Throughout the 20th century, science experienced continuous growth in Spain and Catalonia, although this progress was not entirely smooth. In the scientific sphere, the century began with a highly significant event: the setting up, in 1907, of the Junta para AmpliaciÛn de Estudios e Investigaciones CientÌficas (Council for Further Scientific Study and Research) and the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute of Catalan Studies), both of which were founded on the ideological basis of the InstituciÛn Libre de EnseÒanza (Free Institution for Education) and the political and cultural movement for Catalan autonomy.

Today, ninety years later, we can see that that happy coincidence made possible the circumstances necessary for endowing the country with suitable structures for constructing a new scientific and cultural edifice. The pooling of efforts in order to optimise resources, which was the basis of those institutions at the beginning of the century, was the philosophy that inspired us to open the Residence of Researchers CSIC (Spanish Council for Scientific Research) - Generalitat de Catalunya in 1998.

The Residence of Researchers CSIC-Generalitat de Catalunya is a body with independent legal status that was set up by the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya) who joined forces with a view to stimulating and popularising initiatives and research carried out in the scientific sphere.

The first reference points of the current Residence of Researchers were the Residencia de Estudiantes (Students' Hall of Residence) in Madrid and the ResidËncia de la Universitat Industrial (Industrial University Hall of Residence) and the ResidËncia Internacional de Senyoretes (Young Ladies' International Hall of Residence) óthat were both opened in Barcelona in the twenties and thirtiesó, but it's immediate forerunner was the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientÌficas (Spanish Council for Scientific Research). In 1963, the CSIC said to itself that ógiven it's scientific and cultural importanceó Barcelona ought to be in a position to offer scientists and researchers visiting the city somewhere to stay and decided to open a hall of residence that functioned until 1992. Subsequently, in 1993, the CSIC and the Catalan government set up the Consortium of the Residence of Researchers and signed an agreement to construct the new Residence building on the site of the old CSIC Hall of Residence.

The Residence of Researchers was founded to full two objectives: to offer researchers and scholars from all over the world and from all branches of knowledge a place to stay while working in Barcelona; and, secondly, to promote scientific culture and extend it by publicising the most significant research initiatives and findings, both past and present, carried out in Catalonia, Spain or abroad.

At the Residence of Researchers we endeavour to contribute to, and take part in, building a more intelligent society so that it will have the necessary tools to face up to the challenges of the 21st century. We do this by organising scientific and cultural activities designed to establish bridges and points of contact between science and culture and by fostering initiatives that will create a framework integrating science, culture and society.

The singular activity of the Residence of Researchers in the scientic and cultural context of Catalonia has brought closer together worlds that were often inward-looking and offered them the chance to make contact and take advantage of synergies to open up new avenues of collaboration and be able to study new fields in the scientific domain.

With ìscience is cultureî, one of the Residence's banners, as its watchword, we firmly believe in a society that is advancing towards a world characterised by ever more human qualitative progress. To some up, then, at the Residence of Researchers we want to stimulate the diffusion of scientific activity, encourage the exchange of knowledge and create a space for fostering an open-ended dialogue between science and culture combining tradition and innovation.

Francesc Farré i Rius
Director

Lluís Calvo i Calvo
Scientific and Cultural Director