ABOUT THE FOUNDATION

The focus in this area is Ecology and Conservation Biology, the aim being to place scientific knowledge at the service of conserving biodiversity in all its forms (species, habitats and ecosystems).

The BBVA Foundation Awards for Biodiversity Conservation recognize salient actions furthering environmental protection in Spain, Latin America and the rest of the world, along with environmental awareness-raising conducted in the Spanish language. The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation Biology distinguishes researchers who have moved beyond the established paradigms in this area, on more than one occasion opening up entirely new fields, while the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Climate Change honors fundamental contributions in understanding and confronting this global challenge of the 21st century. The Biophilia Award in Humanities and Social Sciences prioritizes contributions that help reframe humankind’s relationship with nature, shaping the perspectives, conceptual frameworks and values of society as a whole with regard to the environment.

The Leonardo Grants enable mid-career researchers to carry out highly innovative projects in Environmental and Earth Sciences. Environmental Science is also among the interest areas of the “Fundamentos” Program, funding three-year basic research projects led by up to three principal investigators attached to Spanish and/or foreign centers. Finally, the Prisms & Problems program supports research projects in two areas of environmental concern: The water cycle in Spain, uses and management; and Conservation of critical ecosystems in Spain.

The BBVA Foundation promotes long-term research projects like the Comprehensive Cancer Immunotherapy and Immunology Program in partnership with the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology. Other initiatives in the Biomedicine area include the BBVA Foundation-Barcelona Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) Oncology Research Program, the Cornea and Lens Clinical Research Program with the Instituto Oftalmológico Fernández-Vega, and the Joan Rodés-Josep Baselga Advanced Research Contracts in Oncology and Neurodegenerative Diseases, a joint initiative of the BBVA Foundation and Hospital Clínic Barcelona.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine distinguishes fundamental contributions to our understanding of the processes governing health and disease, while the Leonardo Grants in Biomedicine provide support to a network of researchers working on high-impact projects. Exploratory research on fundamental questions in Biology and Biomedicine also falls within the scope of the “Fundamentos” Program.

Finally, the BBVA Foundation makes the best health advice and knowledge publicly available by means of the PortalCLÍNIC website and a dedicated publishing line that includes El libro de la salud (developed with Hospital Clínic de Barcelona), El libro de la salud cardiovascular del Hospital Clinico San Carlos y la Fundación BBVA and El libro de las enfermedades alérgicas, all of them open-access publications available free of charge from our website.

Information and communication technologies and massive data processing are transforming such diverse realms as biomedical research, particle physics, production processes, interpersonal relations and the interaction of individuals with their physical and digital environment.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Information and Communication Technologies recognizes seminal contributions in this area, as evaluated by a committee of distinguished experts.

In the funding area, the BBVA Foundation fosters new knowledge generation through the Leonardo Grants in Information and Communication Technologies. The “Fundamentos” Program, addressing core or fundamental questions in one or more scientific fields, reserves a category for Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. Additionally, one of the focus issues of the Prisms & Problems scheme is Artificial intelligence values, regulation and applications.

The Premios de Investigación Sociedad Científica Informática-Fundación BBVA (with the Computer Science Society of Spain, SCIE) are designed to showcase young Spanish talent at the postdoctoral level and reward the creativity, originality and excellence of their projects. And finally the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research BBVA Foundation Awards aim to encourage research work in these two fields and its transmission to society.

The BBVA Foundation, in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), runs a cross-cutting program for the promotion of science communication comprising two distinct initiatives. Firstly, the CSIC-BBVA Foundation Grants for Science Communication, whereby graduates in any branch of knowledge can spend twelve months on training placements at one or more CSIC centers to gain first-hand experience of the scientific research process. And secondly, the CSIC-BBVA Foundation Awards for Science Communication , with one category for specialist journalists and another for researchers who have taken innovative approaches in relaying scientific knowledge to society.

Through the Fundación BBVA-Instituto Valenciano de Actividades Económicas (Ivie) Economic Research Program, the Foundation has generated a pool of knowledge on the key socioeconomic issues of the 21st century: among them, the education system, the knowledge economy as a vector for growth, R&D and innovation-led productivity or the equitable distribution of income. Another of its products is U-Ranking, a tool that compares more than 3,600 degree courses from 71 universities and offers information on entry qualifications, fees and employability by degree.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Economics, Finance and Management distinguishes the authors of key contributions in a broad spectrum of areas from game theory to growth economics by way of taxation, contracts and incentives or the measurement of economic wellbeing.

In addition, the BBVA Foundation’s Leonardo Grants program supports the work of researchers in the Social Sciences, a domain also addressed by several focus issues of the Prisms & Problems program: Digitalization and mobile devices in education; Educational models and outcomes; Young people: employability, access to housing and interpersonal relations; Gender-based violence: a comparative analysis; and Democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Social Sciences, finally, is among the funding heads of the “Fundamentos” program.

The BBVA Foundation-JEEA Lecture, an annual event co-organized with the European Economic Association, provides a forum for expert speakers to address the interested public on questions of topical interest.

The Foundation’s Department of Social Studies and Public Opinion designs and carries out projects like the European Values Survey, examining a broad set of values and attitudes among the adult population of five European countries: Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain.

The BBVA Foundation promotes new knowledge in the humanities through its Leonardo Grants, funding innovative studies in Philosophy, Philology, Literature, Linguistics, History, Aesthetics, Musicology, Journalism and Communication. This initiative was more recently joined by the LOGOS Classical Studies research program, which looks at the main cultural expressions of ancient Greece and Rome and their influence in the modern world. LOGOS has also given rise to a lecture series available on the BBVA Foundation website, and a publishing line to disseminate the results of awardee projects.

From their 11th edition onwards, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards have included a Humanities and Social Sciences category distinguishing salient contributions in these two domains.

Young research talent receives both recognition and practical support through the Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis in Digital Humanities, a joint initiative of the BBVA Foundation and the Sociedad Internacional de Humanidades Digitales Hispánicas.

The BBVA Foundation website hosts the third edition of the Diccionario del español actual, by Manuel Seco, Olimpia Andrés and Gabino Ramos, which brings together the lexicon documented in Spain from 1950 to the present day, with real examples drawn from an extensive reference corpus of nearly three thousand books and five hundred periodicals.

The BBVA Foundation maintains a long-standing focus on classical music, intervening across the whole creative cycle from composition to performance by way of musician training, the recording of works and the recognition of musical excellence.

The goal of familiarizing the public with the best in contemporary and classical music is addressed through the Foundation’s broad-ranging Concert Season, along with lecture series in the charge of leading figures like Tomás Marco and Pedro Halffter. In parallel, its ongoing collaborations with theaters and associations throughout Spain, including the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Gran Teatro del Liceo in Barcelona and ABAO Bilbao Opera, and with orchestras like the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, have allowed a wider audience to enjoy top-quality symphonic and opera programs.

The BBVA Foundation also looks to the future by providing training opportunities for new performers seeking international experience through programs run with the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía. The Leonardo Grants in Music and Opera support the composition of musical and operatic works, along with musicological studies and the recovery of musical heritage. Finally, the Foundation honors worldwide excellence in music through the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Music and Opera.

The BBVA Foundation organizes annual exhibitions with Museo del Prado, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and Fundació Joan Miró, whose scale and conception make them key events on the international cultural calendar. These exhibitions attract large numbers of visitors and are supplemented by research and educational activities on the corresponding artists or themes. Recent shows include Guido Reni (Museo del Prado), Oskar Kokoschka: A Rebel from Vienna (Guggenheim Bilbao) amd Miró-Picasso (Fundació Joan Miró).

The BBVA Foundation’s Multiverso Grants for Video Art Creation seek to further the development of one of the creative languages most most forcefully expressive of today’s culture. The scheme allows emerging and established artists to undertake more ambitious projects, giving them the resources, choice of locations and planning capacity they might otherwise lack.

At the same time, the BBVA Foundation and Bilbao Fine Arts Museum run a long-standing Video Art and Digital Creation Program to foster the creation and diffusion of this means of artistic expression. Works produced under the scheme include Piedra y cielo by Víctor Erice and La ciudad vacía by Antoni Muntadas. The Foundation also commissions works directly, among them Different Trains and Out of Control. Reports on the Atomic Bomb, both by the artist Beatriz Caravaggio.

The Leonardo Grants in Literary Creation and Performing Arts are the chance for young creators to devote the time necessary to realizing long-cherished literary projects, with products to date warmly received by readers and theater-goers alike. The BBVA Foundation also funds the magazine Sibila, a singular compendium of literature, plastic arts and music now into its third decade, as well as supporting poetry collection Biblioteca Sibila-Fundación BBVA de Poesía en Español, and Clásicos do Pensamento Universal, in the Galician language, with the University of Santiago de Compostela. Literary creation in the Basque language Euskera finds support in the Xavier Lete Grant established by the Government of the Basque Country and the BBVA Foundation.