The Alliance members

See the list of Centres and Units here

35 Centres
Currently hold the Severo Ochoa label. The first open call for applicants was launched in 2011
29 Units
Currently hold the María de Maeztu label. The first open call for applicants was launched in 2014
All Research Disciplines
From life sciences to humanities, from maths to engineering and to experimental and social sciences
2017 October
The SOMM alliance was officially born during its kick-off meeting in Madrid

People

The main asset of the SOMMa centres and units is their staff. Highly qualified professionals, many of them arriving from all over the world.

49.2% Total Staff
SOMMa Centres and Units employ thousands of professionals (data at end 2024, obtained from 47 members)
+14.000 Researchers
At different career levels, from PhD students, to independent researchers and group leaders (data at end 2024, obtained from 47 members)
44.3% Women
Researchers (data at end 2024, obtained from 47 members)
900 Doctoral Thesis
and 1.800 TFMs/TFGs (data at end 2024, obtained from 47 members)

International Competitiveness

SOMMa Researchers are highly competitive at the international arena. They are successful in the most prestigious grants and lead many international collaborative projects.

197 ERC Grants
The European Research Council grants are among the most competitive and prestigious individual grants (data from 2024)
203 € Million
In national competitive grant projects (2024 data)
160 € Million
EU HORIZON (2024 data)
32 € Million
In other international projects (2024 data)

*Research

Cutting-edge research performed at SOMMa centres and units is published in top-tier journals for each scientific field

13.000 Publications
In international peer-reviewed journals (data from 2024)
71.4% Q1 Publications
Published in the top-25% (first quartile) ranked journals (data from 2021)
35.8% D1 Publications
Published in the top-10% (first decile) ranked journals (data from 2021)
550 EU consortia
SOMMa researchers contribute to international science with several collaborations, for instance participating in all these EU collaborative projects (2021)

Open Science figures

See the list of Centres and Units here

11.000 Open Access
publications are led by SOMMa researchers (2024 data)
78% Open Access Policy
SOMMa members that have in place or endorsed Open Access policies for their publications (2024 data)

Creating value

Top-notch science generates knowledge and value for society. SOMMa members foster entrepreneurship and collaboration with industry for optimal exploitation of research results

270 Patent applications
Priority Patent Applications filled by SOMMa members (data from 2024)
120 Spin-offs
Active during 2024
73 € Million
In collaborations with companies and foundations were initiated during 2024
301 Licences
Involving Intellectual Property Rights from SOMMa members were issued in 2024

Training and Career

Attracting talent, providing training, and promoting careers are within the main goals of SOMMa members

3.400 PhD candidates
During 2024
1.800 postdoctoral researchers
During 2024
2.200 New hires
During 2024
1.270 international PhD candidates
815 international postdoctoral researchers in 2024

Funding attraction

The funding structure of the SOMMa centres and units is very diverse, but all together attract significant amounts from national and international competitive sources and also from private origin

660 € Million
Yearly turnover of 47 of our members together (2024)
77 € Million
Private funding to 47 of our members (2024)
172 € Million FP7/H2020
Funds received from the EC Research Framework Programmes in 2024