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The purpose of this guide is to help foreign researchers who travel to Spain for work, grants, exchanges, doctorates, temporary contracts, etc. find information. The manual attempts to answer the main questions that a researcher might have upon arriving in our country, either alone or accompanied by the family. It reflects upon working conditions, everyday life and the things that make our country unique, as well as the formalities required for establishing themselves in Spain.
With an area of 504,782 sq. km, Spain is one of the largest countries in Europe. It is bordered to the north by France (the Pyrenees) and Andorra and to the west by Portugal. Its coasts are washed by the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Sea. The 26-km wide Strait of Gibraltar separates us from Morocco. The Spanish territory covers the Iberian Peninsula (except for the parts corresponding to the Republic of Portugal and Gibraltar), the Balearic Islands (Mediterranean), the Canary Islands (Atlantic) and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Africa. Spain is divided into 52 provinces, included in 17 Autonomous Communities. These autonomous regions have authority over a variety of matters, such as taxes, education, transportation, housing, healthcare, etc. The population is over 44 million (Spanish Statistics Institute - INE, 2006). According to figures from the "Foreign Residents Statistics Yearbook" published by the Secretariat of State for Immigration and Emigration at the Ministry of Labor, in September 2007, the number of immigrants with residency permits in our country was 3,740,956, which represents 8.36% of the population.
The official language of Spain is Spanish or Castilian. In some autonomous regions, their own language is also official. This is the case in Catalonia, Galicia, the Basque Country, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Although Spanish is sufficient for day-to-day communication, if you will be working in any of these Autonomous Communities, you should speak, or at least understand, their language.
Spain is a constitutional monarchy and the king is Juan Carlos I. The Spanish constitution is from 1978. The primary political parties in Spain are the PP (associated with the European People's Party-EPP), PSOE (associated with the Party of European Socialists-PES) and Izquierda Unida (associated with the European United Left-EUL). There are a number of nationalist parties with different levels of weight in Spanish political life (CIU and ERC in Catalonia, PNV in the Basque Country, BNG in Galicia, CC in the Canary Islands, etc.).
Spain enjoys a Mediterranean climate. In general, the winters are moderately cold and summers are hot, although there are major differences between geographical regions. The Mediterranean coast has mild winters, plenty of sun and little rain. Its summers are warm. The north is humid and rainy, with cool summers. The winters in the south are warm and the summers are extremely hot (temperatures can exceed 40ºC). In the mountainous inland area, where the average altitude is 600 m above sea level, the climate is generally dry, characterized by extreme temperatures that fluctuate between 40ºC in summer and 5ºC in winter.
Mainland Spain and the Balearic islands are in the continental European time zone. The Canary Islands are in the Greenwich mean time zone; that is, 1 hour behind the rest of the country.
Spain has no official religion, although the vast majority are Catholic. Most holidays are also of a religious nature. Despite that, any other religion is respected and protected by the Constitution. There are places of worship in the larger cities for other religions.
Since 1 January, 2002, the official currency is the euro, which replaced the former peseta.
The most significant characteristic of scientific work in Spain throughout history is its lack of continuity.
Despite that, the general course of science in Spain is strewn with a good number of outstanding scientific milestones. It is worth noting the significant scientific push in our country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the driving forces behind this progress was the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine to Santiago Ramón y Cajal in 1906. Later, in the 1930s, there was a slowdown, although some of the country's most important scientific institutions were established afterwards, such as the Higher Center of Scientific Research (CSIC) and the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA).
Towards the end of the 20th century, in the 1980s, the Government approved the General Law for the Promotion and Coordination of Scientific and Technical Research (the Science Act). During this period, Spain joined the European Union, coinciding with the approval of the Single European Act, which started up the R&D Framework Program.
From that time to the present, scientific activity has grown in Spain and the investment efforts have been positive. Proof of this is that, in economic terms, investments have grown from 0.37% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1978 to 1.20% in 2006 (according to the INE).
