The Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMol) of the University of Valencia has been awarded two grants in the 2026 call of the GenT2 Programme of the Generalitat Valenciana, aimed at attracting and consolidating research talent at different stages of the scientific career.

According to the provisional resolution of the Directorate General for Science and Innovation, ICMol has been granted funding under the CIDEGENT modality, awarded to Joaquín Soriano López, a researcher at the institute in the area of Chemical Sciences and Technologies. This modality is intended for the recruitment of outstanding postdoctoral researchers. In addition, Isabel Abánades Lázaro, group leader of the DREAM group at ICMol, has been selected for a JIGENT 2026 grant, targeted at early-career researchers of excellence.

Joaquín Soriano López obtained his PhD in 2016 from the Institut Català d’Investigació Química (ICIQ) – Universitat Rovira i Virgili, under the supervision of José Ramón Galán-Mascarós and Josep Maria Poblet. His doctoral research focused on the design and study of water oxidation catalysts based on polyoxometalates, combining experimental and computational approaches. He later joined the group of Wolfgang Schmitt at Trinity College Dublin as a Marie Sk?odowska-Curie researcher (EDGE programme), where he developed new families of catalysts through the molecular engineering of multimetallic polyoxometalates, biomimetic manganese oxide clusters, and electrochemically synthesised photoactive metal–organic frameworks. In 2021, he was awarded a CIDEGENT grant from the GenT Programme and joined the group of Eugenio Coronado at ICMol. His current research focuses on the integration of functional molecules with two-dimensional materials for applications in clean energy conversion and advanced electronic devices.

Isabel Abánades Lázaro (Guadalajara, 1992) is a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol), University of Valencia, where she leads the Defect Engineering of Responsive Advanced Materials (DREAM) group. She obtained her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Glasgow (2018), and her research focuses on defect engineering in metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) for applications in catalysis, drug delivery, water treatment, and gas storage. Among other distinctions, she has received the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award, the RSEQ-Lilly Early Career Researcher Award, and has been selected to participate in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.

These grants are part of a competitive programme promoted by the Generalitat Valenciana to attract, consolidate, and stabilise scientific talent in the Valencian Community. In this context, their award strengthens the capacity of the Institute of Molecular Science at the University of Valencia to develop advanced research lines and reinforce its scientific structure.

The GenT Programme is part of the Generalitat Valenciana’s strategy to strengthen the regional R&D&I system by supporting excellent research talent.

Pre-registration is now open for the 19th European School on Molecular Nanoscience (ESMolNa 2026) and the 3rd European School on Advanced Materials (ESAM 2026), which will be held in Gandia (Valencia, Spain) from 17 to 22 May 2026.

These two international schools will be jointly organised by the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol), Universitat de Val?ncia, bringing together leading researchers, lecturers and early-career scientists to discuss the latest advances in molecular nanoscience and advanced materials.

The programme is primarily aimed at Master?s and PhD students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, and forms part of the advanced training activities associated with the Master in Molecular Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and the Master in Advanced Materials. The schools will provide an intensive learning environment with lectures delivered by internationally recognised scientists.

As part of the event, the 12th Workshop on 2D Materials (W2DM 2026) will also take place on 21?22 May 2026, with its first day organised jointly with the ESMolNa and ESAM programme.

Among the confirmed invited speakers are:

• Narcis Avarvari (University of Angers?CNRS, France)

• Nazario Mart?n (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain)

• Reiko Oda (University of Bordeaux, France)

• Nacho Pascual (CIC nanoGUNE, Spain)

• Te?filo Rojo (University of the Basque Country, Spain)

• Michael Shatruk (Florida State University, USA)

• Magda Titirici (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
  
  
  Participants will also have the opportunity to present their work through oral and flash presentations, encouraging discussion and interaction among students and researchers.
  
  

The pre-registration deadline is 24 March 2026.
More information and the registration form are available at:
https://www.icmol.es/esmolna-esam-2026

Researchers Ram?n Torres Cavanillas (RTMM group) and Beatriz Lozano Torres (CEL group) from the Instituto de Ciencia Molecular (ICMol) at the Universitat de Val?ncia have been selected as recipients of the Junior Leader Incoming 2026 fellowships from the ?la Caixa? Foundation, one of the most competitive postdoctoral programmes in Europe.

The Junior Leader programme aims to attract international research talent to develop high-level research projects at universities and research centres in Spain and Portugal. In the 2026 call, 20 fellowships were awarded, with an average success rate of 5.93%, following a rigorous evaluation process that included reviews by independent experts and interviews with multidisciplinary scientific committees.

The fellowships have a three-year duration and provide an average funding of ?320,100 per project, enabling researchers to develop independent research lines and consolidate their scientific careers.

Projects selected at ICMol

In the field of chemistry and advanced materials, the two ICMol researchers will develop projects focused on new functionalities of molecular and nanoscale materials.

Beatriz Lozano Torres will lead the project ?PancTher: Ultrasound-responsive metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for the concomitant local release of antiKRAS oligonucleotides and chemotherapeutics in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC)?. Her research will explore the use of ultrasound-responsive metal?organic frameworks (MOFs) as platforms for the controlled and localized release of therapies targeting pancreatic cancer.

Meanwhile, Ram?n Torres Cavanillas will carry out the project ?Neuromorphic Switching in Engineered 2D Prussian Blue-Based Frameworks (Neuron2DBlue)?, focused on the development of materials based on two-dimensional Prussian Blue frameworks with neuromorphic switching properties, with potential applications in new brain-inspired computing architectures.

Supporting emerging research talent

The Junior Leader fellowships of the ?la Caixa? Foundation, co-funded by the European Union?s Horizon Europe programme, aim to support outstanding researchers at an early stage of their independent careers.

The awarding of these fellowships to researchers linked to the Institute of Molecular Science reinforces the centre?s position as an internationally recognised environment for cutting-edge research in chemistry, functional materials and nanoscience.

More info:?https://fundacionlacaixa.org/documents/d/guest/junior-leader-incoming-fellows-2026-pdf

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