Conditions

Instructions Frequently Asked Questions

DESCRIPTION

The BBVA Foundation expresses the social responsibility engagement of the BBVA Group, along with its firm commitment to the advance­ment of the societies where it does business. The central planks of the Group’s culture and strategy are the promotion of knowledge, digi­tal technology and innovation, and scrupulous respect for the ethical principles characterizing the plural society of the 21st century, which it views as key drivers of ongoing value creation for people and a source of new opportunities and choices for individuals and groups.

 

The BBVA Foundation promotes scientific re­search of excellence through grants for team research projects, the dissemination of out­comes to society through channels including workshops, lectures, publications and exhibi­tions, advanced training initiatives, research awards in partnership with scientific societies, and the annual grant scheme “Leonardo”, fund­ing the personal projects of researchers and cultural creators. The Foundation also lends active support in other cultural areas, with a focus on classical music, opera, the plastic arts and literary creation.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards, whose nineteenth edition is now open, recognize and reward world-class research and artistic creation, prizing contributions of singu­lar impact for their originality and significance. The name of the scheme is intended to de­note not only research work that substantially enlarges the scope of our current knowledge – pushing forward the frontiers of the known world – but also the meeting and overlap of different disciplinary areas and the emergence of new fields.

The Frontiers of Knowledge Awards honor fundamental disciplinary or interdisciplinary advances across a broad expanse of the knowl­edge map of the 21st century. The areas ad­dressed by this family of awards are:

  1. Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics)
  2. Biology and Biomedicine
  3. Information and Communication Technologies
  4. Climate Change and Environmental Sciences
  5. Economics, Finance and Management
  6. Humanities
  7. Social Sciences
  8. Music and Opera

The Frontiers Awards are informed by the fol­lowing principles. Firstly, the need to uphold the importance of basic knowledge. However valuable the diverse forms of applied research prized by science policy in these past decades, basic knowledge remains the core mechanism of scientific change and, indirectly, of humani­ty’s progress and wellbeing, besides being an essential part of culture.

Secondly, an acknowledgement of the inter­disciplinary nature of knowledge in the closing decades of the last century and the present day. Hence an organization of award categories that reflects the interaction and overlap of dis­ciplines (physics, chemistry and mathematics, biology and medicine, economics, finance and management), while retaining the option to dis­tinguish advances in one discipline alone.

Thirdly, the awards recognize the fact that many decisive contributions to our current stock of knowledge derive from the collabora­tive efforts of large groups of researchers. This is why accolades may be shared by any number of any size teams, with the sole condition that the achievement being recognized is the result of collaborative or parallel working.

Fourthly, attention goes to two knowledge areas concerned with the natural world, the founda­tion of life in all its expressions: Climate Change and the Environment.

Fifthly, the disciplines underpinning today’s digital society are present in the awards through the category of Information and Communication Technologies.

In sixth place, the list is joined by two catego­ries distinguishing contributions of major sig­nificance in the realms of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Finally, the Frontiers of Knowledge Awards reserve a dedicated category for Music and Opera.

Nomination for the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards is open and indirect. The right to submit candidates extends to a wide spectrum of organizations and departments, including university schools, institutes and de­partments, research centers, hospitals and ar­tistic and cultural institutions. Third-party nomi­nations are also accepted from researchers and cultural creators that have made outstanding contributions in their fields.

The evaluation and decision process in respect of award nominations will take place over the two steps specified in point 7 of these call conditions.

The BBVA Foundation is assisted at both these stages by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

CSIC is an autonomous Public Research Organization with a multisectoral, multidis­ciplinary scope. Endowed with its own legal personality and assets, it operates throughout Spain while maintaining a sizable international presence. The partnership between CSIC and the BBVA Foundation endorses the objectivity, independence and standards of excellence in­forming the selection process from end to end. It also rests no less on a shared conviction of the fundamental role played by advanced sci­entific research and artistic creation as forces for the ongoing advancement of society.

Conditions

DOWNLOAD CONDITIONS

1. Object

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards recognize fundamental contributions in a broad array of areas of scientific knowledge, technology, humanities and artistic creation, as listed in point 2 of these call conditions.

2. Categories

The disciplines and domains of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards are:

  1. Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics)
  2. Biology and Biomedicine
  3. Information and Communication Technologies
  4. Climate Change and Environmental Sciences
  5. Economics, Finance and Management
  6. Humanities
  7. Social Sciences
  8. Music and Opera

The Climate Change and Environmental Sciences award recognizes both research en­deavors in these two areas and impactful ac­tions informed by the best science. The Music and Opera category encompasses composition, instrumental and vocal performance, musical and stage direction, and video art creation as­sociated with musical or operatic works.

3. Awards content

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards consist of 400,000 euros, a diploma and a commemorative artwork in each of their eight categories.

In the event that an award is shared by more than one person, its monetary amount will be divided equally among all recipients.

All awards, in whatever category, will be subject to the withholding and other taxes prescribed  by current legislation, which will be deducted from their total amount.

4. Candidates

Candidates may be one or more natural persons of any nationality, without limitation of num­ber, that have made independent or convergent contributions to a given advance, whether due to a formal collaboration (with the nominees belonging to one or more groups) or parallel working. The awards are also open to scientific or cultural organizations that can be collectively credited with exceptional contributions to sci­entific knowledge, cultural creation, the fight against climate change or the conservation of the natural environment.

Awards may not be granted posthumously.

5. Nomination

Self-nomination is not permitted.

Any scientific or cultural organization or institu­tion can submit nominations, following their own internal procedures. Among them:

  • Scientific or artistic societies and organizations
  • National and regional academies of science or culture
  • Public or private R&D centers
  • University schools, departments or institutes and research or teaching institutes
  • Hospital departments and biomedical research centers
  • Schools of music
  • Orchestras, orchestra associations, opera theaters and opera associations
  • Public agencies and supranational, national or regional organizations substantially engaged in analysis and/or activities relating to climate change and environmental conservation
  • Other scientific, cultural and environmental organizations

Winners of the Nobel Prize in any of its catego­ries are likewise eligible to nominate, as are past winners of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards.

The BBVA Foundation may also invite nomina­tions from researchers and cultural creators that have made outstanding contributions in their respective fields, establishing consultative or advisory panels to this end.

The same organization, institution or individu­al nominator may put forward more than one candidate without limitation of number, but no candidate may be nominated in more than one award category.

6. Submitting a candidature

The nomination period will open on January 1, 2026 and conclude at 16:00 GMT on June 30 of the same year.

All nominations should be submitted using the dedicated form on the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards website: www.frontiersofknowledgeawards-fbbva.es

Both nominations and the accompanying docu­mentation must be submitted in English only.

In the event that various organizations or indi­viduals wish to jointly or coordinately submit a nomination, they should appoint a nomination coordinator who will merge all the materials into a single entry.

The nominating institution or individual must provide the following information and docu­mentation, as specified at the above web ad­dress:

  1. Award category for which the candidate is nominated
  2. Name of the nominating institution and officer/body, with the corresponding contact data (postal and email address, plus landline and cell phone numbers)
  3. Letter of nomination signed by the nominating officer/body
  4. Candidate particulars including institutional affiliation and contact data
  5. Description of the salient contributions of the candidate and reasoned arguments for the nomination (maximum of three pages, single spaced)
  6. Candidate’s curriculum vitae

If an entry refers to one or several research teams or several persons that have made convergent contributions to a given advance as a result of parallel working, the nominating officer/body should provide the information referred to in points 4 and 6 above for all members of the candidature.

With regard to point 5, the nominator should provide a single descriptive narrative includ­ing an account of the role performed by each member. This description need only be provid­ed if the letter of nomination does not give an account of the candidate’s salient contributions or if it is necessary to expand on the information contained therein.

The BBVA Foundation will send an email to all nominators confirming the acceptance of the entry, and facilitating a reference number which should be quoted in all subsequent correspon­dence.

If the documentation furnished is incomplete or contains correctable errors, the BBVA Foundation will notify the nominator to this ef­fect, granting a non-extendible term of thirty calendar days in which to rectify the flaws de­tected, so the entry may be accepted for con­sideration.

The BBVA Foundation undertakes to preserve the confidentiality of all documentation re­ceived, and will in no event provide itemized or individual information on the nominations received or on the deliberations of the award committees. The BBVA Foundation will publish only the names of those persons or institutions that have nominated a winning candidate.

7. Selection process

Step 1: Evaluation support panels

The BBVA Foundation together with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) will appoint a support panel to evaluate the nominations re­ceived in each category of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards.

These panels will be formed by leading experts in the area concerned, drawn from CSIC, uni­versities, hospitals and other research, cultural or artistic centers.

They will provide the BBVA Foundation with a reasoned rank order of finalists, which the Foundation will forward to the corresponding award committee, accompanied by a full list of entries and the scores assigned to each by ref­erence to the best metrics of the subject area.

Step 2: Committees

The eight committees will comprise experts of acknowledged prestige in the correspond­ing area and will be appointed by the BBVA Foundation. The chair of each committee will be designated by the current CSIC president from a list of between five and ten researchers or cultural practitioners drawn up by the BBVA Foundation.

Since the Frontiers Awards in each category are intended to recognize specific contributions, the committees will take an integral view of the nominations received in favor of one or more persons or organizations, and may choose to merge two or more separate entries when it considers that they have made a convergent contribution to a given advance.

In the case of nominations made up of several persons or organizations, the committee may also elect to confine the award to one or some of its members in recognition of their differen­tial contribution.

If a nomination is considered to be incomplete, in the sense of including only some of the per­sons or organizations generally acknowledged to be among the principal authors of the stated contribution, the committee will refrain from granting it the award. Nor will the committee be able to add the names of individuals or or­ganizations in order to round off such nomi­nations.

The committee may reach its decision unani­mously or by simple majority, with the corre­sponding modality put on record in the award certificate.

Committees’ decisions will in no event be open to appeal, including the decision to leave the award vacant.

The composition of the support panel and award committee in each category, and the contents of the award certificate with the committee’s citation will be publicly disclosed through the BBVA Foundation website.

8. Award decision and presentation ceremony

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards will be decided before April 30, 2027.

The Frontiers Awards will be presented at a for­mal ceremony to be held during June 2027 in the Euskalduna Bilbao center. A gala concert will take place the evening before in the same venue.

Laureates must agree to attend the presentation ceremony. In the case of awards going to teams, these will be represented by no more than three of their members.

If an award goes to a legal person, it must furnish the following documents after being notified of the award decision:

  • A copy of its bylaws
  • A copy of its tax identification number
  • A statement from the pertinent governing body of the organization or institution confirming its acceptance of the award

9. Acceptance

The fact of participating in the present edition of the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards signifies the acceptance of its conditions and award decisions, and renunciation of any claim in their respect on the part of both nomi­nators and nominees.