Main actions along my Institute of Space Science (ICE, CSIC) directorship (2016-2023)

• I established a new organizational scheme and implemented a management model based on 3 pillars i) decisions were taken at expert level as much as possible, ii) established predictability in repetitive procedures, removing arbitrariness and rediscovery iii) under a clear global direction, delegation of work implies transfer of decision power. 

• I recruited a new institute manager, created a gender-balanced management team, the Outreach Office, and the Equity Committee, established the operational model for the Advanced Engineering Unit, promoted discussion and faculty approval over written internal protocols over the operational model for the labs and decision-making rules (from office space, arrival, new staff and senior fellow promotions, and many others, all summarized in the ‘White Book for Internal Operations’, which I wrote and was approved by all staff). I also promoted a bottom-up `ICE Code of Conduct’. 

• I established the annual Summer Schools (for 40+ students, with minimal fee), the Strategy Retreats (yearly 2-days meeting of the whole institute), the International Advisory Committee (hosting its visit every two years), created several institute-wide positions for postdocs, engineers, and students, the Thematic Core program, the Outgoing professorship, the Students and Fellows Best Contribution Award, and others. 

• I created a new institutional website and intranet, started the institute's social media, and maintained and improved the Annual Reports. Outreach activities included a 4-years program to improve science education in a societally challenged school, establishing the Mentorship program, the posts of Ph.D. and Postdoc representatives, the Career Day, the Off-topic Xmas Seminars, and a Debate series. 

• I ended an annual deficit of >65 KEur in 2017, and maintained a balanced accounting along my directorship. Operations income increased 2.42x, to about 0.6 MEur. Direct investment including salaries increased to be well in excess of 2 MEur. 

• Scientific grants and contracts averaged 5.5 MEur/year and increasing form 4.2 in 2016 to 7.4 MEur in 2022. Two technologies reached maximum transfer readiness (TRL of 9). The average yearly amount in contracts with industry or ESA increased 5x. 

• I acquired grants for >6 MEuros to fund infrastructure investments in common areas, conference rooms, laboratory facilities, computer cluster, sustainable heating, furniture, actions for occupational hazards, and others. 

• The institute was recognized as one of the top research centers in Spain and received the María de Maeztu Award of Excellence in 2021, which included in total a grant of 2.8 Million Euros.

• The institute members increased from ~70 to >120 (60%), with the administrative and support personnel increasing by 283% due to creation of communication, project management, and maintenance offices; the engineering body by 80%, and the number of faculty by 121%, from 14 to 31. 

• I maintained my scientific activity all along the period 2016-2023 in which I was director of the institute, and among others, I published 79 papers in first rate journals (without counting papers published as a member of large collaborations as accounted from my full publication list), including a solo Article in Nature Astronomy, 41% of those as first, second or third author, supervised 4 Ph.D.s, and several postdocs. 

Historical perspective: talk given on the occasion of the ICE 25 years celebration in February 2025