Call for Grants to Companies for the Funding of Industrial PhDs in Space Sector Projects
The Government of Catalonia and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), within the framework of the Catalonia Space 2030 strategy, are launching a call for three grants to support industrial PhDs in companies with projects in the space sector.
Each grant has a maximum value of €33,750 for a period of three years. One of the grants will be allocated to projects aligned with the theme of ESA Phi‑Lab Spain: Space Technology for Climate Resilience.
Eligible for these grants are companies with a workplace in Catalonia that have received an industrial PhD grant from AGAUR during 2025 and are carrying out projects in the space sector.
Given the wide range of knowledge involved in the development of the space sector, examples of fields related to the new space economy include telecommunications engineering, physical sciences, geographic information systems (GIS), materials engineering, agriculture, aerospace engineering, computer science, electronic engineering, robotics, data science and engineering, mathematics, geology, cybersecurity, among others.
The present call establishes three deadlines for submitting applications:
- 1st call: Application deadline: November 15, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. This call includes the first two Industrial PhD calls for 2025 resolved by AGAUR in 2025:
– First definitive partial resolution of the 2025 Industrial PhD call, dated June 4, 2025
– Second definitive partial resolution of the 2025 Industrial PhD call, dated July 29, 2025 - 2nd call: Application deadline: January 15, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. This call includes the third Industrial PhD call for 2025 resolved by AGAUR in 2025.
- 3rd call: Application deadline: March 15, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. This call includes the fourth Industrial PhD call for 2025 resolved by AGAUR in 2026.
The 2nd and 3rd calls will be subject to the results of the previous calls and to the number of grants remaining to be awarded.
Interested entities must submit their applications to info-apec@ieec.cat.
You can consult all the details of the call and the procedure here.