La Caixa Junior Leader fellows are selected using a two-stage selection process entailing:
1. Remote pre-selection phase in which the online applications are evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Excellence of the CV (weight 50%)
- Motivation and research project (weight 35%)
- Reference letters (weight 15%)
2. Face-to-face selection: candidates are invited for a 30-minute interview in Barcelona. The interview is divided in two parts: presentation of the project by the candidate and questions from the experts. The applicants are evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Academic and professional career (weight 50%): quality of the contributions the candidate has made to the chosen field, experience in research management, interdisciplinarity, etc.
- Candidate’s potential (weight 30%): Soft skills of the candidate (independent reasoning, originality, innovation, entrepreneurship, and leadership), consistent discourse, and ability to articulate complex ideas plainly.
- Motivation and impact of the project (weight 20%): conceptual and methodological novelty of the project, originality, feasibility and impact on society and researcher’s career.
For the 2022 call, the success ratio for the incoming category was 11% and 5% for the retaining.