·Key figures·
·In depth·
·Community·
Elena Larrauri: “There are a lot of jobs you can’t legally do if you have a criminal record”
Pico’s Adventure: a video game that encourages social interaction in autistic children
Audiovisual Communication studies: a breeding ground for film-makers
08-09
10-11
12-13
·From the campus·
Participation: a means of driving improvement UPF is developing a plan to promote participation in university life as a complement to academic study 04-07
The Pompeu Fabra University magazine / No. 9 / March 2015
I choose UPF
A quality, international, public university
Bachelor's degree, double degree, master's degree and doctoral programmes in: >> Health and Life Sciences
>> Education
>> Political and Social Sciences
>> Humanities and History
>> Communication
>> Information and Communication Technologies
>> Law
>> Translation and Language Sciences
www.upf.edu/graus Follow us:
www.upf.edu/masters
www.upf.edu/doctorats
March 2015
·Introduction·
jaume casals
T
:
upf.edu 03
UPF’S RECTOR
MOULDING UPF’S FUTURE: A JOINT UNDERTAKING
he participation and commitment of UPF’s community are crucial if we are to develop an idea of the institution’s future with which we all identify. Accordingly, the University is working to improve its communication channels and guarantee permanent, smooth interaction with all its stakeholders, both within and outside its community.
We have taken various measures to encourage community participation in decision-making, a number of which are intended to increase the Senate’s dynamism. They include the creation of a debate committee for following up on the matters discussed in the Senate, and the production of a very thorough report containing views on the governing body’s situation expressed by the different groups that make up the University’s community, along with suggestions geared to improvements. Support for activities promoted by students, dialogue with representatives of teaching, research, administrative and service staff, and the appointment of a rector’s delegate for discussions with students are other examples of efforts being made as part of a line of work in
which there is still a great deal to be done.
At the same time, it is vital that we also open ourselves up to the outside world. We need to generate greater awareness of our role in and contribution to society. Additionally, we must take civil society’s perceptions, experience and knowledge into account.
We now have a new opportunity to reflect, as a community, on UPF’s future. In the current academic year the University will be drawing up its Strategic Plan for 2015-2025, giving us a chance to devote some thought, against a global backdrop of far-reaching changes in higher education, to every aspect of our institution’s activity. The Strategic Plan’s purpose is to mark the path that UPF will be taking over the next decade, and it is essential that the entire community play a part in deciding where that path should lead to.
I would like to invite you to submit any suggestions and ideas you may have via the Strategic Plan’s website. Please do get involved! Without participation, our institutional strategy is meaningless.
toni batllori
Written, produced and edited by the Institutional Communication and Promotion Unit (Rector’s Office). Plaça de la Mercè, 10-12. 08002 Barcelona. Tel.: (+34) 935422000. http://www.upf.edu/ email: gabinet.rectorat@upf.edu Cover illustration by Mikel Jaso. LD B-44938-2010. ISSN 2014-0630
04 upf.edu
·From the campus·
March 2015
Driving improvement through participation UPF is developing a comprehensive plan to promote participation in university life as a complement to academic study Initiative; organizational, management and negotiation skills; the ability to plan, carry out and raise awareness of projects; and an aptitude for leading teams, resolving conflicts and adapting to change. While this could easily be an employer’s profile for applicants for a skilled job, it is actually a list of the qualities that UPF students who actively participate in university life develop.
From left to right: Lilas Mercuriali, Oscar Blanco, Alexandra Mercader and Bernat Mallén. Frederic Camallonga
“Student participation is essential here. Students are UPF’s key component. There’s no point to a university without them.” With just a few words, Marcel Mauri, a lecturer in the Department of Communication and, since the beginning of the academic year 20142015, the rector’s delegate for students, leaves no room for doubt as to the significance UPF attaches to student par-
ticipation in university life (understood in the broad sense, encompassing everything from student representation at different levels within the institution’s structure to involvement with associations or in cultural, sporting, charitable and social responsibility activities). Mauri identifies two respects in which such participation is vital. “Without students’ presence and perspec-
March 2015
tive in governing bodies, universities wouldn’t evolve or be able to connect with their environment or the towns and cities around them”, he says. “Secondly, a degree of involvement that complements what young people learn in the classroom is a necessary part of their education”, he continues. “It helps accomplish one of a university’s most important missions, that of changing society for the better.”
Towards a comprehensive participation plan UPF is drawing up a comprehensive plan, with input from students, to address all aspects of participation which could be improved. One example consists of involving a larger number of people in student participation, particularly females, who are less active than males. At present, students tend to fall into one
·From the campus· of two very distinct categories, in that they are either highly active or have little interest in this field. The trends in question were identified in a study entitled “Participation at UPF”, which was led by the Office of the Vice-rector for Students, funded by the Board of Trustees and presented in early 2013. According to Mauri, “the challenge we’re facing is to increase awareness of and reinforce UPF’s associations and the Student Council, a body that channels and coordinates student participation in its different forms at the University, and to which the various faculties’ student bodies refer all the matters they discuss”. He adds that “by putting in the necessary effort and taking part in participatory processes and governing bodies’ activities, students can improve their centres and study programmes, prevent misunderstandings and make their views known”. As Mauri explains, the measures currently under consideration for promoting such involvement include presenting the whole participation structure in the courses designed to familiarize new students with life at UPF; using social networks, other communication channels and informative videos; incorporating content related to participation into some subjects in certain degree programmes; and making all the different groups within the University’s community more conscious of participation.
upf.edu 05
2015: an important year for student participation Three events in which students’ involvement is essential are happening at UPF in 2015. Firstly, the Senate Debates are continuing this year, offering an online medium for participation and reflection on matters of relevance to the institution’s community. The first debate in the series looked at the University Senate, the community’s main representative body, and, in particular, at what its role and functions ought to be. Secondly, a process aimed at involving the entire community in defining UPF’s Strategic Plan for 20152025 is taking place between January and April, with different mechanisms for both on-site and online participation available. Lastly, there will be activities to celebrate the University’s 25th anniversary in the academic year 2015-2016, and a specific committee, including a number of students, has been set up to organize them, a task it has already begun.
Why do students participate? When asked about his reasons for participating in different aspects of life at UPF, Bernat Mallén responds with a question of his own. “If the University does something for me, why can’t I do my bit for the University?” While admittedly “not particularly motivated at first because of widespread unawareness”, Mallén, who is close to completing the Business Management and Administration and Economics double degree programme, began to see things differently once he had taken the first step. Having previously been a year group representative, he is now a member of both the University Senate and the Language Policy Committee. Additionally, he is a student representative on the Board of
ASSOCIATIONS AT UPF 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
15 15 17 19 20 22 25 29 32
·From the campus·
06 upf.edu Governors in his capacity as a member of the National Federation of Students of Catalonia (FNEC), a union that seeks a quality, universal, independent, democratic, participatory university system. Lilas Mercuriali, who is currently in the fourth year of the bachelor’s degree programme in Medicine, which UPF teaches in conjunction with the Autonomous University of Barcelona, emphasizes the responsibility she and her fellow students have. “There are lots of us, and plenty of us complain about things, but very few people actually do anything about them”, she says. “We give up a great deal of our time and get nothing in return, but it’s our duty to make this work and to get our message across instead of just grumbling.” Like Mallén, Mercuriali is highly involved in university life. She is a year group representative, a member of the Board of the Faculty of Medicine, and one of the two Mar Teaching Unit coordinators from the Association of Health Sciences Students (AECS), an organization that aims to equip young people to change and improve society in areas such as peace and human rights, sex education, public health and teaching. Oscar Blanco, who is in the fourth year of his studies for a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, is a year group representative and a member of both the UPF Student Council’s technical secretariat and the Union of Students of the Catalan-speaking Territories (SEPC). He made the decision to participate in university life with a view to protecting students’ collective rights. “In some areas, I’ve learned more in organizations of this kind than in lectures, through informal activities that my own interests have led me to”, he states. The SEPC views education as a right rather than a form of merchandise. It advocates access to knowledge and the removal of economic and class-based barriers to education. Alexandra Mercader is part of Pompeu Consulting Legal, an association that was established to help students launch their careers upon completing their studies, with a particular orientation towards law practices. A graduate of UPF’s double degree programme in Business Management and Adminis-
March 2015
Oscar Blanco: “In some areas, I’ve learned more in organizations of this kind than in lectures”
Lilas Mercuriali: “I wouldn’t represent anybody if I didn’t think there was a growing inclination to pay attention to what we have to say”
tration and Law, Mercader is now studying for a master’s degree in Professional Legal Practice at UPF-IDEC. She explains that her involvement in association activity came about “as a way of filling a gap that universities don’t cover”, and that “with associations, you’re looking for a way to discover a world that interests you and to investigate it further”. She highlights that employers are increasingly interested in people who have actively participated in university life as students, due to the skills and abilities they acquire by doing so.
One of the most active student associations is Deba-t.org. Since it was set up 6 years ago, over 150 high-profile figures linked to politics, business, international organizations and the media have taken part in its activities as guest speakers. Its chair, Mercè Maresma, holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from UPF and, like Mercader, is taking the master’s degree programme in Professional Legal Practice at UPF-IDEC. “Deba-t.org brings people with a wide range of ideologies together, and that makes you more tolerant in terms of be-
STUDENT ACTIVITIES BY CAMPUS
2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014
Ciutadella Poblenou Mar Total
215 213 199 289 36 26 36 27 45 30 40 48 296 269 275 364
STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS FOR YEAR GROUP REPRESENTATIVES 100%
(*) Online voting system
90% 80% 70%
53
60% 50% 40%
32
34
2010-2011
2011-2012
39
35
30% 20% 10% 0%
2012-2013
2013-2014
2014-2015*
March 2015
·From the campus·
upf.edu 07
UPF’s student participation structure Alexandra Mercader: “With associations, you’re looking for a way to discover a world that interests you and to investigate it further”
Bernat Mallén: “If the University does something for me, why can’t I do my bit for the University?”
ing aware of different ways of seeing the world”, she says.
sociations organizing activities to raise the profile of the bodies in question, and of UPF supporting and publicizing such initiatives. UPF’s University Community Assistance Service (SACU) is responsible for promoting and coordinating all activities related to participation in university life. In general, the students interviewed for this article think that their participatory work is not always duly recognized, that their fellow students are not very aware of what they do, and that much more information and, above all, a change of mentality are required. Blanco and Mallén feel that modern society and, consequently, universities are characterized by individualism and competition, a situation that is not conducive to participation. “Most people turn up, go to their lectures and go home again”, says Blanco regretfully. “They have a consumer-like relationship with their university”, he adds. Mallén acknowledges that students should reflect on their role in this state of affairs. He also believes that the institution, which, in his opinion, ought to do more to facilitate things, should do likewise. The three students interviewed who act as representatives on UPF’s governing bodies see doing so as a necessity and something that comes down to willingness. They stress that most of their fellow students do not know how the bodies in question work, and feel that there is a general lack of motivation. Nonetheless, Mercuriali is optimistic. “I wouldn’t represent anybody if I didn’t think there was a growing inclination to pay attention to what we have to say”, she asserts.
Year group representatives Mauri feels that the figure of year group representative is crucial to everything running smoothly over the course of an academic year. “It’s vital for every group to have a representative to pass on their ideas, complaints or problems, someone who can talk to their director of studies or dean”, he comments. Students had long called for the option of voting online in elections for year group representatives, and their demands were met in the ballots held early in the current academic year (November 2014). This change in the voting system, which was made possible by an amendment to UPF’s regulations on representatives, led to a significant rise in participation. UPF is the first Catalan university and one of the first Spanish universities to allow online voting in such elections. Blanco and Mercuriali, who are year group representatives at present, and Mallén, who formerly held the position, agree that the figure is useful but note that it requires a willing attitude. “You can’t lose sight of what your real functions are”, remarks Mercuriali, who regards the role of representatives in her Medicine studies as indispensable. Mallén points out that social networks have considerably improved the flow of communication. “Almost every year group has a Facebook group, which is a great means of passing on information.”
A change in mentality is required If there is one thing everyone agrees on, it is the importance of students and as-
Most of UPF’s governing bodies include representatives of the different groups that make up the University’s community. Students periodically choose representatives to take up the places allocated to them. That applies in the case of the Senate (which currently includes 55 students), the Board of Governors (5 students), the Board of Trustees (1 student) and the institution’s various statutory and non-statutory committees. Students are also represented on the University’s Electoral Board, as well as on the board and electoral board of each faculty, department and university research institute. UPF’s Student Council, which manages its own budget, is governed by the University’s statutes. Its purpose is to coordinate, channel and publicize all activities related to students and their representation. It has a coordinating body comprising 48 members of the student bodies of the University’s different centres (faculties and schools). The bodies in question, of which there are eight in total, are established by the centres themselves. Each such body chooses six students (four by voting and two by appointment) to bring its centre’s initiatives to the attention of the Student Council’s coordinating body, which is supported by a technical secretariat. UPF’s participation structure is completed by year group representatives, associations, stable groups (also referred to as “assemblies”) corresponding to the various centres, and cultural, sporting, social responsibility, and charitable and volunteer activities. In many cases, students earn free elective credits for taking part in such activities.
08 upf.edu
·Key figures·
March 2015
sible in Catalonia’s public universities, some thought would need to be given to the distribution of time between lectures - which can increasingly be delivered via online recordings - and talking directly with small groups of students and finding out what they’re thinking.
— What could Spain and the UK import from one another in terms of criminology? — In relation to my work, the UK could import the relevance we attribute to rehabilitation here in Spain. Ideas such as everyone having the right to rehabilitation and that everybody can change are widespread in Spain’s legal and social culture. Also, stemming from our belief in rehabilitation, the protection we afford the privacy of all individuals, including convicted criminals. We could import the UK’s rigorous, respectful approach to discussing ideas and the certainty that there’s always room for improvement.
Elena Larrauri
Frederic Camallonga
Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at UPF
“Television offers a distorted, glamorized concept of the profession of criminologist” Elena Larrauri has been director of UPF’s bachelor’s degree programme in Criminology and Public Prevention Policies since it was first taught in the academic year 20092010. She was awarded a prestigious Visiting Fellowship at the University of Oxford’s All Souls College in the academic year 2013-2104.
— What conclusions have you drawn on the basis of your time at the University of Oxford? — That we could all be at the forefront of research if we were given the necessary means. As far as students are concerned, Oxford’s great virtue is that, thanks to its colleges, it has a tutorial system that allows them to discuss things with their lecturers in small groups every week. For that to be fea-
— Criminology is a very recent addition to UPF’s range of bachelor’s degrees. How do you rate the programme, as its director? — I’d rate it as good, in general. In terms of capability and commitment, the University’s lecturers are excellent. I’d like their situation to be more stable, but things are very complicated in that respect at the moment because of the economic crisis and the difficulty involved in contracting lecturers who specialize in criminology.
— Could it be said that television series have painted an inaccurate picture of the profession of criminologist? — Yes. Television offers a distorted, glamorized concept of the profession, and that’s particularly true of American series. I say distorted because there’s a tendency to confuse criminologists with criminalists, who are experts in identifying and tracking down offenders; and glamorized because such series focus on the most exceptional cases, overlooking the fact that prisons are awash with poor people who are excluded from society and
March 2015
often have drug addiction and mental health problems.
— What are the characteristics of a criminologist? — Intellectual curiosity; indignation at the things criminals do, as well as the things done to criminals; and the conviction that some aspects of modern society can be reformed and changed.
— Are there job opportunities for people with this “new” professional profile in Spain? — There are two problems in that regard at present. Firstly, we generally work for public institutions - as advisors to town and city councils, police forces, prisons, centres for minors or victims, courts, etc. - and jobs are hard to come by for recent graduates because the public sector is currently at a standstill. Secondly, there’s a great reluctance in Spain to employ people on the basis of their knowledge. There’s an inclination, which is partly driven by corporate interests, to recruit psychologists, educators, social workers or jurists rather than specialized graduates. One possible solution is to pressure the public authorities to act more coherently by giving graduates from new, recognized bachelor’s degree programmes a chance to demonstrate their knowledge and skills. Another option some graduates are exploring consists of offering private institutions their services, ranging from guidance for law practices on preparing informative reports for judges to advising companies on crime prevention programmes.
— Part of your research revolves around criminal records. What limitations can they involve for someone who has served a sentence? — There are a lot of jobs you can’t legally do if you have a criminal record. Spain has various laws that make people with previous convictions ineligible for many civil service positions related to security and justice. Police and prison officers, firefighters, judges, public prosecutors and administration officials are examples. The absence of a criminal record is a requirement for
·Key figures· other jobs too, such as taxi or lorry drivers and private security firm staff. Private sector employers don’t have direct access to central criminal record information, but they can ask job applicants to provide a criminal record disclosure certificate. A criminal record is also a major obstacle to obtaining a residence permit and Spanish nationality. Even a minor offence committed many years ago and unrelated to your job can result in you being refused a residence and work permit.
— So, can criminal records be a barrier to reintegration into society? — Yes, in many cases. The availability of criminal record information is practically a lifelong form of punishment. It also perpetuates the stigma attached to an act committed in the past and the perception of the person involved as an ex-offender. I believe we should form opinions about people based on everything they do rather than the worst thing they’ve done. Criminal records also deprive people of other social, political and civil rights, over and above affecting their job prospects and their status as residents and citizens.
— What should be done to prevent that from happening? — Spain ought to establish a flexible criminal record cancellation system. Once someone has served their sentence, the tendency should be to aid their integration. Secondly, the requirement that generally rules out the possibility of people with criminal records working in the public sector should be abolished. It’s curious that the public authorities should fail to comply with Spain’s prison law by discriminating against individuals who’ve served their sentence. As far as refusing someone a residence permit because they have a criminal record is concerned, it would simply be a matter of treating non-EU citizens in the same way as we treat Europeans, by which I mean clearly stating that a previous conviction in itself doesn’t constitute grounds for expulsion.
upf.edu 09
Likes ...
People who do difficult jobs to the best of their ability.
l
l
a musician
l
Van Morrison.
l
a book
l
Restless by William Boyd.
l
a principle
l
Sincerity.
dislikes...
People with no sense of humour.
l
further information
She has been a lecturer at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a visiting lecturer by invitation at the University of Hamburg’s Institut für Kriminologische Sozialforschung. She has carried out research work in Jerusalem, in Oslo and at New York University. She has been awarded Fulbright-La Caixa (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Alexander von Humboldt (University of Frankfurt) scholarships. She has been UPF’s vicerector for International Relations (2010). She founded and is a member of the Criminology and Criminal Justice System Research Group. She has chaired the European Society of Criminology (2007-2010). Her research focuses on the effect that criminal records have on the exclusion of young people from the labour market (Recercaixa, 2013). She has begun a research project on quality of life in Catalonia’s prisons. l
l
l
l
l
l
l
l
10 upf.edu
·In depth·
March 2015
High expectations for full-body interaction Cognitive Media Technologies Research Group member Narcís Parés is working on this technology, which is revolutionizing approaches to dealing with certain problems in children, such as autism and obesity Narcís Parés, a member of the Cognitive Media Technologies Research Group, which is part of UPF’s Department of Information and Communication Technologies, is working on a line of research called “full-body interaction”. In his laboratory, he designs different applications based on such interaction with a view to studying the mediation of experience. He often uses artificial reality (nowadays a branch of virtual reality, despite having been a precursor thereof), as defined by Myron Krueger in 1973, since when it has been popularized and become hugely widespread, mainly in video games but also in other areas, such as applications for psychomotor rehabilitation. As Parés explains, “the first artificial reality systems developed and marketed used the third-person interaction paradigm”, i.e. a configuration in which the user sees a representation of their body interacting with virtual objects in a virtual environment. “It’s like a digital mirror”, he continues. “The user interacts with objects indirectly through an added element, a silhouette, hence the term third-person interaction.” Another paradigm used in fullbody interaction is first-person interaction, which combines the physical and virtual environments. Parés’s laboratory has employed both the paradigms in question to carry out projects and develop applications chiefly aimed at children, with the goal, in every case, of using artificial reality to improve people’s quality of life.
Environments, music and activities for special needs It was Parés himself who originally defined first-person interaction. He did so around 12 years ago, in the context of the MEDIATE research project, which was funded by the European Union and involved the development of an interactive environment for autistic children. “We piloted the MEDIATE environment with 90 low-functioning autistic children between the ages of 7 and 12 from 4 European cities, Barcelona, London, Portsmouth and Hilversum in the Netherlands”, states Parés. “The aim of the study was to give them a sense of control and agency in the MEDIATE environment, an interactive, multisensory space expressly designed as a play area, in which they played independently, safely and calmly.” The project’s researchers found that more than 80% of the participants achieved a sense of control over the environment and that many of them also achieved a sense of agency (i.e. a feeling of connection between them and their surroundings), which are very important accomplishments where autistic children are concerned. The researchers concluded that their choice of interaction design, paradigm and technological configuration had proven to be sound, justifying and opening the door to further studies based on the technology. Parés and his colleagues went on to design the SIIMTA project, a first-person artificial reality experience that enhanced the results of music thera-
1/
py sessions for children with autism. The next step in applying the technology with first-person interaction consisted of creating an interactive slide incorporating artificial reality, with the aim of compensating for sedentary lifestyles among children. “The project’s main objective was to prevent
March 2015
·In depth· Frederic Camallonga
upf.edu 11 ing social interaction and expressing emotions are abilities that they have to acquire through exercises and therapy. The Cognitive Media Technologies Research Group has worked with the Specialized Developmental Disorder Unit at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona to create Pico’s Adventure, a full-body interaction video game featuring third-person interaction. Pico’s Adventure is intended to nurture social interaction in autistic children through a series of collaborative play activities. “Our first experimental studies show that it’s effective as a complement to conventional therapies”, Parés reports. “The game’s technology is based on the use of the Kinect device, which is available for Windows platforms”, he remarks.
A helping hand from an alien
2/
health problems, such as those stemming from obesity, during children’s development, through play with special interactive media”, says Parés. “The research is at the experimental stage at the moment”, he adds. “Depending on its results, we hope to be able to incorporate it into physical play activi-
1/ Interactive slide. UPF 2/ The MEDIATE interactive, sensory environment. UPF
ties on a regular basis, with a view to improving children’s quality of life.”
Pico’s Adventure: a video game that encourages social interaction One of the greatest difficulties autistic children face is communicating with other people. Asking for help, initiat-
Pico’s Adventure comprises four stages of play which promote social interaction in autistic children. The environment in which the game takes place includes a friendly alien who has landed on Earth due to a problem with his spaceship. This character accompanies children in a series of adventures designed to foster specific forms of behaviour, such as asking for help, taking turns and giving other children instructions. Initial experimental studies conducted with children diagnosed with autism have demonstrated the video game’s effectiveness in terms of promoting social interaction among them, which suggests that it could become a significant complement to conventional types of therapy for the disorder. It has been developed as part of a European research project entitled “Motion-based adaptable playful learning experiences for children with motor and intellectual disabilities (M4All)”, which, in turn, is part of the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme. més informació
— Pico’s Adventure is freely available from http://m4all.widetesting.info/ — The Cognitive Media Technologies Research Group’s website: http://cmtech.upf.edu
12 upf.edu
·Community·
March 2015
Audiovisual Communication studies: a breeding ground for film-makers Many renowned audiovisual industry professionals have trained at UPF. Film-making, particularly documentary production, seems to be an area in which the University’s students are especially prolific. New media, new types of funding, and new ways of creating and explaining art. A great deal has changed since UPF launched its Audiovisual Communication studies in the Rambla building in 1993. One thing that has not altered over the years, however, is the professional success enjoyed by those who take the bachelor’s degree programme, which attracts the most exceptional students.
From left to right: Neus Ballús, Víctor Alonso and Jordi Balló Frederic Camallonga
“Our high admission marks are a clear sign of our students’ brilliance”, declares Fran Benavente, director of UPF’s Audiovisual Communication studies. “They have enormous potential and we try to provide an environment in which they can develop it. Part of the responsibility for doing so lies with the bachelor’s degree programme’s lecturers. Many of them are fine theorists and practising professionals who
are up to date with everything that goes on in the audiovisual industry.” The aim of keeping in touch with the latest trends has been a characteristic of the studies ever since they were introduced, back when Jordi Balló, a lecturer on the Audiovisual Communication bachelor’s degree and UPFIDEC Creative Documentary master’s degree programmes, was teaching his first classes. “There was an atmosphere
March 2015
of crisis when the bachelor’s degree programme in Audiovisual Communication began, and people questioned the thinking behind its existence because of the absence of an industry to produce demand”, he recalls. “As it turned out, UPF generated creative movements, established new profiles and anticipated future events”, he says. “Something that really set UPF’s Audiovisual Communication bachelor’s degree programme apart, and still does today, is its more creative and less journalistic focus”, states Benavente. “That’s why we want our students to start out with a solid grounding in theory, which will help them develop their artistic abilities”, he explains. Víctor Alonso, a fourth-year Audiovisual Communication student, won the SGAE Nova Autoria Award for best direction at the 2014 Sitges Film Festival for his documentary short Puño y metal. He agrees that it is necessary to begin by getting the basics clear with a view to helping students acquire and develop a critical perspective on audiovisual production. “It’s a great source of motivation to have former students of this bachelor’s degree programme as role models, people who aren’t only earning a living from film-making but also setting standards for others with the quality of their work”, he remarks. “You look at them and see what you could be if everything works out well for you”, he adds. To give them a highly realistic idea of what professional practice entails, students are required to carry out a bachelor’s degree final project in which they draw on everything they have learned while studying their chosen area of specialization. This project is both a very important part of their education and of great relevance where their career path is concerned, as it provides them with a calling card for the labour market. “It’s not strictly an academic exercise; the aim is for it to serve a purpose outside the University”, Benavente confirms. “Students get the opportunity to carry out a personal project under excellent conditions, with support from a tutor who offers them guidance on and monitors
·Community· their project over a whole academic year, and with whom they can discuss any doubts they may have during the creative process.”
Documentaries: a fruitful domain Many of the film-makers who emerge from UPF have made a name for themselves with a form of cinema that straddles the dividing line between reality and fiction. That applies to Jordi Morató and Sobre la marxa, a production that arose from a bachelor’s degree final project on Josep Pujiula, better known in Catalonia as “el Tarzan d’Argelaguer”; to Carla Subirana and her intimate works Volar (2013) and Nedar (2009); and to Neus Ballús, who successfully completed the Audiovisual Communication bachelor’s degree and IDEC-UPF Creative Documentary master’s degree programmes in 2002 and 2004 respectively, and is one of the most recent and prolific examples of such film-makers. “Because UPF covers such a varied range of professions and subject matter, students who aren’t sure which direction they want to take are likely to work it out here”, says Ballús. It often dawns on you in a flash, you realize what it is you really like doing, and it can happen before, during or after your studies”, she explains. “In my case, it was in Ricardo Íscar’s classes on directing documentaries.” Ballús received a number of accolades in 2014, including the Gaudí Awards for best direction, best screenplay and best film for La plaga, her debut feature film. Another film that has been steadily picking up awards since 2014 is 10.000 km, directed by former UPF student Carlos Marqués-Marcet. Of particular note among them are the 2015 Goya Award for best new director and five 2015 Gaudí Awards, including best non-Catalan language film, best screenplay (shared with Clara Roquet, another graduate of UPF’s bachelor’s degree programme in Audiovisual Communication, who co-wrote the film’s script) and best direction. 10.000 km tells a fictitious story that deals with its subject matter, distance relationships, with striking realism.
upf.edu 13
Fran Benavente: “They have enormous potential and we try to provide an environment in which they can develop it” Neus Ballús: “Because UPF covers such a varied range of subject matter, students who aren’t sure which direction to take are likely to work it out here” Víctor Alonso: “It’s a great source of motivation to have former students of this bachelor’s degree programme as role models”
Collaboration with the SGAE and the Teatre Lliure With a view to creating synergies with other spheres of artistic creation, UPF has approached the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE) and the Teatre Lliure in Barcelona (one of Catalonia’s most prestigious theatres). The idea is for these two institutions to complement students’ training through workshops and to open the door to possible collaboration on innovative audiovisual projects.
·In depth·
14 upf.edu
March 2015
Frederic Camallonga
Josep Maria Castellà
HOLDER OF A DOCTORATE IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS AND DEAN OF UPF’S FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
“Transdisciplinary analysis is the best way to understand global phenomena” Josep Maria Castellà is a member
of the Language Teaching and Learning Research Group (GR@EL). As dean of the Faculty of Humanities, he has been a driving force behind the creation of the new bachelor’s degree programme in Global Studies, beginning in 2016-2017.
— Why was a bachelor’s degree programme in Global Studies necessary? — Until now, International Relations
bachelor’s degree programmes were the only option for covering issues affecting the entire planet, and their perspective on the world revolves around states and the relationships between them. We’ve been modifying that outlook for a number of years now. The new Global Studies programme aims to focus on phenomena such as migration, terrorism, climate change and culture shock. They’re challenges that require everyone to work together to organize harmonious coexistence in the world, but which can’t be resolved purely on the
basis of agreements between states. Additionally, each of the problems in question has a local interpretation, and we want the different ways of seeing such phenomena to be the programme’s distinguishing feature.
— Is that why you’re aiming to attract international students? — We want to have a sizeable international contingent among our students, and there are three ways we’re trying to make that happen. Firstly, lectures will be taught in English. Secondly, student
March 2015
mobility, through agreements with foreign universities that also teach Global Studies, will be a compulsory part of the programme. Lastly, we’re looking to bring non-EU students to UPF to take the entire programme here. That should make each classroom a real forum for debate on global phenomena.
— We’re talking about a transdisciplinary programme. Is that a formula that guarantees greater competitiveness? — Absolutely. After years of focusing on specialization, we know that transdisciplinary analysis is the best way to understand global phenomena. That’s very important. It’s also a formula that offers students a wide range of knowledge related to fields as diverse as economics, politics, law, communication and humanities.
— What sort of positive effect will the Global Studies programme have on humanities courses? — There’ll be a mutual positive effect, as there’s a high level of compatibility between the Global Studies and Humanities bachelor’s degree programmes. Global Studies is a new option for humanities students, who readily embrace mobility and international cooperation activities. At the same time, our humanistic perspective will ensure the new programme isn’t just a mass of technical knowledge. There are synergies in the case of the other courses involved too, and they could lead to simultaneous study programmes.
— Globalization is often associated with a threat to cultural diversity. Is it possible to turn that round and cast globalization in a positive light? — Globalization is never total. It happens in a range of areas but, at the same time, it generates local reactions involving the reaffirmation of identity. Responding in such a way is part of the nature of societies and a common psychological reaction in human beings. The dialectic in question actually goes back a long way, as there were empires that pursued globalization even
·In depth·
“There are problems that can’t be resolved purely on the basis of agreements between states” “We’re looking to make each classroom a real forum for debate on global phenomena” “The challenge lies in revitalizing the humanities without weakening their pillars” “Globalization is never total; it generates local reactions involving the reaffirmation of identity”
upf.edu 15 — Globalization also entails minority languages being eclipsed by the widespread use of stronger languages, such as English. What’s Catalan’s situation in that respect? — In the past, a language could survive for millennia with just a few speakers who rarely had dealings with speakers of other tongues. That helped preserve their language, although it meant their community had little contact with other cultures. Nowadays, globalization is a source of enrichment, but it’s also a threat to the existence of such languages. Having said that, each language’s circumstances are different. If a language has a large community of speakers with plenty of self-esteem and its level of cultural output is healthy, it’ll continue to be used despite globalization. Catalan is one of the world’s leading examples in that regard, and that generates great intellectual appeal.
— What projects is the Faculty of Humanities currently working on? — We’ve got a dual objective at the moment. We need to reinforce the foundations of humanistic knowledge and, at the same time, take advantage of new technologies and internationalization to revitalize the humanities. The challenge lies in achieving that without weakening their pillars. That’s where digital humanities come in.
— What are digital humanities exactly? before the birth of Christ. It’s just that current technological progress allows globalization to take place faster and more effectively.
— Is Barcelona the global setting par excellence? — It’s one of the great examples among the world’s cities. The appeal Barcelona holds for tourists is superficial compared to the interest created by the interrelation and fusion of the cultures that coexist in a city where more than 200 languages are spoken. Few places in the world can rival Barcelona’s huge appeal as a place to live for a while.
— The concept is very broad. On the one hand, it refers to the use of digital media as tools for research in the fields of art, literature, history and philosophy. That means databases, large collections of information, automatic search systems and other resources that help analysts work with corpora. On the other hand, it can also be applied to dissemination and communication. All museums now use digital tools, be it on their premises or on their websites, and it’s important that the people programming them be familiar with the content they’re dealing with. That brings us back to transdisciplinarity.
16 upf.edu
·Online·
March 2015
High-impact biomedical scientific output Jordi Camí, professor of Pharmacology at UPF, has directed an analysis of the Spanish biomedical papers that received the most citations from 1997 to 2011. The results are available via an online platform. The leadership of Catalonia’s biomedical researchers and the importance of clinical research are among the most eye-catching findings of “Top cited papers and authors in the field of Biomedicine in Spain, 1997-2011”, a bibliometric study that has analysed close to 190,000 documents with contributions from authors resident in Spain which were published in the 15-year period in question. The study’s director is Jordi Camí, professor of Pharmacology in UPF’s Department of Experimental and Health Sciences. “The project has specifically identified what we call Highly Cited Papers or HCPs, meaning scientific documents with authors resident in Spain which have made it into the top 1% in the world in terms of citations received for a given discipline and year of publication”, he explains. “In all, 2,514 or 1.3% of the papers in the study’s corpus attained HCP status”, he continues. “They’re the ones that achieved the greatest renown and visibility among scientists all over the planet.” Camí has undertaken the study in collaboration with the Bibliometrics Research Group (BAC) of the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRI) and with the Catalan Health Quality and Assessment Agency (AQuAS). It has been funded by the Banc Sabadell Foundation. Of all the papers identified as HCPs, “45.8% are documents in which the contributing author resident in Spain played a leading role, in that they were the corresponding author or the first or
last of the listed authors”, Camí says. “What’s more, 332 or 13.2% of the 2,514 HCPs are what we term Outstanding Papers or OPs, meaning that they’re part of the select group of the top 1‰ of the world’s most cited publications for a given discipline and year”, he adds.
An online platform with a search facility The project’s results have been exclusively published via an online platform (http://www.fundaciorecerca.cat/topcited) from which they are freely available. The platform identifies the most cited papers by year, scientific discipline and Spanish autonomous community, as well as the authors with the highest scientific profile, calculated on the basis of the number of HCPs and OPs to which they contributed in the period covered by the study.
Confirmed: the leadership of scientists resident in Catalonia The study confirms the leadership of biomedical scientists resident in Catalonia, highlights the importance of clinical research and reveals the authors whose publications have brought them the greatest renown. 46.8% of the study’s HCPs have a contributing author from a research centre or hospital in Catalonia, and 27.8% of them have an author from such an institution in the autonomous community of Madrid. In the case of OPs, 55.1% of them have a contributing author from an institution in Catalonia, while the corresponding figure for institutions in
The study has analysed close to 190,000 documents published between 1997 and 2011 with contributions from authors resident in Spain 55.1% of the study’s Outstanding Papers (the top 1‰ most cited publications) have a contributing author from an institution in Catalonia
March 2015
·Online·
upf.edu 17
Members of UPF’s Department of Experimental and Health Sciences who rank among the authors with the highest number of Outstanding Papers Roderic Guigó
Professor of Genetics and leader of the Computational Biology of RNA Processing Research Group at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG). He has worked on biological sequence analysis at the Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and on genome analysis at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Jordi Alonso
Frederic Camallonga
the autonomous community of Madrid is 23.5%.
HCP typology Approximately 30% of the HCPs identified are experimental studies and almost 26% are clinical studies, with the remainder being meta analyses, consensus reports and clinical practice guidelines. Over 60% of all the HCPs fall into the category of clinical medicine, particularly notable components (in terms of far exceeding the international average for such elite publications) of which are research papers in the oncology, gastroenterology and hepatology, respiratory system and hematology fields. As Camí points out, “the distribution and patterns where these top pa-
pers are concerned mirror the trends in Spanish biomedical research we’ve observed in a succession of analyses since the 1990s, and which we’ve published in the corresponding ‘biomedical map’ reports”. study details:
— Méndez-Vasquez, Raül Isaac; SuñénPinyol, Eduard; Pons-Ràfols, Joan M.V.; Camí, Jordi (2014), “Top cited papers and authors in the field of Biomedicine in Spain, 1997-2011. Characterization of the publications in the top 1% most cited in the world with contributions from authors resident in Spain, Biomedicine 1997-2011.” — Online resource: http://www.fundaciorecerca.cat/topcited (available from 24/11/2014).
Specialist in family and community medicine and in preventive medicine and public health. He is director of UPF’s master’s degree programme in Public Health and coordinator of the Health Services Research Group of the Hospital del Mar Institute of Medical Research (IMIM). photo: raúl peña Eduardo Eyras
ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) researcher since 2005 and leader of the Computational Genomics Research Group, which is affiliated to UPF’s Biomedical Informatics Research Unit. He has worked at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Mathematical Sciences and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton (UK).
18 upf.edu
·News·
March 2015
Inauguration
Inaugurated the new building of UPF Research Park
Andreu Mas-Colell, Xavier Trias and Jaume Casals at the inauguration ceremony. FREDERIC CAMALLONGA UPF Research Park’s new building was inaugurated at a ceremony held in November 2014. The event was attended by Xavier Trias, mayor of Barcelona; Andreu Mas-Colell, the Catalan government’s minister of the economy and knowledge; and Juan Navarro Baldeweg, winner of Spain’s National Architecture Award, who designed the building. With a surface area of 8,700 m2, the new facility complements the park’s existing building, which has been in use since July 2008. Jaume Casals, the University’s rector, explained that UPF Research Park has been established “to take up a prominent position in research and knowledge transfer in the social and human sciences field, bringing university research groups, joint centres of high international stand-
ing and renowned institutions together on a single site”. UPF is firmly committed to developing the park, a shared physical space intended to enhance interconnections between such organizations with a view to it be-
The park is shared by first-rate groups, institutions and centres from the social and human sciences field coming one of Europe’s leading research hubs. Mas-Colell underlined that, stating that the new building “is further evidence that we’re really throwing our weight behind the social and human sciences”. Trias, meanwhile, emphasized the park’s
value for the city of Barcelona as a whole and expressed his conviction that it would become a national reference point. The park’s combination of centres and groups specializing in different disciplines will make it possible to tackle and study issues of social relevance, such as the design of institutions and markets; monetary and fiscal policy; the labour market and unemployment; strategy and rationality; and dependency, equality, education, immigration and health policies. The lines of research stemming from the synergy involved will result in a better understanding of social mechanisms and should thus be a source of guidance for the implementation of public policies and decision-making in the economic and social sphere.
·News·
March 2015
upf.edu 19
Rankings
Careers
Donations
UPF: the only Spanish university in the THE’s top 200
Record number of organizations at tenth UPFeina fair
UPF’s Library adds to its collection of publications
UPF has retained its position as Spain’s leading university the only Spanish institution in the top 200 - in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings for 2014-2015. Specifically, UPF is ranked 165th in the world and 72nd in Europe. Of particular note are the University’s results in social sciences, a field in which it is ranked 67th in the world and 19th in Europe. A key factor in this excellent standing is UPF’s high level of performance in relation to citations in the field in question, an indicator for which its score of 95.9 rivals that of universities of the stature of Harvard, Yale and Oxford. In the overall table, meanwhile, UPF’s international outlook score has improved in comparison to 2013-2014. The findings of other recently published rankings are similar. UPF’s international orientation is also a standout aspect in the latest edition of the highly respected QS World University Rankings, in which the institution is rated as Spain’s leading university in terms of its percentage of international staff, as well as where social sciences are concerned. Likewise, the Shanghai Ranking considers UPF to be Spain’s foremost university in the social sciences field. With regard to the 5 specific subject areas it analyses, this ranking places UPF among the world’s top 75 universities for economics and business, and among the top 200 for computer science.
UPF held its tenth annual careers fair, UPFeina, on 12 November 2014. For the first time, the event took place on the Roger de Llúria building’s courtyard on the Ciutadella Campus, allowing for new forms of participation. A total of 59 organizations were represented at the fair, 45 of which were companies (3 of them from outside Spain) from different sectors and 14 of which were institutions. The day began with a series of elevator pitches by means of which the participating companies introduced themselves to students. Other highlights of the programme included a talk from Francesc Arbiol, LinkedIn Spain’s territory manager, on the importance of professional skills and online image, through which attendees were able to gain an insight into the world’s largest professional network; and a social entrepreneurship workshop on the tools necessary for collective entrepreneurial undertakings. Corporate presentations took place throughout the day, as did speed networking sessions between companies on the one hand and students and graduates on the other. An informative session on living and studying abroad completed the fair, which was sponsored by Ernst & Young, Janssen and La Vanguardia.
The collection of the library of the Madrid division of the Austrian Historical Institute, an organization belonging to the Republic of Austria, has been incorporated into UPF’s bibliographic resources. The collection comprises close to 1,700 volumes and is of great value for teaching, study and research purposes. Its subject matter is chiefly related to cultural topics and human sciences in general, and it includes a sizeable proportion of art books. Peter Huber, Austrian ambassador to Spain; José María Jové, Austria’s honorary general consul; and Karl Rudolf, director of the now defunct Austrian Historical Institute in Madrid, were among the attendees at the ceremony at which the agreement to transfer ownership of the collection to UPF was signed. UPF has also taken possession of the collection of the library of the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), an institution that is a leader and standard-setter in the study of international relations, international bodies and law, and politics, among other areas. The collection initially consists of 14,000 monographs, 1,000 periodicals and almost 13,000 other documents of different kinds. CIDOB’s representatives at the ceremony at which the corresponding agreement was signed were its chair, Carles A. Gasòliba; its director, Jordi Bacaria; and its executive coordinator, Anna Estrada.
The Roger de Llúria building’s courtyard packed with students during the UPFeina fair. Eva guillamet
20 upf.edu
·News·
March 2015
Research
Wheat and barley cultivated in Africa as early as 7,000 years ago Until very recently, the scientific community believed that animals had been domesticated before cereals in the Sudan region in Africa. However, a study published in the journal PLOS ONE has changed that. Coordinated by Marco Madella, an ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) research professor in UPF’s Department of Humanities and director of the Complexity and Socio-Ecological Dynamics Research Group, the study, whose participants include the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) researcher Juan José García Granero, shows that communities in central Sudan and Nubia cultivated wheat and barley 7,000 years ago, when animal domestication was at its height.
Analysis of Neolithic graves The research involved in the study was carried out in two prehistoric cemeteries, Ghaba (Sudan) and R12 (Nubia), which were excavated by members of Italy’s Centre for Sudanese and Sub-Saharan Studies, under the direction of Donatella Usai. By analysing microscopic plant remains and tartar from the teeth of skeletons from Neolithic graves, the researchers found new scientific evidence related to the diet and the first agricultural practices of the people who lived along the River Nile in ancient times. The research proves that cereals were cultivated in the Nile Valley 7,000 years ago, considerably earlier than previously thought, by semi-nomadic people who probably used the waters of the Nile in much the same way as the Egyptians did at a later date.
Distinguished visitors
Thomas Piketty during his inaugural lecture. FREDERIC CAMALLONGA
The economist Thomas Piketty takes centre stage at UPF Thomas Piketty, director of studcussed was the future of wealth ies at the École des Hautes Études concentration. “Wealth inequality en Sciences Sociales and a professor might reach or surpass 19th-century oligarchic levels”, he said, addat the Paris School of Economics, ing that such inequality could be gave UPF’s 25th Inaugural Economics Lecture. With the same title as his democratized if the appropriate 2013 bestseller, “Capital in the Tweninstitutions take action. Thirdly, ty-First Century”, his talk marked the he talked about inequality in the beginning of the acaUSA, a situation he demic year at the Facattributed, in part, Professor Piketty ulty of Economic and to unequal access is a renowned Business Sciences. to education among academic who Piketty’s lecthe country’s popuhas conducted ture revolved around lation. three points, the first In his conclupioneering research sions, Piketty exbeing the return to a on inequality, plained that inpatrimonial society education and taxes come and wealth based on wealth in inequality has altraditional societies ways been political, chaotic and (such as Europe or Japan). In that regard, he observed that “wealth-to-inunpredictable, as it is conditioned come ratios seem to be returning to by national identities and sharp reversals, making the changes of the very high levels in low-growth countries”, leading him to think that “in future impossible to predict. He a slow-growth society, wealth accuopined that the best possible solumulated in the past can, naturally, betion would be to create a progrescome very important”. sive, global wealth tax based on the The second point Piketty disexchange of bank information.
March 2015
·News·
upf.edu 21
International
Entrepreneurs
Research
YERUN: network of young European universities founded
Medtep wins 2014 UPFEmprèn Award
Polyvictimization takes multiple forms
YERUN, the Young European Research Universities Network, was founded in Brussels in January 2015 to promote joint research and teaching initiatives and encourage mobility among members of the university community. The network’s distinguishing feature is that it is formed by European universities that are less than 50 years old and able to accredit their presence in different internationally renowned rankings (Times Higher Education, QS or Shanghai).
Research and exchanges The agreement signed by the rectors of the universities that are part of YERUN reflects their wish to cooperate with a view to increasing the newer universities’ influence on research policies promoted by the European Union. Other measures envisaged in the agreement include stimulating collaborative research involving areas and projects with a high social impact, fostering academic exchange programmes for students, lecturers and administrative and service staff, and establishing joint bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctoral programmes. YERUN comprises universities from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
From left to right: Jacob Suñol, Jaume Casals, Maria Segarra, Núria Basi and Conxa Oliu. upf
Medtep is a project that promotes patient proactivity in the prevention and treatment of illnesses, with input from professionals from the health system, through twin multiplatform applications called uClinics and uPatient. Pablo Pantaleoni, a graduate of UPF’s double degree programme in Economics and Business Management and Administration; Maria Segarra, holder of a bachelor’s degree in Economics from UPF; and Jacob Suñol, holder of an engineering degree in Computer Science from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) are the people behind Medtep. It is in that capacity that they were named winners of the seventh UPFEmprèn Award, organized by UPF’s Board of Trustees and sponsored by the Banc Sabadell Foundation. The award recognizes the entrepreneurial initiative and ability of young university students and graduates who have developed a business project or idea, and its winners are rewarded with a sum of 20,000. There were a total of 32 entries for the 2014 UPFEmprèn Award. The project that contested the final with Medtep was RespondOn, a system for direct communication between companies and customers, which was designed by Pablo López-Aguilar, holder of an engineering degree in Telecommunication from UPF; Giovanni Giuisti, a student on UPF’s doctorate programme in Economics, Finances and Management; and Sergio Caballero, holder of an engineering degree in Computer Science from the UPC.
Data from the first European survey on violence against women, organized by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), shows the existence of polyvictimization where abused women are concerned. In other words, women who have been abused in their private or family life are more likely to suffer further gender-based violence in other areas of life in the future. Polyvictimization can encompass harassment, stalking, and physical, sexual and psychological abuse, and can have multiple perpetrators, such as friends, colleagues, acquaintances and strangers, as well as relatives and current and former partners. Those are the conclusions reached by Jorge Rodríguez Menés and Cristina Sobrino, researchers from UPF’s Department of Political and Social Sciences, in a study that they and David Puig, a researcher from the Department of Economics of Cornell University (USA), have published in the Journal of Family Violence. Previous research on gender-based violence had demonstrated that women who have been abused in a given area of life (in a close relationship, by relatives or friends during childhood, for example) have a greater tendency to suffer abuse again in the same area in the future (at the hands of their partner, for instance). The study undertaken by Rodríguez Menés, Sobrino and Puig shows that the pattern in question also extends to other areas of women’s lives (work and public places, for example, in addition to the family and personal sphere).
·News·
22 upf.edu
March 2015
Social responsability
Talent
UPF: committed to society
Carolina Carbonell: Catalonia’s top university sportswoman
As part of its social responsibility programme, UPF has signed two cooperation agreements with social institutions that operate in Barcelona. The first of the agreements is geared to solidarity and cooperation with Barcelona’s Food Bank Foundation. It will result in five groups of fourth-year students of the Nutrition and Human Nutrition subjects (taught on the bachelor’s degree programmes in Human Biology and Medicine respectively) carrying out academic self-study work on food wastage, under the tutorship of different lecturers. The foundation’s employees have identified matters that need to be studied to help it function better, including the evolution of poverty in Spain and Catalonia, coeliac disease and lactose intolerance, and the process of freezing food. The second agreement has seen UPF establish a cooperative relationship with the Canpedró soup kitchen, a centre that provides daily services for vulnerable people at risk of social exclusion, including senior citizens, youngsters and families with children. The agreement paves the way for the recruitment of new volunteers from the University’s community to carry out tasks such as helping prepare meals; cleaning and tidying equipment and facilities; assisting with extra educational activities during the school year; and providing learning support for children with problems in any academic field.
From left to right: Emilià Pola, Carmen Buisan, Paul Verschure, Catalina Hoffman and Jaume Casals. upf Transfer
Eodyne Systems: a new spin-off from UPF Eodyne Systems S.L. is a company that has been established to tackle one of the greatest health-related challenges facing society today, that of functional recovery following brain injury, a condition from which over 60 million people around the world suffer. The new company will be marketing an innovative virtual reality tool for brain rehabilitation and health called Rehabilitation Gaming System (RGS). Designed by a team led by Paul Verschure, an ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) researcher and director of UPF’s Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems (SPECS) Research Group, RGS is an inexpensive neurorehabilitation system for the recovery of motor control, language skills, and emotional and cognitive functions impaired by brain damage. It can be applied at any stage of treatment (acute, subacute or chronic) and allows for remote use, entailing a saving for patients, primary health care providers, health centres and insurance firms. The partners in Eodyne Systems S.L. are Paul Verschure, Catalina Hoffmann (CEO of Catalina Hoffmann Holding Group’s health companies), ICREA, Carmen Buisan (a member of SPECS) and UPF.
Carolina Carbonell Teixidor, who is currently studying for a master’s degree in Professional Legal Practice at UPF-IDEC, having completed UPF’s bachelor’s degree programme in Law last year, has been named Catalonia’s overall top university sportswoman for 2013-2014. A member of UPF’s women’s futsal team (which she is representing again this year, along with the University’s women’s seven-a-side football team), Carbonell received the award at a ceremony held at the University of Vic, which coordinated the 2013-2014 Catalan University Championships. Besides Carbonell, who also received the corresponding accolade for futsal, six other UPF students were issued with awards as the top sportspeople in their respective categories by the Catalan University Sport body at the ceremony. They were Marta Trillo (golf), Sergi Subirats (chess), Mario Escolano (taekwondo), Cristina Gómez (seven-a-side football), Laura Montagut (beach football) and Joel Esteller (water polo). The awards in question constitute recognition of the achievements of UPF’s sportspeople in 20132014, an academic year in which the institution obtained fine results in both Catalan and Spanish interuniversity competitions.
Carolina Carbonell with her top university sportswoman trophies. upf
·News·
March 2015
upf.edu 23
Teaching
UPF’s Open Bachelor’s Degree: an innovative approach to admission Maria Teresa Cabré. Eva guillamet Catalan language
UPF creates the Pompeu Fabra chair
UPF’s Open Bachelor’s Degree approach to teaching and learning, enables students who are unsure as in which an academic tutor helps to what they want to study to enrol and guides students in the process at the University without initially of selecting a qualification to study choosing a particular programme to for. The programme is being piloted, with 20 places available to stufollow. They will be allowed to establish their own syllabus for their first dents at present. four terms at the institution by selecting subjects included in its variMain conditions ous bachelor’s degree programmes. Students will be required to take They will thus have an opportunity subjects from at least two different to see how different areas of study fit bachelor’s degree programmes, and in with their academic and profesno more than 70% of their first-year sional interests. credits may correspond to any single In their fourth term, students standard programme. The subjects who take up this option must apthey choose must be from the first or ply to be admitted to one of UPF’s second-year syllabus of bachelor’s specific bachelor’s degree programmes Students get to degree programmes in which they may (not including ingo on to particisee how different teruniversity propate. Additionally, areas of study fit in grammes or those they must enrol for with their academic the same number of taught at the Uniand professional versity’s affiliated credits in their first centres). The qualiyear as they would interests fication they will rehave to in the first ceive upon completing their studies academic year of any other bachelor’s degree programme. The normal will be that to which their chosen university entrance application proprogramme leads. cess must be followed to gain admisThe Open Bachelor’s Degree reflects UPF’s aim of offering an insion to the Open Bachelor’s Degree novative, extremely personalized programme.
On the initiative of its rector, Jaume Casals, UPF has created the Pompeu Fabra chair to make the University’s commitment to the Catalan identity more explicit and to raise the profile of its activities for promoting the Catalan language and culture, in the fields of research and teaching alike. Maria Teresa Cabré, emeritus lecturer at UPF and president of the Philological Section of the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC), is the chair’s director. Against a backdrop of linguistic diversity, decisions as to which language to use at any given time are made on the basis of criteria such as efficiency and practicality. Faithful to the language it deems its own, UPF follows the principle of subsidiarity, according to which Catalan should be used whenever it is possible and appropriate to do so. The chair will have four different lines of work, namely promoting competence in Catalan and the use of the language for teaching purposes and among students; producing resources to help people learn Catalan and use it more correctly; encouraging initiatives that foster the use of the language; and undertaking cultural outreach activities, which will involve organizing a Pompeu Fabra Chair Conference.
·Our Alumni· (Engineering degree in Computer Science, 2007) Project manager in the technology company HP’s InnoTalent25 programme. Her objective is to discover talented graduates and turn them into highly skilled professionals.
“There are many prejudices that make women think they aren’t up to the task of studying for an engineering degree” — Why did you choose UPF?
— You’ve been involved with the InnoTalent25 programme for several years now. Tell us a little about it.
— It was a decision based on a positive feeling. I was happy at UPF from the outset. The people I met there inspired me with a great deal of confidence, and the facilities the libraries, the halls of residence, etc. - couldn’t have been better. Everything made me feel really at home.
— Do you keep in touch with your former classmates? — Yes! I’m still close to some of them, although I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like. We formed a very close group of friends and we do our best to stay in contact. Some of them live abroad, but social networks help a lot.
— How has the training you received helped you in your career? — It gave me two key bases, a technical grounding and soft skills, by which I mean communication, leadership and teamwork skills, which I developed thanks to UPF’s teaching format. Soft skills are the thing I’ve found most helpful, as they’re highly sought-after in companies.
— Do you have any advice for students on the Computer Science engineering degree programme? — Take advantage of your time at UPF to develop your soft skills. You’ll always be refreshing your technical knowledge, but your soft skills will be crucial to your professional success. Enjoy yourselves, learn to make sacrifices and always give 100%. The more you put into something, the more you’ll get out of it.
— Why do so few women study for engineering degrees?
Frederic Camallonga
— Women’s results show that they’re just as capable of obtaining engineering degrees as men, but there are still many prejudices that make them think they aren’t up to the task. As only a small number of women dare to take engineering degrees, they feel isolated among so many men. The programmes end up becoming less and less appealing to them, ultimately resulting in a vicious circle.
— What are the consequences of that in the labour market? — It’s demoralizing. Some studies have found that women who are on an equal footing with men feel less well prepared and don’t try to compete with them. Diversity is important for companies because men and women complement each other due to being different in certain respects. It’s an opportunity that we’re passing up.
— It’s a professional development and enhancement programme that HP and Leitat Technological Center have been running since 2010. The candidates we select, most of whom have recently graduated from engineering degree programmes specializing in mechanics, electronics, computer science or telecommunications, spend two years working on innovation projects. We also offer them training designed to help them meet the needs of the current industrial model, which is based on research and development. The aim is to nurture their talent to turn them into highly skilled professionals capable of succeeding in the sector’s top companies.
— What expectations do you have for your career in the future? — I’m hoping to make a major career change quite soon. I’ve completed a master’s degree programme which has given me a new perspective on business in general and helped me work out where I can offer the greatest value. I’m just starting out on that path at the moment.
— Lastly, do you have any specific plans in mind? — I’m always making plans! Apart from the career change I just mentioned and a new line of activity in teaching which I’m currently beginning, I’m involved with two start-ups that my partner is leading. What’s more, we’re taking the first steps in our personal project together, which is very exciting and helps us keep going with the things we do in day-to-day life.