The IMDEA Materials Institute, one of the seven Madrid Institutes for Advanced Studies (IMDEA), is a public research centre founded in 2007 by Madrid’s regional government. The goal of the Institute is to do research at the forefront of Material Science and Engineering, attracting talent from all around the globe, and collaborating with companies in an effort to transfer knowledge into valuable technology.
Our continued effort to collaborate with companies has led us to sign more than 70 industrial projects. In them, we work with companies all over the world, helping to address their more complex technical challenges, transforming our know-how into better products, and tackling some of the most pressing problems in Material Science and Engineering.
In parallel, personnel that has left the Institute are now working in companies and universities inside and outside Spain, helping to improve society through a better understanding and usage of materials.
The Institute is organised into sixteen research groups, each of them participating in one or more broad research programmes. Being a medium size centre, researchers are encouraged to collaborate with other top research groups, leading to an open, collaborative environment, also drawing international scholars.
As a result of its growth, over 150 people do research at the Institute, including more than 45 post-doctoral scientists and 60 pre-doctoral students. The state-of-the-art experimental and computational facilities enable the groups to do research at the forefront of Material Science and Engineering, currently publishing above 120 JCR journal articles per year.
MISSION
“We do research of excellence in material science, contributing to tackle the challenges of society and fostering the sustainable development of the region of Madrid”
VISION
“Our vision for the future is that IMDEA Materials becomes a leading research institute, internationally recognized for its excellence in material science and its contributions to the transformation of society”
The mission and vision of the IMDEA Materials Institute is based in three main pillars:
Active commitment and oversight by IMDEA Materials’ governing body and management is key to achieve the Institute’s goal of implementing and managing an effective regulatory compliance system.
The Code of Ethics shall serve as a guide for conducting internal and external relations. The objectives of the Code include the following:
- Strengthen the values that are the distinctive features of the Institute.
- Disseminate the fundamental principles and standards of behaviour for senior executives, researchers, professionals and collaborators in the performance of their activities.
- Ensure ethical and responsible conduct in the performance of their duties and with the community.
The Institute is run by the Director, who is the CEO and reports to the Board of Trustees (main Governing Body of the Institute). The Director has to be a scientist, appointed by the Board of Trustees under the nomination of the Scientific Council, to reinforce the academic nature of the institution. The Director is supported by an Executive Committee made up by the Deputy Director, the General Manager and the Managers of different transversal areas (Projects/Technology, Personnel, General Services and Finance & Accounting). Each of these transversal areas is divided in the different departments that give support to the research groups of the Institute.
The research activities of the Institute are coordinated by the Scientific Director, who is supported by the Technical Committee, that includes the Director and the Deputy Director, the Research Programs Leaders and the Projects/Technology Director.
Each research programme combines the expertise of different research groups (processing, characterization and simulation) leading to a multidisciplinary effort to achieve results beyond the state-of-the-art. Moreover, knowledge transfer between different research programs is promoted by the fact that different research groups are often involved in two or more of them.
Driven by the talent of the researchers, the research programs combine cutting-edge fundamental oriented research in topics at the frontiers of knowledge with applied research encompassing the midterm interest of our industrial partners to provide long-term technological leadership
A well defined management structure, that takes care of the project’s management, technology transfer, recruitment processes, IT, accounting, etc., builds an environment in which researchers are allowed to spend most of their time doing what they do best: excellent materials science and engineering.
