The Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC) is a comprehensive cancer research center dedicated to conduct research and drive innovation in the epidemiological, preventive, clinical, translational, and basic aspects of leukaemia and other hematologic malignancies, with the final aim of finding a cure for these diseases. It was created in 2010, and since then has experienced an exponential growth.
The IJC is also part of the network of Excellence Research Centers of Catalonia (CERCA) and was accredited as a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence by the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities in 2024. Since 2018, the Institute has also been accredited by the Scientific Foundation of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (FCAECC) Additionally, IJC is one of the centers integrated into the Institut de Recerca Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP) accreditation as Accredited Health Research Institute (IIS) by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII) .
The IJC's main headquarters is located within the Can Ruti Biomedical Campus, alongside other leading biomedical institutions, providing direct access to cutting-edge scientific and technological facilities, as well as complementary community services. The IJC has six locations integrated into reference hospitals : Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Hospital Clínic, Hospital Sant Pau, Hospital Josep Trueta, Hospital del Mar and Hospital San Joan de Déu. This facilitates close collaboration between basic and clinical researchers, fostering translational research that integrates basic science with clinical practice in clinical settings.
JOSEP CARRERAS INSTITUTE SEVERO OCHOA DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS PROGRAM OVERVIEW The Josep Carreras Institute Severo Ochoa Doctoral Fellowships Program offers 10 doctoral fellowships to train outstanding early-stage researchers in blood cancer research within a highly interdisciplinary and translational environment. The program is funded within the Severo Ochoa Excellence Program , granted in 2024 to the Institute. If you are interested in applying, please consult the full program guidelines at this link for detailed information.
Successful candidates will be recruited under a predoctoral employment contract in accordance with the applicable Spanish legal framework. Fellowships have a maximum duration of four years , and incorporation into IJC must take place no later than 1 January 2027 , with the start date falling on the first day of the corresponding month.
Working Groups and illustrative examples of research directions The Josep Carreras Institute is organizing its research environment around Working Groups (WGs) that bring together complementary expertise across basic, computational, translational, diagnostic, and clinical research in blood cancer.
The three Working Groups currently being launched are:
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Resistance to treatment and relapse (TP53, toxicity, metabolism, plasticity, progression mechanisms, relapse prediction)
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Immune mechanisms in disease and immunotherapy (tumor microenvironment, immune system, immune surveillance, immune evasion, GvHD/GvL)
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Origin of disease and predisposition (pre-malignant clones and interception, germline predisposition, genomic instability, inflammation and aging)
These Working Groups are designed to foster collaboration around major scientific and clinical challenges in blood cancer, creating a dynamic environment that will enable doctoral candidates to develop projects with strong scientific ambition, translational relevance, and access to diverse expertise, technologies, and research perspectives.
At the application stage, candidates will not apply to a specific doctoral project or to a specific Working Group. Applicants apply to the call as a whole and must submit a Motivation Letter addressing their interest in and suitability for the research directions represented across the IJC Working Groups .
The specific doctoral projects will be selected through the internal competitive call and will be jointly supervised by an IJC Group Leader acting as Principal Investigator and a co-supervisor with complementary expertise, providing doctoral candidates with an interdisciplinary training environment that bridges discovery-oriented research and clinically or diagnostically relevant expertise.
The final preselected projects will be communicated to the top-ranked candidates who are shortlisted after the first evaluation stage, in accordance with the procedure established in the call.
The examples below are therefore provided for contextual purposes only, to illustrate the type of research
