SEA’s XVII Scientific Meeting begins in Tarragona at a time of rapid growth in the number of astronomy professionals

The XVII Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA) was opened yesterday at the Tarragona Congress Centre. Running until 17 July, it will host more than 560 astronomy professionals and will provide the perfect showcase to present the scientific and technological advances made in astronomy in recent years, alongside Spanish participation in all of them.

This biennial event is supported by the Catalan research and university network, including the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC), the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona (ICCUB), the Institute for High Energy Physics (IFAE), the Universitat de Barcelona (UB), the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV).

The opening day was attended by, among others, Mínia Manteiga, president of the SEA; Rubén Viñuales, mayor of Tarragona; José María Martell, vice-president of Scientific and Technical Research at the CSIC; and Aldo Serenelli, director of the ICE-CSIC, representing Catalan astronomy professionals in universities and research centres.

This opening took place almost in parallel with another highly significant event for Spanish astronomy: the presentation of the project for the new 2.5-metre telescope at the Montsec Observatory (OdM), an infrastructure managed by the IEEC and located in Sant Esteve de la Sarga (Lleida). The announcement was made by Núria Montserrat, the Minister for Research and Universities of the Government of Catalonia, who, after the event in Sant Esteve de la Sarga concluded, travelled to Tarragona to speak at the closing of the morning programme.

The meeting comes at a time of expansion for astronomy in Spain, where the number of professionals in this field has increased by 80% over the last ten years, exceeding 1,400 contracts for the first time across permanent staff, and postdoctoral and doctoral researchers.

This is reflected in the 7th Human Resources Report in Astronomy and Astrophysics, presented as part of the Scientific Meeting, which features updated data from 46 Spanish universities and research centres.

The trend is positive and reflects the weight of astronomical research in Spain, which ranks 7th in the world for the quantity and quality of its scientific publications in astrophysics and astronomy—a ranking led by the United States of America and China, followed by Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and France.

The report counts a total of 1,404 active astrophysics professionals in Spanish universities and research centres. Specifically, 589 are permanent staff (an increase of 15% over the last two years), 421 have a postdoctoral contract (up 14% compared to the previous two-year period), and 394 are doctoral contracts for researchers undertaking their PhDs (up 8% compared to 2024).

Over the last two years, the community has grown by an average of 13% in both universities and public research organisations (OPIs). This development highlights, on the one hand, the growing dynamism of astrophysics as a rapidly expanding scientific discipline and, on the other, the high quality and competitiveness of Spanish research teams. This strengthening is underpinned by the excellence of teaching and research staff, as well as the consolidation of recruitment programmes driven by the autonomous communities, the Spanish Government, and the European Union.

As a result of this growth, Spain now has an average of three astronomy professionals for every 100,000 inhabitants—the highest figure recorded to date and an indicator of the excellent health of astronomical research in the country.

However, this growth is not distributed evenly across the country. By autonomous community, Madrid, Catalonia, and Andalusia stand out for recording particularly significant increases in the number of astronomy professionals. In contrast, other regions such as the Canary Islands and the Valencian Community currently show a more stable trend, maintaining levels of activity and staff similar to those of recent years.

This positive trend in research staff contrasts with the lack of consolidation of other high-quality technical jobs. The report indicates that, in addition to research staff, there are 570 support staff with specialist profiles in IT, engineering, management, or science communication. Concern arises from the fact that, rather than growing at least at the same rate as astronomy professionals, statistics show that the percentage of support staff relative to researchers is falling significantly: 53% in 2022, 48% in 2024, and 41% in 2026. This trend raises worrying questions about the capacity of the R&D&I system to maintain a balanced and efficient structure. The reduction in support staff could compromise the optimisation of scientific infrastructures, reduce the productivity of research teams, and limit knowledge transfer.