Spanish Science

Hello Everyone,

Like many other on this website, I am thoroughly enamoured of Spanish culture and would love the chance to spend extended time in Spain some day. I am from the United States. Although my undergraduate university had several study abroad programs in Spain, I was unable to participate in them because they conflicted too strongly with the schedule/programme for my degree (I am a Chemist).

Does anyone on this message board have any general information about the atmosphere of the scientific community in Spain? (industry and/or academia) I would love to spend time there doing scientific research.

I have noticed that several Spanish universities conduct graduate scientific research/teaching almost exclusively in English (since it is a very popular language amongst scientists) and publish heavily in English. However, I have also heard rumors that they are not as open to foreigners as other countries, especially non- European foreigners.

Any one out there that can shed light on these rumors and/or offer me advice?

Thanks!

Well, I'm afraid I bring you bad news. The science panorama in Spain is depressing, specially next to the USA.
A friend of mine is a biochemist, he worked for 5 years for a university. He was desperate. No equipment, no investment, no interest at all. The only way to survive is teaching. Salary is miserable.
Now he is working, guess where? at Berkeley Univ., CA.
He earns $30000, way more than he did here, but with the increasing euro value he is now starting to worry about the future, he wants to join a private company.
You should try in the private companies, being from USA it should be easy for you to get a job...but don't expect great researching programs.

Deibid is right. Despite the public concern about the issue, the investment in science research is still way below what it should. I have quite a few friends (chemist, biologists and physics) who tried and never got the chance to stay at the university and earn a living working on research. It's a very low paid job.

Oddly enough, I was going to ask the same thing. My degree is in biochemistry and I've been working in research for three years. My husband (5th grade teacher) and I want to move to Spain, and we're trying to figure out the job opportunities we might have there. The research I've been involved in has revolved around protein chemistry and more specifically mass spectrometry. Like the original poster said, English is an important language in science and mass spec is an important tool in science. I'd like to hear more about those science classes taught in English that AnneCR mentioned. If anyone has any information on research positions, either in academia or biotech, it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tennille