Job openings & fellowships Job openings
Select Page
Dr. Tobias Grass
Dr. Tobias Grass

Postdoctoral Junior Leader “la Caixa” Fellowships

Michael Tayler and Tobias Grass receive prestigious fellowships from Obra Social “la Caixa”

September 27, 2019

Obra Social “la Caixa” has announced and awarded fellowships for the second call of their prestigious Postdoctoral Junior Leader programme. Of the thirty-three fellowships awarded this year, two are for ICFO postdoctoral researchers.

  • Dr. Michael Tayler, who holds a 2012 PhD in Chemistry from the University of Southampton, UK, joined ICFO towards the end of 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher in the Atomic Quantum Optics research group led by ICREA Prof. at ICFO Morgan Mitchell. At ICFO he works on zero and ultra-low field nuclear magnetic resonance detected with optical and atomic sensors.
  • Dr. Tobias Grass, a 2013 ICFO PhD graduate whose thesis on quantum gases in synthetic gauge fields was supervised by ICREA Prof. at ICFO Maciej Lewenstein and Dr. Bruno Julia Diaz, returned to the Quantum Optics Theory group led by Prof. Lewenstein this summer to conduct research on quantum many body systems in AMO and condensed matter physics.

The Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellowships programme is aimed at hiring excellent researchers, of any nationality, who wish to continue their research career in Spain or Portugal. The objectives of this programme are to foster high-quality, innovative research in Spain and Portugal and to support the best scientific talent by providing them with an attractive, competitive environment in which to conduct excellent research.

Within the Junior Leader programme, fellowships are awarded to attract incoming talent (22 grantees in 2019), and also to retain talented researchers (11 grantees in 2019) of any nationality. Incoming fellows are offered a three-year employment contract to conduct a research project at accredited centres with the Severo Ochoa or María de Maeztu distinction of excellence. Recipients of fellowships to retain talent may carry out research at any university or research centre in Spain or Portugal.

By means of a complementary training programme, these fellowships are intended to consolidate research skills and to foster an independent scientific career as an option for the future.

Congratulations Michael and Tobias!



Dr. Michael Tayler
Dr. Tobias Grass and Dr Michael Tayler