Good Practice Handbook

The purpose of this manual is to improve group communication and the working dynamics and to serve as a reference for the resolution of doubts related to procedures and formalities that are carried out in a more or less habitual manner.

It is a living document, which can and should be modified and improved whenever necessary, and is open to suggestions that the group members may have at any time.

WORKING DYNAMICS

Spaces and schedule

The group's main office is located at calle Benito Corbal 45, 5th floor.

The Benito Corbal office has a "fishbowl", a closed room that can and should be used for face-to-face or virtual meetings, avoiding whenever possible to hold this type of meeting in the open area so as not to disturb the staff at work. Bookings will be made through a shared calendar which can be accessed from this link.

In addition, the following spaces are also available:

  • Business School in Vigo (external link) (Torrecedeira St., building next to Peritos): There is a large room, number A313, where Carlos Iglesias (Calu) has his office, but additional tables are available for anyone who needs to use them. When they are to be used, it is advisable, however, to contact Calu beforehand to inform him (calu@uvigo.gal). 

Although teleworking is not officially regulated at the University of Vigo, the group's policy is that those who wish to telework may do so. However, it is recommended that at least those who are contracted under the group's projects, attend at least two days a week in person at the office at Benito Corbal 45, preferably in the mornings. Group members should also attend in person when there are scheduled activities such as seminars, conferences, or workshops, unless there are exceptional circumstances that prevent them from doing so, such as being traveling, on leave, or due to work-related reasons.

Working hours are flexible, and it is the responsibility of each person to comply with the hours stipulated in their contract. However, to facilitate the dynamics of the group, it is recommended that, whenever possible, part of the working day should take place between 10.00 and 13.00, both in person and remotely. In this way, there will always be a time slot in which to schedule activities or to contact other group members without invading their private lives.

Non-working days

During the year 2025 the public holidays will be as follows:

  • 1 January: New Year's Day
  • 6 January: Epiphany
  • 27 January: St. Thomas Aquinas, patron saint of the University (non-working day)
  • 4 March: Carnival  (in Vigo)
  • 19 March: Saint Joseph 
  • 28 March: Vigo Reconquest (in Vigo)
  • 17-18 April: Easter holidays
  • 1 May: Labour Day
  • 11 July: Saint Benedict (in Pontevedra)
  • 25 July: Santiago Apostle 
  • 15 August: Assumption of the Virgin Mary
  • 16 August: Saint Roque (in Vigo)
  • 1 November: All Saints' Day
  • 8 December: Immaculate Conception Day
  • 25 December: Christmas Day

University of Vigo academic calendar can be consulted at the following link (external link).

Holidays & Days off

In general, the staff of the group contracted for R&D&i projects is governed by the PDI labour agreement regarding days off and holidays, which states that each person will be entitled to:

  • 22 working days of holiday per year
  • 9 working days for private affairs

In addition, there will be the possibility of taking leave days for reasons of reconciling personal, family, and work life in exceptional circumstances such as marriage, illness of a direct relative, moving house, maternity/paternity... To find out how many days correspond to these circumstances, you should check article 37 of the aforementioned agreement and, if in doubt, contact the PDI office.

In order to improve working dynamics and to avoid being contacted by other members of the group during our days off, it is necessary to inform about the days off and holidays to be taken. To do this, the following should be done:

  1. Send the holiday request form (external link) or the private affairs request form (external link) signed by the applicant and the person in charge to management.postgrowth-lab@uvigo.gal. This should be done as far in advance as possible.
  2. Indicate in the shared calendar (external link) the days of holidays/private affairs to be taken, so that the rest of the people in the group can be aware of our absence. Please also use this calendar to indicate other days when you are less available than usual, e.g. if you are ill, travelling or taking part in a course or other event.

Useful contacts:

Travel & Events Attendance

Whenever a trip is to be made that involves leaving the usual place of residence, unless it takes place during holiday periods or days off, the person in charge (PI of the project under which the group member is contracted) and the management team must be informed. This rule is not intended to control the group's personnel, but rather to ensure safety and improve work dynamics.

As indicated in the previous section, teleworking is not regulated at the University of Vigo and, therefore, all the people who work in this entity only enjoy coverage against possible contingencies that may occur during the working day while they are in the facilities of their work centre and during the journey between their home and the centre (before and after the end of the working day). If during a trip that we have not notified to the person in charge some kind of accident occurs, we may encounter a problem when carrying out certain procedures, such as requesting a sick leave due to an accident at work or in itinere, since the mutual insurance company may not cover our salary during the time we are unable to work because the accident took place in a different city from the one in which our workplace is located. In addition, the notification of our trips and journeys will also facilitate the dynamics of the group, for example, when choosing the date for an activity, so that it can take place when most of the group members are able to attend.

On the other hand, in order to keep a better record of the activities carried out by each person in the group, an Excel spreadsheet (external link) has been set up to record information on attendance and participation in scientific, dissemination and other types of events carried out in the context of the work activity.

This information is necessary for the preparation of the group's annual reports, and the contribution of each member greatly facilitates the collection of this information for the preparation of these reports.

FINANCIAL PROCEDURES

If you have a financial need, you must first inform your person in charge. Once that person has authorised the expenditure, the procedures will be initiated.

As a rule, invoices should always be requested in the name of the University of Vigo.:

School of Economics and Business Administration
Campus Lagoas-Marcosende s/n, Universidade de Vigo
36310 Vigo (Pontevedra)
VAT: ES-Q8650002B

The following are the steps to follow for the most common economic procedures. If your need is not among the options in this list, please contact the management team and provide them with the details.

Registration for events and courses

Whenever possible, the option of payment by bank transfer should be chosen, and this payment shall be made directly from the university.

1 - Send an email to the management team, indicating:

  • Link to event registration page
  • Link to the section of the site where the registration fees and payment details are indicated (or document containing this information)

2 - Once this information has been received, the management team will give you the instructions for registration and payment and will confirm whether payment will be made directly form the UVigo or if exceptionally it should be made by you.

Travels

As a rule, bookings must be made and paid by the university.

1 - Send an email will to management.postgrowth-lab@uvigo.gal indicating the travel details (location and date of departure and return, reason for the trip, preferred means of transport, preferred type of accommodation).

2 - This information will be provided to the travel agency, copying the interested person so that she/he can evaluate and select the preferred options from among those offered by the agency. The interested person will also be put in contact with the Area of Support to Research and Transfer Management (UAITAXSH - uaitaxsh@uvigo.es), who will be in charge of placing the orders. When replying to e-mails received during this process, all the persons listed in the copy should be kept in order to facilitate communication and avoid intermediate steps that can slow down the process.

3 - After each travel, it will be necessary to send as soon as possible to UAITAXSH (with a copy to management.postgrowth-lab@uvigo.gal) the boarding passes, train and/or bus tickets, and the certificate of attendance or a similar document proving that the trip has taken place (for example: if we have made a research stay or attended a meeting, an e-mail from the entity visited confirming that we have been there would be useful).

4 - In exceptional cases, it may be possible to book the travel directly and subsequently request a refund, but this should always be the last option and must be requested in advance, due to the administrative complications involved in this type of procedure, which is often not possible or makes reimbursement extremely difficult.

There is the possibility of receiving daily subsistence allowances during our travels, but this should be discussed directly with the person in charge, who will have to approve them and tell you how many days of subsistence you could receive. The purpose of these payments is to cover additional expenses that we may have during our travel, so, logically, no subsistence allowances will be paid for meals that are already paid for in another way (for example, if we attend an event where meals are included in the registration fee, we could request payment for dinners, but never for lunches).

Reimbursement may also be requested for additional transport costs incurred during the trip, such as city transport passes or taxis. This should be requested upon return from the trip, by emailing a copy of the tickets for these expenses to the management team. In the message, in addition to attaching the copy of the tickets, the total amount of the reimbursement requested shall be indicated.

Office supplies

Office supplies must be purchased through a specific company, DISMAC, which is the official supplier of the University of Vigo. If you need any office supplies, send an e-mail to management.postgrowth-lab@uvigo.gal (external link) indicating the specific type of material required (including brand and model, when a very specific product is required). 

IT Equipment

1 - Send an e-mail to management.postgrowth-lab@uvigo.gal indicating the equipment needed. Specify the model or the chacacteristics required. If any option for the acquisition of the device has already been sought, please indicate the company supplying the equipment. Otherwise, the management team will put you in contact with any of the UVigo suppliers.

2 - If the request is approved by the group director or the person in charge, the purchase procedure will begin.

3 - Whenever possible, reconditioned material will be purchased.

4 - Once the device has been received, please send a copy of the dispatch note and a photo of the device to management.postgrowth-lab@uvigo.gal.

COMMUNICATION AND DISSEMINATION

Corporate Identity

  • You can download the group corporate identity guidelines here (external link). As far as possible, all group members shall follow these indications, using the corporate fonts and colours in the elaboration of documents, posters, web pages...

  • Corporate fonts: Merriweather (only for titles) and Raleway (the main one). Please, go to the "Downloads" section of this manual, download them and install them on your computer.
  • Logos: You will find the logos of the group in the "Downloads" section. Please follow the corporate identity guidelines to avoid misuse of these logos.

E-mail signatures

The following structure and format shall be used in the signature of e-mails:

HTML FORMAT (with images): Raleway font

In this picture (external link) you can see an example of the recommended structure. Go to the "Downloads (external link)" section to download the group logos and an example of signature in HTML format.

SIMPLE FORMAT (no images):

First name(s) and surname(s) [font size: 10]
Position [font size: 10]
Post-Growth Innovation Lab (postgrowth-lab.webs.uvigo.es) [tamaño de letra: 8]
Address [tamaño de letra: 8]
Social media [tamaño de letra: 8]

Example:
Mario Pansera
Oportunius Research Professor

Post-Growth Innovation Lab (postgrowth-lab.uvigo.es)
Benito Corbal 45, 5th floor. 36001 Pontevedra (Spain)
Twitter:  @post_growth 
LinkedIn: postgrowth-lab

News and publications on social media

What we do is as important as communicating what we do. The group has a website (external link) and profiles on different social networks that are used to give visibility to our work. It is therefore important that, when we have any news, we inform the person in charge of communication, who until the end of August will be Carmen Rey. Some examples of information that can be published are:

  • Publication of a new paper
  • Participation in an event to present a paper
  • Organisation of an activity
  • Obtaining an award
  • Obtaining funding for a project
  • Carrying out a research stay

Whenever possible, in addition to the information we want to be published, we will also provide her with pictures or photos.

As far as possible, those who have social networks should try to share and/or comment on the group's posts to give them visibility. It is also advisable to keep our social network accounts active (some studies indicate that publications published on networks such as X, formerly Twitter, have up to 50% more citations).

Scientific publications signature

When publishing a scientific paper, we must indicate our affiliation following the guidelines of the University of Vigo, which can be consulted in this link (Spanish version) or this one (English version).

  • Generic example of how to sign an article:
    Jane Doe
    Universidade de Vigo, Post-Growth Innovation Lab, 36001, Pontevedra, España
  • If you belong to a research centre, in addition to the group:
    Jane Doe
    ECOBAS, Universidade de Vigo, Post-Growth Innovation Lab, 36001, Pontevedra, España

It is important to keep your professional profiles updated. Periodically check your data both in the University of Vigoresearch portal (external link) and in other external platforms such as ORCID (external link) or SCOPUS (external link), and make sure that your affiliation is correct.

OTHER ISSUES

Access to scientific databases

To access scientific databases such as Scopus or Web of Science and many of the online editorials, if you are not using the UVigo network you must connect using the UVigo proxy. To do this, configure and activate the proxy connection of your computer using this data:

It is also recommended to install the "Unpaywall (external link)" application in your browser, which is very useful as it allows you to find out if an article is published in an open repository.

    Data management

    When conducting research work it is necessary to follow the data management protocol of the project we are working on. This includes issues of ethical standards, data collection and storage... More information on these issues can be found in this presentation (external link)

    Residence permit renewal

    You can download here (external link)a guide on how to renew your residence permit (non-EU citizens).

    RECURRENT CALLS

    UNIVERSITY OF VIGO'S OWN GRANTS TO GROUPS, RESEARCH CENTRES AND CLUSTERS (Axudas propias a grupos, centros de investigación e agrupacións da Universidade de Vigo)

    It is usually open around May (for a few weeks, less than a month).

    There are several modalities within this call. The most relevant ones for you would be:

    Modality A.2. Preparation of international projects (Preparación de proxectos internacionais)

    • These grants allow the co-financing of costs related to the preparation of project proposals for Horizon Europe or other European calls or participation in information days and specific partner search events. Expenses related to the preparation of proposals for one of the ERC calls (Starting, Consolidator or Advanced Grants) are also eligible, provided that the researcher commits to submit the proposal within a maximum period of 1 year after receiving the grant.
    • They would be used to cover expenses such as technical support from specialised consultancies, travel to info days, translations, etc.
    • The maximum grant that can be awarded is €5,000 (if you go as coordinator of the proposal or submit a proposal to an ERC); or €3,000 if you participate as a partner in the consortium..

    Modality B.1. Organisation of scientific congresses or meetings (Organización de congresos o reuniones científicas)

    • They cannot be used for the organisation of courses or lecture series; they must be congresses or scientific conferences.
    • Only one application per group is permitted.
    • You can apply the year before the event and choose whether you would like to receive the funding in the year of application or in the year of the event. Example: If you are organising a conference in 2026, you can apply in 2025 and ask for the funding to be released in 2025 (for expenses that need to be incurred in that year, such as creating the conference website) or for it to be released in 2026.
    • The eligible expenses are very diverse. For example, technical support from an external body that is involved in the organisation, cover the costs of creating the event's corporate identity, pay for travel expenses for guest speakers...
    • The grant is higher if the event is international. The maximum grant that can be awarded is €3,000.

    Modality B.3. Visit of research staff from other centres (Visita de personal investigador de otros centros)

    • To cover the travelling and accommodation costs of persons visiting the group. A grant may be requested for the simultaneous participation of more than one person if this takes place in the context of a working meeting, workshop, joint seminar, etc.
    • Only one grant will be awarded per research group.
    • The visit must necessarily include an activity such as a lecture, seminar or workshop.
    • The maximum grant is €1,000 and the amount depends on where the invited person(s) is travelling from.

    GRANTS FOR THE MOBILITY OF UVIGO'S RESEARCH PERSONNEL (Axudas propias para a mobilidade de Persoal Investigador da UVigo)

    Great interest for PhD researchers!

    The aim is to co-finance trips to present research results at scientific events or to carry out research visits to other centres outside Galicia..

    It is usually open in spring (March-April).

    There are two modalities:

    Modality A. Travel grants (Bolsas para viajes)

    • To partially finance travel for the presentation of communications at national or international scientific congresses or conferences.
    • The amount of the grant depends on the destination. The maximum amount is € 1,050 for Asia and Oceania.

    Modality B. Grants for stays at research centres (Bolsas para estancias en centros de investigación)

    • To finance stays in research centres outside Galicia.
    • The stay must take place in a single period and in a single centre and last between 30 and 90 days.
    • The amount of the grant depends on the destination and the duration of the stay, with a maximum of €3,000.

    A person can apply for a grant for each modality, but the amount they receive for both modalities together never exceeds €3,000.

    There are two types of applicants:

    Group 1: PhD researchers 

    • Those who have received a scholarship from the Xunta, the Ministry, of Uvigo... cannot apply for this grant for the same stay for which they have received a scholarship from these organisations.

    Group 2: 

    • Research staff recruited as part of a competitive programme for predoctoral research staff in training and who are in the postdoctoral orientation phase (POP).

    XUNTA DE GALICIA PhD SCHOLARSHIPS(Axudas de apoio á etapa predoutoral da Xunta de Galicia)

    • The call for applications usually starts at the beginning of the year (January-February).
    • The undergraduate degree must have been obtained no more than 4 years ago, calculated from 1 January of the year in which the call for applications is published (e.g. for the 2025 call for applications, the undergraduate degree must have been obtained after 1 January 2021).
    • A Master's degree and enrolment in a doctoral programme are required.
    • To be eligible for the scholarship, the grade point average must be at least 7.5 (>7 in the case of engineering or architecture and >6.5 if you have a recognised disability).
    • Other merits to be evaluated are:
      - Counting on a foreign language certificate.
      - The appropriateness of the project to the RIS3 Galicia strategy.
      - You have received a collaborative grant from the department.
      - Belonging to a specific research group or centre brings a series of additional points. In our case, as the group is led by an Oportunius research professor, 12 additional points are awarded.
    • The contract has a total duration of 4 years.
    • The salary is about 1400 €/gross for the first three years and 1800 €/gross for the fourth year (1900 €/gross if the thesis has already been defended).
    • People in the group who have received this kind of grant: Jacopo Bergamo, Aitor Alonso and Ana García

    SCHOLARSHIPS FOR PRE-DOCTORAL CONTRACTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIGO (Axudas para contratos predoutorais da Universidade de Vigo)

    • The application period usually opens in October/November.
    • For persons who belong to a research group at UVigo (or have committed to do so) and are writing their dissertation at this university.
    • It is required to be enrolled in a doctoral programme.
    • You must have obtained the first degree entitling you to study for a doctorate (usually a Master's degree) no more than 2 years ago, counted from 1 January of the year of publication of the call (with some exceptions).
    • The weighted average grade must be equal to or higher than 1.
    • In the case of foreign degrees, a declaration of equivalence of the average grade must be submitted (a free procedure that you can carry out here: https://www.universidades.gob.es/equivalencia-de-notas-medias-de-estudios-universitarios-realizados-en-centros-extranjeros/). 
    • The contracts have a duration of 3 years.
    • The salary is around €1,485/month gross.
    • People in the group who have received this kind of grant: Víctor Sánchez

    XUNTA DE GALICIA POST-DOCTORAL TRAINING SUPPORT GRANTS (Axudas de apoio á etapa de formación posdoutoral da Xunta de Galicia)

    • The call for applications usually starts at the beginning of the year (January-February).
    • The training programme is divided into two phases:
      - Phase 1 (3 years): Research stay abroad of 20 to 24 months. Two stays of at least 12 months each can be carried out in different centres.
      - Phase 2 (3 years): at the home university.
    • An interim assessment takes place after phase 1. If this is not passed, access to phase 2 is not possible.
    • The monthly gross salary is approximately 2030€ in phase 1 and 2300€ in phase 2.
    • The Bachelor's degree (or equivalent) must have been obtained no more than 11 years ago, calculated from 1 January of the year in which the call is published (example: for the 2024 call, the Bachelor's degree must have been obtained after 1 January 2013).
    • The doctorate must have been obtained no more than 5 years ago, calculated from 1 January of the year in which the call was published (example: for the 2024 call, the doctorate must have been obtained on or after 1 January 2019).
    • There is one modality, Fullbright, for conducting Phase 1 stays in the United States. The stay must be continuous and last between 20 and 24 months.
    • The following criteria are taken into account when evaluating applications for Phase 1:
      - Scientific publications (maximum 40 points). Books with ISBNs and articles receive more points than book chapters. The articles that receive more points are published in journals indexed in SCI, SSCI or AHCI.
      - Participation in research projects or research contracts with companies, administrations and others (maximum 20 points). European or international projects receive the highest score.
      - Patents (maximum 10 points)
      - Stays in centres other than the one in which the doctorate was obtained (maximum 5 points). Post-doc stays are rated higher than pre-doc stays.
      - Contributions and communications at congresses and scientific conferences (maximum 5 points). International conferences get higher score.
      - Other merits such as supervision of the dissertation, teaching, awards... (maximum 5 points)
      - Proposed stay (maximum 16 points): The scientific relevance of the proposed centre(s) and the work plan to be developed will be evaluated according to their quality, coherence and feasibility.
      - Work plan (maximum 14 points): Quality, coherence and feasibility in relation to the topic and the objectives to be achieved will be assessed.
    • The interim evaluation to qualify for phase 2 will assess the following:
      - The proposed work plan to be carried out during this second phase.
      - The individual's curriculum vitae showing the improvements made during the postdoctoral programme.
      - The person's ability to lead a research line.
    • People in the group who have received this kind of grant: Brais Suárez, David Soto

    JUAN DE LA CIERVA SCHOLARSHIPS (MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND UNIVERSITIES)

    • It is usually open by the end of the year and closes in January.
    • The doctorate must have been obtained no more than 2 years ago.
    • You must join an R&D centre other than the one in which you completed their PhD training.
    • It will have a duration of 2 years.
    • The minimum salary will be €30,000 per year.

    Link to the 2024 call: https://www.aei.gob.es/en/announcements/announcements-finder/ayudas-contratos-juan-cierva-2024/convocatoria

    RAMÓN Y CAJAL SCHOLARSHIPS (MINISTRY OF SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND UNIVERSITIES)

    • It is usually open by the end of the year and closes in January.
    • The doctorate degree must have been obtained between 10 and 2 years ago.
    • You must have had an uninterrupted professional connection to foreign research institutions for at least the last two years during your postdoc phase.
    • It will have a duration of 5 years. There will be 2 phases (3+2). To enter the second phase, you must pass an assessment in the third year.
    • The minimum salary is € 36,000 per year in the first phase and € 42,500 in the second phase.

    Link to the 2024 call: https://www.aei.gob.es/convocatorias/buscador-convocatorias/ayudas-contratos-ramon-cajal-ryc-2024/convocatoria

    IACOBUS PROGRAM (Programa Iacobus)

    It is usually opened at the end of the year (November-December).

    There are three modalities:

    Research stays:

    • For stays in one of the centres approved by Iacobus (in Galicia and northern Portugal)
    • They should last between 1 and 2 weeks.
    • For all types of staff who have a contract with UVigo (permanent staff, researchers employed as part of a research project, management staff, etc.)
    • Not compatible with other grants for this type of expenditure.
    • Support is between 600-800€ per week, depending on the profile of the applicant.

    Publications:

    • For the publication of scientific papers in collaboration with an author from another of the eligible centres in Northern Portugal.
    • Papers must be published in JCR journals.
    • The maximum grant for each publication is €1000, to be shared between the two centres.

    Patents

    • Probably of no interest to any of us

    DOWNLOADS