The Department of Health announces grants for predoctoral researchers

The Department of Health of the Balearic Islands has approved the guidelines for the call for training grants for non-doctoral research personnel in the field of health, in the modalities PFIS-CAIB2026 and PFIC-CAIB2026. The resolution, signed by the Minister of Health Manuela García Romero on September 3, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands (BOIB) no. 113, of September 10, 2026, and enters into force the day after its publication.

The call, under a competitive bidding process, is financed with a maximum amount of 1,900,000 euros distributed over five annual installments (2026-2030) and can be 100% co-financed by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) of the Balearic Islands for the 2021-2027 period. It is framed within axis 3 of the Health Research and Innovation Strategy of the Balearic Islands, focused on human capital, and aligns with the priorities of the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP).

Two grant modalities

The call provides for two modalities of research training contracts:

• Modality 1 (PFIS-CAIB): predoctoral health research training contracts, with a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 16 contracts, with a maximum duration of four years.
• Modality 2 (PFIC-CAIB): contracts for clinical research personnel in training, with a maximum of 6 contracts, with a maximum duration of three years, aimed at professionals with specialized health training who combine healthcare activity with research.

Additionally, grants for academic fees (doctoral supervision, opening and maintenance of the file, and thesis defense) are included up to a maximum of 1,152.95 euros per contract.

Requirements and recipients

Candidates must have Spanish nationality or that of an EU member state, residency in the Balearic Islands, and must not hold a doctoral degree. The specific requirements per modality are:

• Modality 1: to have completed master’s studies after January 1, 2020, and to be admitted or pre-admitted to a doctoral program at the University of the Balearic Islands for the 2026-2027 academic year.
• Modality 2: to hold a specialty degree (MIR, FIR, BIR, QIR, PIR, IIR, or RIR) and to have completed specialized health training in 2022 or later.

Thesis projects must be aligned with the thematic priorities of the call —public health, advanced therapies, personalized medicine, and biotechnology applied to health— and contribute to the development of one of the STEP technologies.

Submission of applications

Applications shall be submitted electronically through the online procedure of the CAIB Electronic Office, using an electronic certificate. The deadline is twenty business days from the day following the publication of the summary of the call in the BOIB. The instructing body is the General Directorate of Health Research, Training and Accreditation, and the granting resolution corresponds to the Minister of Health.

The call, which is processed within the Annual Plan for the Promotion of Decent Employment (PAFED), aims to increase the critical mass of health research personnel in the Balearic Islands and places the archipelago among the first autonomous communities to apply the new professional categories of the Science Law. For young biomedical researchers and health professionals in the Islands, it is an opportunity to start a research career and complete a doctorate with public funding.

Source: Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands, no. 113, of September 10, 2026, Section III, p. 49024 (official reference: Resolution no. 9009).