The Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) celebrates its 25th anniversary with the organisation of the conference ¨Institute of Space Sciences: 25 Years of Discovery and Innovation¨ on 3-5 February 2025 at the Residència d’Investigadors in Barcelona, Spain.
The conference will serve to reflect on the ICE-CSIC’s journey during the past 25 years and envision the future.
Rationale
In 1988 Jordi Isern, CSIC Research Professor in Granada at the time, moved to the Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CEAB) which was, back then, an incubator of new research groups. Over the next few years, the group incorporated new CSIC researchers, Margarita Hernanz, Antonio Rius and Emilio Elizalde.
The group continued functioning at the CEAB for several years. In the meantime, Jordi was appointed by the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca y la Innovació (FCRI) to create a Campus affiliated to the International Space University to be hosted in Barcelona. Building on this effort, Jordi led the creation of the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) in 1996, an institute that brought together CSIC, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat de Barcelona and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
Between 1996 and 1997 the Blanes group moved to the premises of the newly created IEEC in Barcelona as a CSIC Research Unit. New CSIC researchers arrived, Chema Torrelles and Enrique Gaztañaga, scientific horizons were expanding. While the Research Unit was still hanging formally from CEAB and with help from the Instituto de Robótica, CSIC president César Nombela finally promoted the creation of the Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio/Institut de Cienciès de l'Espai/Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) under the figure of an institute "in formation" on December 21st, 1999. The arrival of the first ICE-CSIC manager, Isabel Moltó, new research staff positions and structural funds marked the beginning of ICE-CSIC's existence.
A lot has happened since. The Institute grew in personnel and scientific scope, pushed by the then novel Ramon y Cajal programme, a decade of growth followed. In 2008, the budget for the construction of a dedicated building for ICE-CSIC at the UAB Campus in Bellaterra was approved by CSIC right before the economic crisis that hit Spain hard and stalled large-scale investments. It took time, ICE-CSIC researchers were temporarily located at the Faculty of Sciences of the UAB, with its laboratories disseminated around. But finally, in 2015, we moved to our own building. The worst of the economic crisis was over, and ICE-CSIC started to recover from it. Slowly at the beginning, and picking up momentum as the Spanish economy recovered as well.
The present at ICE-CSIC is bright. ICE-CSIC has become one of the most productive CSIC institutes in terms of scientific output, both in sheer volume and per staff researcher. ICE is actively participating in more than 20 large-scale missions and experiments, both from space and the ground, with leadership, technological and scientific contributions to them. In 2022, we were awarded the María de Maeztu Seal of Excellence. Currently, about 150 persons work at ICE-CSIC, out of which 30 are research Faculty Staff, including 4 ICREA professors and 4 ERC Grants (StG, CoG, 2 AdVG).
We want to celebrate the first 25 years of ICE-CSIC and all of our accomplishments, to review our present, and boldly envision our future, pushing the boundaries of knowledge, discovery and innovation. Together, we look forward to shaping the next era of ICE-CSIC.
