AGENCIA DE GESTIO D'AJUTS UNIVERSITARIS I DE RECERCA

Their core work

AGAUR is the Catalan government's agency for managing university grants and research funding, operating under the Generalitat de Catalunya. Their core mission is attracting and retaining research talent through competitive fellowship and postdoctoral programmes, most notably the Beatriu de Pinós programme which brings international postdoctoral researchers to Catalan institutions. They also engage in responsible research and innovation (RRI) policy implementation, working to embed open science and institutional change principles into the regional research funding ecosystem.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

AGAUR's early H2020 involvement (2017) focused on sector-specific talent development, partnering in a biomedical clinician-scientist fellowship with outgoing and return schemes. By 2018-2019, they shifted toward broader, domain-agnostic researcher attraction — the BP3 programme explicitly targets all scientific domains and all nationalities, emphasising interdisciplinarity and intersectorality. Simultaneously, they began engaging with systemic research policy reform through the GRACE project on RRI and open science.

AGAUR is moving from discipline-specific training partnerships toward operating large-scale, open-domain researcher mobility programmes combined with institutional reform — positioning itself as a regional research excellence hub.

How they like to work

AGAUR takes different roles depending on the project scope: they coordinate their flagship fellowship programme (BP3) but join as partner or participant in training and policy projects led by others. With 27 unique partners across 14 countries from just 3 projects, they operate within large, internationally diverse consortia typical of MSCA-COFUND actions. This suggests they are well-connected and comfortable in both leadership and supporting roles.

Despite only 3 H2020 projects, AGAUR has built a network of 27 partners across 14 countries, reflecting the broad international nature of MSCA mobility programmes. Their network likely spans universities and research institutions across Europe, with strong ties to biomedical and multidisciplinary research centres.

What sets them apart

AGAUR is not a research performer but a research funding and talent management agency — one of few regional government bodies actively running MSCA-COFUND programmes. This makes them a valuable partner for any consortium needing a credible public body to manage fellowship schemes, coordinate researcher mobility, or implement institutional policy changes. Their direct connection to the Catalan research ecosystem (universities, hospitals, research centres) gives them a unique gateway role for accessing Catalonia's research infrastructure.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BP3
  Flagship €7.8M MSCA-COFUND postdoctoral programme coordinated by AGAUR, attracting international researchers across all disciplines to Catalonia — their largest and most defining project.
• GRACE
  Signals AGAUR's engagement with research policy reform, specifically embedding RRI, open science, and gender principles into funding agency operations — relevant for institutional change initiatives.