Catalonia RSU, to promote the “Strategy to strengthen the PROSAARU research group in Central Catalonia”.

23rd ICS Fellowship for research training and completion of a PhD in Primary Care. Fellowship of €9,015:

• Júlia Mitjans Carrasco, from the Metropolitan North RSU, to carry out the “Prevalence study of sexual and reproductive health impairment in women with persistent COVID-19 symptoms (Post COVID-19 condition)”.
• Carles Perpiñan Auguet, from the Tarragona RSU, with the project “Predictive biomarkers of COVID-19 severity in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 with obesity and/or metabolic syndrome”.
• Jorgina Lucas Noll, from the Terres de l’Ebre RSU, who will work on the “Cost study of stroke in the Terres de l’Ebre”.
• Agnès Huguet Feixa, from the Lleida RSU, who will promote the project “Vaccine hesitancy in the population and deconstruction of anti-vaccine messages on social media (MC-MUVA project)”.
• Elena Taverna Llauradó, from the Tarragona RSU, who will develop the project “Training a network of volunteers in cardiopulmonary resuscitation manoeuvres and the use of automated external defibrillators (AED) in rural settings through a virtual platform”.

Release of 25% of working time for two years:

• Daniel Bundo Luque, from the Costa de Ponent RSU, with the project on “Chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Catalonia. Progression, regression and typology of patients who do or do not receive renal replacement therapy in end-stage renal disease (ESRD)”.
• Marta Castillo Rodenas, from the Central Catalonia RSU, who will develop the “Multicentre evaluation in a rural setting of an acute paediatric teleconsultation process in Primary Care”.

Grant for the extraction of information from the SIDIAP database:

• Joan de Montserrat Moreno, from the Barcelona RSU, who will study the “Prognostic value of blood pressure figures and blood pressure variability on the risk of haemorrhagic stroke in patients receiving anticoagulant treatment”.

25th call for the Grant for Research Projects in Primary Health Care. Endowed with €14,000.

• José María Palacín Peruga, from the Lleida RSU, who will promote the project “Effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of ultrasound-guided infiltration in Primary Care to improve pain and quality of life in people with upper limb pathology (Q-EPICAP)”.

18th Call for Research Stays in foreign or national research centres.

• Antònia Pou Giménez, from the Barcelona RSU, who will spend 4 months at the Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
• Elisabet Castro Blanco, from the Terres de l’Ebre RSU, who will spend 6 months conducting research at the Center for Statistics in Medicine, University of Oxford.
• Ester Cots Corominas, from the Metropolitan North RSU, who will undertake a long stay of 24 months at three centres: Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, ISGlobal in Barcelona and the Murdoch
• Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne.

All three will also receive the 6th supplementary financial grant for stays and training at foreign research centres, worth €2,000.

IDIAPJGol, the research that is close to you

The Jordi Gol i Gurina University Institute for Research in Primary Health Care (IDIAPJGol) is a reference centre in research and health promotion at the primary care level. Its aim is to foster and develop innovation, clinical, epidemiological and health services research in the field of Primary Care, and to provide training in order to generate knowledge, disseminate results and translate them into clinical practice to increase the efficiency of the healthcare system and promote and improve people’s health.