Xavier Matias-Guiu, on the Academy of Excellence programme

The head of the IRBLleida Oncological Pathology research group, Xavier Matias-Guiu, has been selected in the new call for applications for Academia de Excelencia grants, formerly known as ICREA Academia grants from the Department of Research and Universities. He will receive €200,000, spread over five years (€40,000/year). These grants allow teaching staff to devote more time to research by reducing their teaching duties. Created in 2008, their aim is to promote research careers.

The Academia Excelencia grants involve priority dedication to research activities during the five-year duration of the programme, thanks to an annual grant for each researcher of €16,000 gross at their disposal, a grant of €20,000 for the university - which must be used for actions directly related to the intensification of research, especially the hiring of staff to reduce the teaching workload of the beneficiary - and €4,000 as compensation for their participation in the management of the programme.

The professor of Pathological Anatomy at the University of Lleida, head of the Pathological Anatomy Department at Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital (HUAV) and head of the Oncological Pathology research group at IRBLleida is also president of the European Society of Pathology (ESP). Xavier Matias-Guiu has received numerous awards, including the Josep Trueta Award from the Academy of Medical Sciences of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (2009), the City of Lleida International Award (2014), the Narciso Monturiol Medal from the Catalan Government (2015), the award for research career at the Hospitals of the Catalan Health Institute (2017), the Helga*Salvesen Award from the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (2024) and the Arnaldo Bruno International Award for Gynaecology (2025).

The Academy of Excellence grants, with an investment of €10 million for 50 teachers, aim to contribute to intensifying the research work of Catalan university teaching staff. Of those selected in this edition (37 men and 13 women), 2 are from the UdL, 13 are affiliated with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, 12 with the Autonomous University of Barcelona, 8 with Pompeu Fabra University, 6 with the University of Barcelona, 4 with Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona, two are from the University of Girona, two are from Ramon Llull University, and one is from the Open University of Catalonia.

Text: UdL Press Office