Madrid Institute for Advanced Study (MIAS)

The Madrid Institute for Advanced Study (MIAS) is a new research centre that has been created jointly by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Casa de Velázquez, within the context of the creation of the Universidad Autónoma UAM-CEI International Campus of Excellence.

This is the first Institute for Advanced Study in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Spanish-American area, whose purpose is, by means of a policy of invitations to prestige guest researchers, to reinforce and internationalise research, chiefly in the sphere of Humanities and Social Sciences. The aim is to establish an Institute for Advanced Study in Madrid to enhance the national and institutional scientific environment, with a view to achieving due recognition in the coming years as one of the most attractive Institutes for Advanced Study in Europe, and to joining up with the various European and worldwide networks of Institutes for Advanced Study, such as NetIAS (Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study) or UBIAS (University-based Institutes for Advanced Study).

Research policy

The policy of the MIAS on invitations looks to individual researchers, who are left free of any academic or administrative duties during their sojourn, to pursue an innovative project in an environment conducive to scientific debate among the different disciplines and civilisations.

The Institute is not subject to priorities in terms of disciplines or geographical spheres, and it supports basic research over the entire range of Humanities and Social Sciences. Archaeology, History, Philosophy, Literature, Art History, Sociology, Anthropology, Law, Economics, Political Sciences... The Institute proposes to promote the return of Spanish academics, but candidates are not required to provide evidence of knowledge of Spanish or of prior research on Spain.

The MIAS is interested in proposals that will help to give the research groups at the UAM-CEI International Campus of Excellence a more international dimension and promote the lines of research pursued at Casa de Velázquez.

Researchers

The MIAS invites researchers of all nationalities, chiefly foreign, who have spent less than 12 months in Spain in the last 3 years. The MIAS regulations therefore require an open invitation for applications. Following acceptance through a strict selection process, residents are allowed full autonomy to pursue their research projects, albeit they are encouraged to interact with one another and with the scientific community locally, regionally and nationally. In a preliminary phase, starting in September 2017 the MIAS will host 2 resident academics from the EURIAS (1 junior and 1 senior), who will be provided with all the facilities described in the EURIAS programme and will be introduced to a wide-ranging scientific environment.

In the preliminary phase, the scientific community of the MIAS as such consists of the EURIAS residents and some 20 researchers (juniors and seniors) in Human and Social Sciences, sojourning in Madrid for between 2 and 12 months, plus longer-term resident researchers. There will be a monitoring committee to provide scientific follow-up for all MIAS residents and facilitate cross-disciplinary exchanges among all the residents by means of periodic meetings, in direct contact with the scientific community of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Casa de Velázquez.