IMDEA Social Sciences is a research center for the analysis of the social problems of our time. Among other goals, the Institute seeks to create research groups capable of studying social problems from different intellectual perspectives simultaneously; promote the interaction between social scientists and the business community; encourage the youth to do research in the field of social sciences; and attract social scientists now doing research abroad to join our system of science and technology
IMDEA Social Sciences is a member of IMDEA, the Madrid Institutes for Advanced Studies, a network of research centers created by the Autonomous Community of Madrid to transform its system of R & D into a decisive engine of economic growth, social welfare and regional cohesion.
MOTIVATION
The 21st Century has brought to society a distinct set of problems and uncertainties that the social sciences must help to analyze. The economic and social development of the 20th Century has been unprecedented in history. In this sense, the goals of the progressive social movement of the 19th Century have been fully achieved.However, no one could foresee that the same social and economic development would exacerbate conflict and worldwide differences instead of contributing to their resolution. In addition to decisive accomplishments such as democracy, the Welfare State, the invention of antibiotics, the exploration of outer space, and a spectacular increase in life expectancy, among many others, the 20th Century has also produced two world wars, Fascism, Nazism, Communism and the nuclear arms race. It has also witnessed starvation of large populations, genocides and the rise of international terrorism.
¿Why is it that the economic and social dreams of the 19th Century have been achieved and, at the same time, they have become a nightmare? ¿Why did economic growth and democracy failed to eliminate ethnic rivalries and treacherous behaviour trends? These are some of the questions that the social sciences must address.
CROSS-DISCIPLINE APPROACH
It is obvious that a non-historical, non-cross-disciplinary approach will not give a satisfactory answer to the big questions faced by the Social Sciences. It is true that the danger of extreme specialization (what Toynbee called the industrialization of thought), is partially imposed by the high technical level accomplished in the social sciences. However, to understand an increasingly complex society we must not forget the convenience of stimulating collaboration among scholars from different disciplines. For that reason, the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (IMDEA Social Sciences) promotes the analysis of the social problems of our time from a historical and cross-disciplinary perspective.
ON RESEARCHERS
In Reglas y consejos sobre investigación científica (1923) (Precepts and Counsels in Scientific Research, 1951, for the English translation), the Spanish Nobel laureate Ramón y Cajal confided the solution to the secular scientific backwardness of Spain to “educating the cream of our youth in the best European and American centers of scientific research”. This recipe was not really implemented until the last thirty years of the 20th Century, when a number of circumstances, notably the restoration of democracy in Spain and the financial support from public and private institutions made it possible for a large number of our best students to complete graduate degrees in those centers. Ramón y Cajal did not foresee, however, that a large number of them would remain abroad for many years upon completion of their degrees, or simply never return to Spain. Yet that is precisely the case (as the composition of our Board of Trustees clearly shows).
Although IMDEA Social Sciences will welcome scientists of any nationality, it will have as a priority to revert the current brain-drain of Spanish scientists. The Institute will devote much of its effort to that end.
Scientists already holding a tenured position elsewhere will become Permanent Research Faculty when joining IMDEA Social Sciences on a full-time basis. Those who do not hold a tenured position prior to joining the Institute will be on a Tenure-track Research Faculty appointment for a maximum period of six years. At the end of this period, the Board of Trustees will either grant tenure or terminate the appointment. However, tenure-track faculty may apply for early tenure review at any time within this six-year period, in which case the Board of Trustees will either grant tenure or terminate the appointment at that time.
Members of the scientific community on sabbatical leave from their institutions may be appointed as Visiting Research Faculty at IMDEA Social Sciences.
PhD candidates holding fellowships, scholarships or any other study grants from national or international public or private institutions are eligible for appointment as Research Assistants, provided that the Institute approves their application and at least one Permanent Research Faculty accepts to supervise their work.