·Profiles·
·In depth·
·Community·
Road map to make UPF a global university
Campus Júnior opens the university to secondary school students
The UPF Alumni programme: UPF, for life
08-09
10-11
12-13
·On campus·
Transcending our walls to contribute to social welfare The University is working hard to promote knowledge transfer through innovative initiatives. 04-07
The Pompeu Fabra University magazine / No. 11 / March 2016
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·Foreword·
March 2016
jaume casals
:
upf.edu 03
Rector of UPF
A PERMEABLE UNIVERSITY COMMITTED TO ITS COMMUNITY
U
niversities, especially public ones like UPF, have to be able to transcend their walls to generate synergies with society and contribute, through their activity, to the social, economic and cultural welfare of their communities.
This core mission, included in UPF’s 2016-2025 Strategic Plan, requires a research culture amongst the researcher community that is sensitive to the need to transfer results and to the social impact of doing so. At the same time, universities must facilitate this work, seeking out new ways to partner with companies and proactively looking for opportunities to carry out this transfer. If, over the course of their academic careers, our investigators are able to generate a large body of knowledge, it is our job as a university to equip ourselves with the necessary tools to help showcase its value.
The creation of UPF Ventures, a proposal based on models successfully implemented at benchmark universities
such as Oxford, is an important step on this path of linking the research conducted at the university with industry. With this tool, we aim to move beyond the classical model of university-industry relations, matching needs and expertise and identifying problems and opportunities for improvement with a view to proposing the best solutions. At the same time, we need to continue working to foster entrepreneurship at the university, promoting impactful research, identifying potentially innovative results, and offering support to exploit them and bring them to market.
This mission must be pursued in parallel with our university’s commitment to producing well-educated, socially responsible individuals capable of critical thinking. We need to promote the university’s role as an agora of critical thought, accessible and open to society; a player that not only listens but also starts and leads discussions on its community’s social, cultural and economic needs. The production of dynamic citizens who wonder, question and propose solutions is one commitment we do not want to shy away from.
toni batllori
Written, produced and edited by the Institutional Communication and Promotion Unit (Rector’s Office). Plaça de la Mercé, 10-12. 08002 Barcelona, Tel.: 93 542 20 00. http://www.upf.edu/ E-mail: gabinet.rectorat@upf.edu Cover art by Mikel Jaso. LD B-44938-2010. ISSN 2014-0630
READ UPF.EDU MAGAZINE IN SPANISH AND ENGLISH AT
www.issuu.com/ universitatpompeufabra
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Lluís Armengol, founding partner at QGenomics
·On campus·
March 2016
Francis Casado, Business Development Manager at Mobile Media Content
Jordi Janer, founding partner at Voctro Labs
Transcending our walls to contribute to social welfare One of the university’s main missions is to transfer its knowledge and create synergies with its community. UPF works hard to promote these activities through innovative initiatives. ‘To promote innovation and social transformation. We must transcend the institution’s walls to generate synergies with society in order to contribute to social welfare and create value.’ With these sentences from its new 20162025 Strategic Plan, UPF has sought to underscore its desire to become an important player in its community, offering the knowledge it generates to society as a whole.
‘Top universities impact the societies that surround them not only by generating knowledge, but also through the transmission thereof, and that is one of the key challenges facing our university today’, said Francesc Posas, vice-rector for Scientific Policy and Teaching Staff at UPF. ‘That’s why we are doing our utmost to boost our capabilities in this regard by creating a framework for knowledge
transfer accessible and available to all our investigators and especially designed to facilitate their initiatives’, he added. To this end, he continued, ‘we will strengthen the Innovation Unit-UPF Business Shuttle and have created UPF Ventures, a new tool for knowledge transfer’.
What does knowledge transfer mean and how is it achieved? Through their research activity, univer-
·On campus·
March 2016
A new tool for knowledge transfer
Ignasi Sahún, founding partner at ZeClinics
Photos: Frederic Camallonga
sities generate knowledge that can and must be exploited by the surrounding communities. ‘There are two ways to transfer results to society, by pushing the knowledge or pulling it’, explained Mònica de Forn, head of the Innovation Unit-UPF Business Shuttle. With pushing, it is the researcher who identifies an opportunity with commercial value for which there is not yet a defined market. Likewise, the institution itself looks for the best way to transfer it, for instance, through the assignment of patent licences or the creation of spin-offs. Indeed, showcasing the value of the research generated at UPF and making it available to society is one of the main objectives of the unit Forn leads. ‘How successfully knowledge can be exploited and brought to market largely depends on whether there exists a strategy to transfer it from academia to the business world’, Posas explained.
upf.edu 05
At UPF, ‘we have established a new action framework for the creation of spinoffs and protection of industrial property and software, an indispensable aspect for optimal knowledge transfer’. The process of exploiting research results and new technologies can be complex and generally consists of four main stages: identification of innovative results, often stemming from research projects; assessment of the potential to transfer the identified knowledge; protection of intellectual and industrial property rights; and commercialization. ‘The advice we offer depends on the type of project to be carried out’, Forn explained. ‘However, we always determine whether the identified results need further development before they will be viewed as an attractive candidate to be brought to market, as ultimately that is what the project’s success will largely hinge on.’ In this regard, the University is par-
‘The university must constantly seek out ways to partner with industry, and UPF Ventures is a new tool to enable and facilitate innovation in this field’, explained Francesc Posas, vice-rector for Scientific Policy and Teaching Staff. It is a pilot project being conducted in collaboration with the Catalan Directorate General for Universities, intended to make the process of exploiting knowledge and bringing it to market a two-way street. ‘It is not enough to offer diagnoses and classical prescriptions; it is necessary to take the initiative and proactively seek out transfer opportunities’, Posas noted. In this regard, UPF Ventures should allow companies to identify both areas in which the university can help and opportunities for bringing the knowledge generated at UPF to market. The proposal is based on models that have been successfully implemented at benchmark universities in this area, such as Oxford or the Israeli university system.
Board of Trustees award for researchers and doctoral students According to Núria Basi, president of UPF’s Board of Trustees, ‘Knowledge transfer is part of the very fabric of the university and is intrinsic to its mission.’ Moreover, she continued, ‘It is an essential aspect of its service to society.’ This is true to such an extent that, since 2007, the main body for the University’s societal participation has organized an award for UPF researchers and doctoral students to provide incentives in this area and underscore the importance of ensuring that society benefits from scientific advances.
·On campus·
06 upf.edu ticipating, through various projects, in initiatives intended to showcase the value of the knowledge it produces. Examples include the Catalan government’s Knowledge Industry Programme or the European Research Council’s Proof of Concept grant programme. In the second case, that of ‘pulling’ knowledge, it is companies that turn to universities to help them meet an innovation need. They ask for experts to help them improve their products, services or processes. The resulting collaboration can take many forms, but the most common involve implementing R&D and innovation projects, providing consulting and advisory services, or using the university’s existing scientific infrastructure.
The challenge of making yourself visible One of the most important factors for productive knowledge transfer is the dissemination of research results, both within and outside the institution. To this end, in late 2015, the university launched the UPF Knowledge Portal, ‘a website that allows us to publicly display the expertise and findings generated by the university’s research groups, helping us to hold ourselves accountable by explaining how we use the public resources we obtain’, explained Josep Jofre, deputy general manager of the Research and Economic Affairs Area. ‘It is a dynamic space that will evolve over time to include the latest research findings and identified technologies’, said de Forn. The actions to disseminate the knowledge generated also include specific presentations of research projects to institutions and people from outside the university with a view to narrowing the gap between UPF and industry. However, efforts are also made to disseminate this information within the university’s own walls. According to de Forn, ‘The Innovation UnitUPF Business Shuttle undertakes actions to raise awareness amongst the university’s researchers and doctoral students of the importance of knowledge transfer.’
March 2016
Knowledge transfer outcomes at UPF Protection of results Patents
Number of priority patents applied for Number of international patents awarded software
Number of software copyrights
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
4
3
4
2
8
5
5
8
4
4
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
1
0
2
4
5
Contracts with companies
2011
Value of contracts with companies and institutions (€K) Number of contracts with companies and institutions
2012
2013
4.590 3.930 3.092 139
162
161
2014
2015
2.957 4.381 162
180
Transfer contracts
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Number of licensing and royalty agreements 6 7 10 8 11 Value of licensing and royalty agreements (€K) 34,7 54,9 69,7 94,5 117,2 Number of agreements not involving economic compensation 62 59 55 50 66 Tech companies
2011
Spin-off Start-up
2012
2013
2014
2015
1 0 1 1 1 3 5 4 4 3
Success stories UPF has a strong presence in TECNIO, a network of technological innovation centres and university research groups that have been officially recognized by the Catalan Agency for Competitiveness (ACC1Ó) for their ability to quickly and
— — — — — — — — —
efficiently meet companies’ technological needs and thereby foster their competitiveness. To date, nine UPF research groups and units have earned this distinction:
Music Technology Group (MTG) BCN MedTech Research Unit Interactive Technologies Research Group (GTI) Network Technologies and Strategies Research Group (NeTS) Natural Language Processing Research Group (TALN) Synthetic, Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems Research Group (SPECS) Research Programme on Biomedical Informatics (GRIB) Bioanalysis, Pharmacology and Proteomics Research Unit (BAPP) Neuropharmacology Laboratory Research Group
·On campus·
March 2016
Some UPF spin-offs and start-ups qgenomics SPIN-OFF FOUNDED: 2008 INDUSTRY: BIOTECHNOLOGY/ DIAGNOSTICS/CLINICAL GENOMICS NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 23 www.qgenomics.com
It was one of UPF’s first spin-offs, the product of knowledge generated by research groups linked to the university and the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG). It was hard at first, explained Lluís Armengol, one of the company’s founding partners, ‘but the attitude of the people we negotiated with at UPF convinced us not to throw in the towel’. According to Armengol, ‘It is important, when starting a business, to keep an open mind in order to achieve the goal of transferring knowledge from the university to society.’ The company’s core business is the development and application of products and services arising from genomic research to the healthcare sector. Future plans include ‘implementing the project in its entirety, consolidating our business in Spain, and struggling to carve out a niche for ourselves in the global market’, Armengol said. In his view, the key to success is ‘work to develop and offer tools to the market that provide solutions for current diagnostic challenges and enable improvements in patient care’.
upf.edu 07
mobile media content
zeclinics
FOUNDED: 2011
START-UP
FOUNDED: 2013
INDUSTRY: AUDIO TECHNOLOGY
FOUNDED: 2012
INDUSTRY: BIOTECH
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 4 (FOUNDING PARTNERS)
INDUSTRY: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 6
www.voctrolabs.com
NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 14
voctro labs SPIN-OFF
Voctro Labs is an initiative that arose from the Musical Technology Group in UPF’s Department of Information and Communication Technologies, devoted to ‘bringing voice processing and synthesis technologies to market’, in the words of founding partner Jordi Janer. In 2011, after collaborating with the Japanese company Yamaha Corp., it began to sell the first virtual singers in Spain, Clara and Bruno, based on the Vocaloid technology. In late 2014, it was chosen by the European Commission as an example of a company with strong growth potential in the framework of the Open and Disruptive Innovation programme. With regard to the company’s direct collaboration with UPF, Janer highlighted ‘having been able to sign a technology transfer agreement that included the licence to exploit a patent’. He takes an optimistic view of the future, noting, ‘We aim to be a leader in the field of voice technologies for the creative industries of music, film and videogames.’ That will involve successfully implementing a business model with some of the innovation projects the company is currently working on.
www.mobilemediacontent.com
‘Fans pay a lot of money to attend sporting events in person and a lot of times they don’t even know what kind of view they will have’, explained Francis Casado, the company’s Business Development Manager. This situation ‘generates disappointment and can lead to claims and complaints’. Offering fans a synthetic 3D view that allows them to check the view from a given seat before purchasing their ticket ensures a more satisfactory experience. According to Casado, the company’s goal is ‘to become a leader in the enhancement of users’ experience at sporting venues and theatres around the world’. It aims to become an essential complement to ticket-selling platforms. To date, it already counts FC Barcelona, the ATP and Formula 1 amongst its clients. With regard to the company’s contact and collaboration with UPF, Casado highlighted the support received during the first three years, when it was operating out of a co-working space at the Almogàvers Business Factory. Additionally, he said, ‘The University has facilitated direct contact with a wide pool of talent, which has allowed us to recruit staff.’
START-UP
www.zeclinics.com
ZeClinics was founded ‘after four researcher friends decided to add business value to what we were doing every day in our labs’, explained Ignasi Sahún, one of the company’s founding partners. ‘The uncertainty surrounding research positions prompted us to take the plunge and transition from the academic side of things to applied research.’ Sahún stressed ‘the fundamental role of the Innovation UnitUPF Business Shuttle in terms of getting the project off the ground’. The company provides solutions for assessing the safety and biomedical importance of new molecules, using zebrafish as a model. In three years, it has seen exponential growth in turnover, and last year it closed a €100,000 round of crowdfunding, which will allow it to implement its main project, the ZeOncoTest. ‘Now, the challenges lie in internationalizing and diversifying our services to include new markets, such as the food industry or cosmetics’, explained Sahún. He is optimistic about the future, noting that the company aims ‘to become a small pharmaceutical player able to discover new drugs and sell them to larger companies’.
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·Profiles·
March 2016
Jacint Jordana PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL AND ADMINISTRATION SCIENCE AND DIRECTOR OF UPF’S 2016-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN
‘We all created the Strategic Plan together; it was the product of collective reflection’ Jacint Jordana Casajuana
(Granollers, 1962) is currently the director of the Barcelona Institute for International Studies (IBEI). He directed this road map, which was prepared with the involvement of the entire university community and which will set the university’s course for the next ten years.
— As the director of the Strategic Plan, how would you evaluate it? — I was really excited by this project, and it was an honour to lead and promote it. I think the university needed it. It was a necessary initiative, the product of a collective reflection, at a time when the university world is undergoing a major transformation. Consequently, it was a good opportunity to reflect on UPF’s mission and strategic lines in depth. We need to go beyond local circumstances, our local community and the social and political context of Catalonia and Spain, and think about how UPF can move forward in the coming years as a more international and global university and
project. The governing team is finishing up an action plan now to implement it.
— Is internationalization a key strategy for the university? — We shouldn’t be afraid of being a global university, an international leader, one whose feet are firmly planted in Barcelona, Catalonia and Europe, but which is also known around the world for providing a prestigious education and producing top-notch research. In this regard, we have to be able to soar, without the need to always be tied to our immediate surroundings. UPF has embraced internationalization from the start, but now the Strategic Plan proposes going one step further by ensuring that all areas of the university operate in an international framework and international networks.
— Does the Plan seek to consolidate UPF’s status as a research university? — One basic aspect that the Strategic Plan establishes, which could help us set ourselves apart as an institution,
is that we conceive of a research university as a university fully committed to research, not just in certain areas, which might rightfully stand out and which should spearhead the effort. But if we really want to achieve this goal, then the entire institution, without exception, has to be internationally competitive and has to carry out high-quality research.
— What measures does the Plan propose with regard to teaching? — The Plan modestly proposes undertaking a new revolution in teaching. This issue was discussed at length during the process of preparing the Plan. In recent years, we have made a major effort to adapt and transform our programmes in keeping with Bologna; but we shouldn’t stop there. We know that the world of education and teaching is under enormous strain and that, with the arrival of the new fully digital generations, the very process by which students learn is changing. All of this poses a challenge for our university; we need to be able to respond to all these changes, rethink the way
·Profiles·
March 2016
which is included as the university’s fourth mission. The Plan raises the need to establish greater bonds with Catalonia in general, but especially with the city of Barcelona. And one of the strongest bonds you can create with the city is through cultural activities. I would also highlight other less innovative, but equally important aspects. One is the Plan’s duration, ten years, as these kinds of plans do not usually span such a long period of time; however, we thought that it could serve as an incentive, to boost and stimulate our long-term view of this issue. Finally, as part of one of the Plan’s general areas, we are seeking to embrace a transformative and comprehensive model of social responsibility, encompassing all areas of the university.
— Did the participation, over the ten months that the process lasted, meet expectations? Frederic Camallonga
we teach, based on more individualized attention to students and more diversified ways of learning.
— Should teaching and research be integrated? — The Plan states the we need to link teaching and research more closely, especially in terms of the education offered to students. Our students need to understand that we are a research university, that there are many ways for them to participate in processes related to research. A lot of things are already being done. These are initiatives that are working well in a given faculty or area, but that could be adapted and spread to others, things like student internships linked to research groups, final bachelor’s or master’s degree projects conducted more within the framework of a research environment, researchers who seek students’ help for activities, etc.
— What other innovative aspects of the Plan would you highlight? — One innovative aspect is the importance given to the cultural dimension,
— We actually didn’t have any official forecasts in this regard. In general, I would say that participation was higher than expected. I was surprised by the participation and enthusiasm shown in the face-to-face activities, such as the meetings, working groups and panel discussions. In contrast, online participation, in things like discussion forums or commenting on documents, fell short of what I expected. That’s something we still have to address: above and beyond the Strategic Plan, we have to better use online platforms to foster more intense and varied internal discussions.
— Did the initial diagnosis detect areas of improvement? — The Strategic Plan seeks to provide solutions for the issues detected in the initial diagnosis, not so much to change things that were working, but rather to fix things that were not working well enough or were considered problematic. In addition to the teaching, research and internationalization aspects we’ve already mentioned, amongst other things that were pointed out, attention should be drawn to the need to streamline the university’s internal organization, strengthen the role of alum-
upf.edu 09 ni, further embrace transparency and accountability, increase interdisciplinarity, take advantage of and learn about the different experiences carried out, and generate more collective learning.
— Do we have the necessary resources to meet all these objectives? — What UPF does with its €133 million (2016) is not all that different from what universities with four or more times our budget (and a similarly larger number of students) do, and that can be seen in the rankings, when we appear in similar positions. This desire to fight and compete at this level, despite our limited funding, makes everything very difficult. Really, Catalan universities, and perhaps UPF in particular, due to our strong desire to be a global university known for its research, are competing on unequal footing.
— How can the funding be improved? — The Strategic Plan recognizes this problem and proposes certain means of improvement: first, we need to call for more and better public funding, because we are carrying out a very important mission of public interest, that is, of interest to the country as a whole. Second, we also need private funding: to attract more sponsors and patrons; to collaborate more with companies involved in research and customized training; to engage in more applied research or in activities related to the sale of educational services and training programmes able to draw students from outside Europe, for example. If we can figure out how to combine and organize the private and public formulas well enough, we can substantially increase certain levels of funding in coming years. more information
— www.upf.edu/plaestrategic
HE LIKES: walking A MUSICIAN: Leonard Cohen A BOOK: La tortuga ecuestre
by César Moro A VALUE: accountability
10 upf.edu
·In depth·
March 2016
Campus Junior opens UPF to secondary school students Experiential, practical, fun, participatory and experimental are just some of the characteristic of the courses offered as part of UPF’s Campus Júnior, a programme for secondary school students that will hold its fourth edition this summer. In 2016, Campus Júnior, previously overseen by UPF’s Teaching area, was transferred to the university’s Social Responsibility area. ‘Although the regulations that will reorient it are still pending, we wanted to get a head start this year by bringing the programme into line with our outreach goals, in terms of opening the university up to the local community, the city and the region as whole’, explained Mònica Figueras, vice-rector for Social Responsibility and Promotion at UPF. According to Figueras, Campus Júnior, which is targeted at students in their third and fourth year of compulsory secondary school (escola secundaria obligatòria or ESO) and first year of upper secondary school (batxillerat), plays an important role as a link between secondary school and university, ‘offering students a first-hand look at the university and giving them more information to help them find and choose a programme and to see whether or not the university is a good fit for their expectations’. The 2016 edition of the Campus Júnior programme consists of 18 multidisciplinary courses taught by UPF lecturers, each lasting five days, that combine teaching with practical and experimental learning. In addition, participants can discover fields of knowledge that are often largely absent from secondary school curricula and take advantage of the campuses’ facilities and resources. ‘For 2016, we’ve tried to broaden the offer, by involving more programmes at UPF. We’ve also divided the cours-
es more evenly between July and September’, said Figueras. The 2015 edition offered nine courses, with a total of 182 students, 56% more than in 2014. Participants were generally quite pleased with the experience, although many felt that the courses should be longer. Additionally, ‘this year there will be a number of proposals in the field of social responsibility that were not offered in the previous edition’, the vice-rector explained. Specifically, three new courses have been added: an introduction to Catalan sign language, an engineering and technology course especially aimed
The 2016 edition will include 18 multidisciplinary courses taught by lecturers from UPF at girls, and an introduction to what it means to study at university. This latter course aims to explain to students, in a fun way and through friendly and experiential contexts, what people study at university, how they do it and what it means, as well as to offer them an overview of the skills and abilities specific to higher education.
An introduction to the university’s three campuses ‘Educationally speaking, it is vital for students to be actively involved in the learning process’, explained David Sancho, dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at UPF, located on the Ciutadella campus, and one of the teachers of the third edition of the course
‘Vols Entendre la Política del Nostre País?’ (Do you want to understand politics in our country?). ‘Our course takes the form of an actual political analysis, allowing students to learn about the administrative and institutional structure of the different powers and what political parties are like’, Sancho explained. To achieve this, the course includes debates, role-playing exercises in which students have to defend a specific position of a given political party, a trip to the Catalan Parliament and a film forum, among other activities. Marta Narberhaus, a lecturer in the
March 2016
UPF Department of Communications and teacher of the course ‘Fem de Periodistes!’ (Let’s be journalists!), explained that course’s goal. ‘We want to give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in the news world, to learn about everything from basic concepts to how to use the main tools for practicing journalism.’ Students take an in-depth look at the specific features of journalistic language, engage in practical professional simulations (television, radio and Internet) at facilities on the Poblenou campus, and take trips to actual media companies, such as Radio Nacional de España (RNE) or Barcelona Televisió (BTV). Elsewhere in the city, the university’s Mar campus is home to one of the earliest Campus Júnior courses (it has been offered since the very first edition), called ‘Laboratori de Biologia Molecular’ (Molecular Biology Laboratory). Mar Carrió, a lecturer in the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS), coordinates it. ‘On the one hand, we pose an actual problem, which students have to solve by designing experiments and carrying them out in the lab; on the other, we
·In depth· learn about the research conducted at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), by talking with the researchers’, she explained. In 2016, Carrió will also be coordinating the first edition of an introductory course to
upf.edu 11 bioinformatics, which will take a similar approach, but using software for the practical portion. more information
— www.upf.edu/campusjunior
Exploring your surroundings through a lens ‘I got to see Barcelona from a different perspective, through a camera. We visited a lot of new places, and it gave me a chance to enjoy them.’ So said Ralf Merten, a 17-year-old resident of Sant Cugat del Vallès, who participated last summer in the first edition of the course ‘Barcelona Through Your Lens: Urban Landscapes and Photographic Narratives’, which is being offered again this year. According to Ralf, who considers photography to be a ‘cool hobby’, ‘it was fascinating for me to go to a different place each day; you’d be surprised by the kinds of photos you can take depending on the setting!’ He continued, ‘The teachers taught me technical aspects that I didn’t know before, which helped me to take better pictures. My favourite location
was the Dipòsit de les Aigües Library at UPF, where I could take pictures of people studying and of the incredible building itself.’ Antoni Luni, who teaches geography in the Department of Humanities at UPF, and Lourdes Delgado, a lecturer at the Image Processing and Multimedia Technology Centre at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, explained the content of the course, which seeks to depict different landscapes of Barcelona, beyond the historical perspective and that of its artistic and cultural heritage. ‘Every session is divided into two parts, one onsite, where the location is presented to the students, along with an explanation of its importance within the city, and another in the classroom, where students learn about the editing and postproduction process.’
Students of the 2015 edition of the course ‘Fem de Periodistes!’ (Let’s be journalists!). Frederic Camallonga
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·Community·
March 2016
UPF, for life Earning your degree does not mean leaving the university behind, but rather changing your relationship with it. The UPF Alumni programme fosters the bond with alumni in order to cultivate a sense of belonging to the institution, even after graduation. Many alumni remember their university experience as a formative part of their life. Whether in the halls, in class or at the library, many students and professors at the university have forged fruitful learning relationships and taken the first steps towards their future careers. The UPF Alumni programme’s value lies precisely in its ability to conserve these synergies, prolonging the institution’s relationship with all those people who one day formed a part of it.
Aurora Sanz (law, 1995)
‘I’ve been especially pleased with UPF’s outstanding evolution since it first opened its doors’ Aurora Sanz recalls her years at UPF as ‘a very enriching experience’. She joined the UPF Alumni programme, first, ‘out of a desire to stay in touch with friends with whom I shared those incredibly important years’. Second, she explained, ‘It allowed me
How did it come about? According to Anaís Tarragó, director of the UPF Foundation, which manages the UPF Alumni programme, ‘There weren’t, and still aren’t, any clear precedents in the country outside of business schools.’ The programme was launched in 2009, based on the work of student associations such as Antics UPF and for the purpose of promoting the university amongst its alumni, members of the local and international academic community, and
to follow what the new student profiles are like from a prudent distance, to see how the new generations of professionals are coming up through the ranks.’ One of the most gratifying aspects of being a member ‘was participating in the graduation ceremony for law students in the class of 2014’, as it ‘brought back a lot of good memories’.
the institutional and business world. ‘Although the programme draws heavily on the Anglo-Saxon tradition’, Tarragó explained, ‘it is not really comparable, as we do not have the same tools.’ Nevertheless, she continued, ‘we do share some of the same philosophy, such as the desire to foster a sense of belonging amongst students, not only when they are at university, but also after they graduate.’ ‘Alumni are a vital part of the university and some of our best ambassadors
Pau Agulló (Economics, 1997)
‘Contact with the university helped me get collaborative projects, like the Data Science programme, off the ground’ Ever since he graduated, Pau Agulló has kept up his relationship with the university. ‘Maintaining the link to UPF helped me stay in touch with friends and allowed me to participate actively in training activities and talks’, he explained. This bond led him
March 2016
to the world’, stressed Mònica Figueras, vice-rector for Social Responsibility and Promotion. ‘We cannot afford to lose touch with them.’ According to Figueras, ‘So far, nearly 13,000 UPF alumni have joined the programme in order to maintain contact with the university.’
What does the future hold for the programme? One of the services UPF Alumni offers, along with its Career Services, is to provide alumni with the necessary tools to boost their careers, whether in the form of orientation courses, mentoring or other continuing education activities. It is a clear commitment that strengthens bonds and bears witness to all that UPF has to offer its students once they move on from university. ‘Of course, we have 25 years of alumni, and the needs and interests of the earliest graduating classes are clearly quite different from those of
·Community· the most recent ones’, explained Tarragó. Consequently, one of the programme’s short-term goals is to provide services, activities, forums and meeting points to foster participation and cooperation between the university and its alumni. ‘We need to offer forums and networks for alumni to meet up, not only amongst themselves, but also with the entire university community, to share interests and create value together in order to ensure that UPF remains a university of excellence.’ To offer a more attractive programme for all the university’s graduating classes, ‘we need to proactively seek out alumni who have not kept in touch’, Tarragó added. Thus, within the context of the university’s 25th anniversary and its strategic plan for the next ten years, alumni have emerged as a key factor in the university’s relationships with industry and society. ‘The university has made an effort to track down the mem-
upf.edu 13 bers of the first ten graduating classes, and it has successfully contacted a total of 5,200 alumni from the classes of 1994 to 2004, 52.2% of all graduates from those years’, explained Figueras. One of the first outreach activities was the 1st Alumni Meeting, held in September on the Ciutadella campus and attended by more than 1,200 alumni. The meeting served to establish an initial line of collaboration amongst the entire UPF community and to determine what needs and interests alumni have in relation to the university. In this respect, the 2016-2025 Strategic Plan is a good example of twoway participation, as ‘it was not designed solely by the university, without any understanding of people’s real needs, but rather was prepared with the collaboration and participation of alumni themselves’, Figueras explained. ‘UPF wants to create a joint programme that really takes into account what alumni think it should be’, she concluded. Photos: Frederic Camallonga
to be one of the featured speakers at the 1st UPF Alumni Meeting, where he was a panellist in an open discussion amongst various alumni entitled “La universitat, un camí d’anada i tornada” (‘University: a two-way street’). His close relationship with the university and his continued contact with various lecturers have also led him to participate as a teacher in the Data Science programme at the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
Ksenia Klykova (Audiovisual Communication, 2015)
‘The Library service is what convinced me to join the UPF Alumni programme’ Although Ksenia Klykova only recently completed her degree in Audiovisual Communication, she knew she wanted to join the programme from the moment she graduated. ‘I discovered it whilst collaborating at the university library; a lot of the patrons had UPF
Alumni cards, and it piqued my interest.’ She remembers her time at UPF as a very positive and enriching period, and she wants to maintain her relationship with the school, amongst other things, because ‘the programme offers some very practical services that could help me with my career’. One such service is the Career Guidance Service, launched in the 2014/2015 academic year, which has generated considerable interest amongst alumni.
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Cristina Pujades (Mataró, 1962) leads the Developmental Neurobiology Group in the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences and is Delegate of the Rector for Research Issues.
— Recently, UPF submitted the research carried out by all of its areas to a process of external assessment that involved numerous internationally renowned experts and had the support of the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU Catalunya). Why is such a process important? A university’s mission is to generate, transmit and transfer knowledge. Research is thus a key aspect of any university community, and assessment is an essential tool to learn about, promote and evaluate this research. This process is common practice at public universities in neighbouring countries. It allows us to measure the university’s progress on one of its missions, namely, that of generating knowledge.
·In depth·
March 2016
Cristina Pujades
LECTURER IN THE DEPARTMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES AND DELEGATE OF THE RECTOR FOR RESEARCH ISSUES
‘Research is a matter of state: it cannot depend on which way the political winds are blowing’
— What goals is the university pursuing with this pioneering initiative? — The university is seeking to identify its strengths and weaknesses in order to craft and conduct a proactive and ambitious scientific policy. In order to advance, we need to know where we currently stand and where we would like to be in a few years. Moreover, external assessments are also a way to hold ourselves accountable to society. As a public university, our patrons are the population at large, and that means we have to be ambitious and very clear when it comes to explaining what we do. The strategic goal of these assessments is to strengthen the university’s positioning as a high-level international research organization and to ensure that it is perceived as a generator of knowledge and not just a means for transmitting it.
— What were the main findings regarding research at UPF? — As noted in the assessments, we
‘Basic research findings help transform society’ ‘Basic research is a long-term commitment, but it is a necessary one’
putting into place a good talent recruitment and retention policy, fostering a research culture that is sensitive to the transfer of its results, and facilitating innovation-oriented leadership. Some departments have made more progress on these points than others, but, generally speaking, we still have a way to go.
— What are the keys to successfully disseminating scientific knowledge to society? are well positioned in terms of the research conducted in Spain. UPF is one of the universities with the highest number of publications and papers per researcher; however, there is also room for improvement. Some of the main areas we need to improve are:
— It is a joint effort. As researchers, we have to learn how to explain what we do in plainer language. Also, research must be understood as a matter of state: it cannot depend on which way the political winds are blowing. If a country wants to strengthen its re-
March 2016
·In depth·
upf.edu 15 impact of this type of research in biomedicine is the CRISPR-Cas9 system for gene editing. It is a fascinating discovery, since what began a few years ago with the study of how immunity works in bacteria has today become a tool that allows us to edit any gene very efficiently and, thus, to open up hitherto unimaginable possibilities for gene therapy. I understand that, intuitively, it can be easier to understand the need to invest in applied research, but basic research findings help transform society. Obviously, it is a long-term commitment, but it is a necessary one.
— Your team is very active when it comes to scientific dissemination. What does public engagement mean to you? How does the general public perceive your scientific discoveries?
Frederic Camallonga
search (in order to transform its economy), it needs to communicate its scientific findings. And the strategy needs to be global, because individual strategies have a much smaller impact that only reaches people who are already interested. To move beyond that, all players need to be involved: the government, scientists, universities, journalists, etc.
— Why is scientific dissemination so important? — Many recent social challenges stem from science: in vitro fertilization, therapeutic cloning, genome editing, data privacy, etc. Currently, the law follows on the heels of these challenges, and the people who make those decisions should not be just the law-
yers and scientists, but also society as a whole. However, in order to freely make decisions, there need to be certain criteria. It is critical for society to realize that it needs to become increasingly involved, because science is already part of our lives: personalized medicine, Facebook, mobile technology, etc. Everything is built on science.
— Sometimes, society fails to see the usefulness of basic research. — Basic research generates knowledge that will ultimately have implications for our lives. The clearest example for me, as a biologist, is the discovery of the structure of DNA. Thanks to a basic research paper published in 1953, today we have personalized medicine. Another more recent example of the
— I love disseminating knowledge, making an effort to communicate and showcase the value of what we do. To be able to convey your passion for what you do and see how people receive it is truly rewarding. I also think that it is good, because it helps us put ourselves in perspective. Scientists tend to be very specific, and we end up focusing on very concrete details. Dissemination allows us to ask why we are interested in something so specific and how it might be relevant to a different audience. I also think that it is nice for us to be perceived as engaged and accessible citizens.
— Your research focuses on the embryonic development of the nervous system in zebrafish. Why did you choose to use that animal model? — We are working on the development of a part of the brain that is highly conserved in all vertebrates, from zebrafish to human beings. The zebrafish is a good model system because it allows us to track living cells and combine that with genetic studies. We can manipulate genes, mark them, study what is happening, how this part of the brain is formed, how neurons are generated, etc. It may not seem very anthropocentric, but it turns out we have a lot in common with the brain of a zebrafish.
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·Online·
March 2016
‘Before their first words’, an educational website for children in their first year of life An initiative to encourage the development of communication and learning skills, with the participation of Alfonso Igualada, Núria Esteve-Gibert and Pilar Prieto, members of the Prosodic Studies Group (GrEP). ‘Before their first words’ is an educational website designed to encourage the development of communication and learning skills in children in their first year of life. The brainchild of Alfonso Igualada and Núria Esteve-Gibert, it is coordinated by Pilar Prieto, head of the Prosodic Studies Group (GrEP) and an ICREA lecturer in the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at UPF, and Laura Bosch, head of the Research in Attention, Perception and Language Acquisition (APAL) group in the Basic Psychology Department at the University of Barcelona (UB), with the participation of the University of Sheffield
Studies show that the pre-language period is crucial to children’s development (UK). The project has been funded by the RecerCaixa programme to promote excellence in research sponsored by Obra Social ”la Caixa”, in collaboration with the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP). The website is available in three
languages (Catalan, Spanish and English) and uses plain language to explain what communicative traits children display in the pre-language stage and how to stimulate them to encourage language development and social interaction. To this end, it offers an extensive gallery of videos, educational material and practical tips for parents and educators created with the participation of an international group of experts in early language development. It is known that in the pre-language stage, children are able to recognize prosodic patterns of language (stress, rhythm and intonation), differentiate between sounds, and understand the meaning of some words, as well as develop strategies to communicate and interact with adults that act as precursors of language. ‘Before their first words’ also reports on the results of the research being conducted by the two participating research groups. For instance, one recent study showed that nine-monthold infants are highly sensitive to the temporal alignment of gestures and speech in their language environment (Esteve-Gibert, Prieto, Pons. Infant Behavior and Development, 2015).
From left to right: Núria Esteve-Gibert, Pilar Prieto and Alfonso Igualada, members of UPF’s Prosodic Studies Group (GrEP). Frederic Camallonga
Another found that the ability to combine speech and pointing at 12 months is predictive of a child’s language development at 18 months (Igualada, Bosch, Prieto. Infant Behavior and Development, 2015). The aim of the project is twofold: first, to use information and communication technology to provide par-
The website offers a monthby-month overview of how babies’ communication skills develop ents and educators with information on the latest findings on language precursors and raise their awareness of the importance of encouraging them; and, second, to study these precursors from an integrative, multidisciplinary perspective and assess the
·Online·
March 2016
impact on children’s development of how adults respond. To enhance these skills, the website’s section on precursors of language examines children’s communication skills from the perspective of production, perception and interaction. The website is divided into various sections which show, month by month, how communication and early language learning develop in children aged 0 to 12 months, that is, what the precursors of language are and when they appear: perception of the rhythm and intonation of a language, the first sounds a baby makes, early babbling, tracking with the gaze, pointing, etc. In each case, practical information and examples of how to encourage development naturally are provided by means of audiovisual material showing different children and their parents in the homes of families who
voluntarily participated in the initiative. One of the project’s potential future benefits is the creation of protocols for the identification and early detection of risk profiles that could be used to take preventive actions, which could significantly reduce the presence of communication and lan-
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guage difficulties at later stages of development. more information
— ‘Before their first words’ http://abansprimeresparaules.upf.edu/ — Prosodic Studies Group: http://prosodia.upf.edu/home/
10 tips the website offers for parents and educators 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Follow your baby’s lead; pay attention to his or her interests Interact with your baby face to face Sing songs and tell your baby stories Imitate your baby’s gestures and vocalizations Speak to your baby in a variety of expressive ways Interpret your baby’s sounds and gestures Observe how your baby reacts to things Respond when your baby points Try to create opportunities for communication Just talk to your baby
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·News·
March 2016
Recognition
The Department of Information and Communication Technologies receives the ‘María de Maeztu’ distinction
Xavier Serra with Carmen Vela, Spanish Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation. STATE SECRETARIAT FOR RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION
The State Secretariat for Research, Development and Innovation of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness has recognized the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DTIC) within the framework of its Centres of Excellence programme. As a result of this distinction, the DTIC will receive €500,000 in funding each year for the next four years. According to Xavier Serra, scientific director of the DTIC and head of the Music Technology Group, ‘This distinction will allow us to strengthen our research and increase its impact.’ Xavier Binefa, director of the DTIC, aims to position it ‘as a national and international benchmark institution in data science re-
search, emphasizing its reproducibility’. The grant will be used to implement a series of strategic actions in this knowledge area, including upgrading the university’s computing infrastructure, funding research
‘The distinction will allow us to strengthen our research and increase its impact’ projects, and providing support for researchers to increase the impact of their research, both from an academic point of view and in terms of technology transfer and social relevance.
UPF’s fourth seal of excellence This latest distinction brings the total number UPF-affiliated centres and research units to be recognized by the Spanish Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation to four, testimony to the quality of the university’s research. In the previous edition of the programme, the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences was awarded a ‘María de Maeztu’ distinction, whilst the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and the Centre for Genomic Regulation, affiliated with and partially owned by the university, were awarded the ‘Severo Ochoa’ distinction of excellence in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
·News·
March 2016
Pura Muñoz. upf #UPFResearch
Autophagy, a key factor in muscle regeneration A study led by Pura MuñozCànoves, an ICREA researcher and head of the Cell Biology Group in the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, has shown that cell ageing starts when the autophagy process fails and damaged proteins and organelles accumulate inside stem cells, leading to senescence and depletion. The study, published in Nature, also showed that re-establishing the autophagy process reverses ageing and restores the regenerative functions of old satellite cells, which turns out to be a decisive regulator of stem cell fate and, therefore, a possible strategy for combating reduced muscle regeneration in sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass due to ageing and physical inactivity). According to Muñoz-Cànoves, ‘These findings open the doors to research aimed at attenuating the loss of muscle regeneration capacity in the elderly, giving them greater independence and a better quality of life.’
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#UPFTalent
#UPFResearch
UPF students investigate how to prevent colon cancer
Far from ageing people, having grandchildren rejuvenates them
Polybiome is a research project being conducted by students on the bachelor’s programme in Biomedical Engineering at UPF with a view to reducing the chances of getting colon cancer through the use of microorganisms able to degrade harmful molecules found in our diets. The initiative has received the support of the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences and the Department of Information and Communication Technologies at UPF, as well as of the Centre for Genomic Regulation. The microorganisms, which are first genetically modified, would be ingested in capsule form and are completely harmless, as all of them can be found in a variety of cheeses and yogurts already available on the market. The project was launched in response to the World Health Organization’s recent warning that the consumption of large quantities of processed and red meat increases the risk of colon cancer. The team of students will submit the project to the synthetic biology competition Giant Jamboree, held by the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) Foundation in Boston, which seeks to promote entrepreneurship amongst participants.
That was the main conclusion reached by Bruno Arpino, co-director of the Research and Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology, linked to the Department of Political and Social Sciences at UPF, and Valeria Bordone, from the Wittgenstein Centre in Austria, after analysing a sample of 4,500 people between the ages of 50 and 85. The researchers looked at the relationship between people’s subjective age and the condition of being a grandparent and caring for one’s grandchildren.
Team of students behind the project. iGEM Barcelona
Subjective construction of age Although younger grandparents feel older than people in the same age group without grandchildren, this relationship is reversed as the grandparents’ age increases. Thus, the researchers found a clear association between feeling young and caring for grandchildren in grandparents over the age of 70. Moreover, this phenomenon is cumulative in grandmothers, who experience an additional youthful feeling simply from having grandchildren. The authors suggest that people construct their subjective age based on the specific circumstances of their lives. The study thus highlights the importance of taking the subjectivity of ageing into account: consideration must be given to both the role a person plays in society and his or her chronological age.
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·News·
March 2016
#UPF25anys
Two children interact with the installation. Jordi Nieva/recercaixa #UPFResearch
Lands of Fog, a game to integrate children with autism Lands of Fog is a videogame based on a ‘full-body’ interactive environment intended to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The project, funded by the RecerCaixa programme, was carried out by Narcís Parés, a lecturer in the Department of Information and Communication Technologies, in collaboration with the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and the Developmental Disorders Unit at Hospital Sant Joan de Déu. A six-metre circular projection presents a magical world that children can explore by moving through both the physical and virtual space, with the peculiarity that both the settings and the creatures that inhabit them can only be discovered when children interact with the environment and collaborate with each other. Targeted at special and inclusive education centres, the installation has already been tested on a group of 68 children between the ages of 10 and 14. The researchers found that the game was able to increase and diversify attitudes towards social initiation and collaboration in children with ASD.
Neus Vallús, director of the web documentary Amb títol during filming. upf
UPF premieres the interactive documentary film Amb títol Amb títol is an innovative proposage ideas on how to improve them’. al in the audiovisual world that aims The interactive documentary premiered last November at to reflect on the role that university the Contemporary Culture Cenplays in our lives. Directed by Neus tre of Barcelona (CCCB) and is Ballús, a filmmaker and UPF alumna, part of the proit aims to take the user-viewer on a journey gramme of events To look at how through the cases of commemorating our time at several singular alumUPF’s 25th anniveruniversity shapes ni, presenting them as sary. It was co-proour lives duced by TV3, after if they were their the being chosen from user-viewer’s own life amongst 28 projects in an open call experience, in order to explore how for productions in this format. It altheir time at university shaped their so received support from Obra Solives. cial La Caixa. According to Ballús, the work ‘aims to be an open debate; the viewer is also an active participant. To achieve this, we needed an organic, open format, such as a web documentary’. She also noted that the reflection ‘is intended to shed light on the problems or shortcomings of public www.ambtitol.cat universities today, so as to encour-
·News·
March 2016
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Outreach
#UPFResearch
UPF launches the ‘Dialogues in the Humanities’ series
Neanderthals mated with modern humans earlier than thought
The university opens its doors to society to disseminate and discuss various topical and humanistic issues in a series of eight dialogues. The humanities are the guiding thread for this series, which will be held on various Tuesdays in February, March and April. In the format of a dialogue between two experts from the university from different fields, the series will address several general topics, as well as specific issues related to communication sciences, economics, political science and biomedicine. Participants will include Mònica Terribas, Joaquim Albareda, Victòria Cirlot and Albert Carreras, amongst others. The initiative, directed by Tamara Djermanovic, a lecturer in UPF’s Department of Humanities, is being conducted in collaboration with the Board of Trustees and has the support of an advisory board consisting of Rafael Argullol, a professor in the Department of Humanities; Josep Eladi Baños, a professor in the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences; and Fran Benavente, a lecturer in the Department of Communication. Journalism and politics; medicine and culture; literature and film; or the relations between Catalonia and Spain are just some of the topics the series will address.
Atmosphere in the Roger de Llúria courtyard the day of the fair. eva guillamet Employment
More than 60 organizations participate in UPFeina The 11th edition of UPFeina, held last November, drew 62 organizations and saw the number of participating companies climb to 51. The job fair is intended to provide a channel to facilitate relations between the job market and the university’s students and alumni. The new participating companies came from a wide range of industries, including legal services (Rosaud Costas Duran), chemicals (Roche Diagnostics), the food industry (Miguel Torres), healthcare (Hartman), advertising (Bubblegum) and tech (HP), amongst others. Additionally, for the first time, the Catalan cooperative sector was represented at the fair through the participation of Aracoop. A range of parallel activities were also held throughout the day, aimed at enhancing participants’ job-seeking skills and prospects. Of special note were the talent speed-networking session, consisting of a series of short interviews between companies and participants, and the ‘Oportunitats a l’estranger’ (Opportunities abroad) session, which looked at the programmes and grants available to help attendees’ internationalize their training.
According to a paper published in Nature, modern humans and Neanderthals first interbred tens of thousands of years earlier than previous research had suggested. Using various methods of DNA analysis and a larger number of Neanderthal genomes, an international team of researchers showed that this interbreeding first occurred about 100,000 years ago. The researchers suggest that some groups of modern humans left Africa earlier than was once thought and interbred with Neanderthals; however, these modern humans probably became extinct and, therefore, are not amongst the ancestors of present-day humans. The team behind these findings is made up of more than 20 researchers from various European research centres, including the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE, CSIC-UPF). Its members included Martin Kuhlwilm, the first co-author of the paper and currently a postdoctoral fellow at the centre, and the principal investigators Tomàs Marquès-Bonet and Carlos Lalueza-Fox. ‘This finding is another step in the demolition of the previous paradigm of human evolution. Now we know that modern humans and archaic hominids interbred multiple times, speeding the adaptation of those populations’, said Lalueza-Fox. Furthermore, he continued, ‘this will also have been the case in the most distant past of our lineage, that is, it will have been true for millions of years’.
·News·
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Photo of the group attending the event. Eva Guillamet Internationalization
Diplomats learn about the UPF project Some twenty people belonging to the accredited consular corps in Barcelona took part in an institutional meeting on the Ciutadella campus last January in which they learned about the university’s main strategic lines, especially in the area of internationalization. Participants in the meeting, held within the context of the events commemorating the university’s 25th anniversary, included Jaume Casals, rector of UPF, and Josep Ferrer, vice-rector for Internationalization of the University and International Relations, who discussed the challenges facing UPF in this area. Currently, UPF has around 1,500 international students of 99 different nationalities. This is equivalent to 12.71% of the entire student body. The share of international students climbs to 37% when it comes to master’s degree programmes and to 50% when it comes to doctorates. Additionally, the university has signed almost 400 international exchange agreements with institutions around the world, enabling 32% of its undergraduate students to spend time abroad over the course of their programme.
March 2016
#UPFTalent
#UPFTalent
Students create a wheelchair controlled with the mind
Award for International Women’s Day poster
Albert Martí, Alexandre Triay, Adrià Font, Mar Estarellas and Mark Barna, undergraduate students in the Biomedical Engineering programme, have created Whee’ll, a brain-computer interface to enable people of limited mobility to use wheelchairs. The project, conducted as part of the subject ‘Introduction to Medical Devices and Their Design’, aims to develop solutions for people with a very complex degree of mobility in order to improve their quality of life. The students used a helmet fitted with electrodes able to capture electrical signals from the brain to determine which direction the person wants to go. The students received external support from both companies, such as Neuroelectrics Barcelona, and UPF research groups to implement the project. Other proposals were also implemented as part of the subject, including: a cardiac ablation training device (coordinated with Hospital Clínic in Barcelona); a bracelet to prevent sudden infant death syndrome; a valve system for patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease; or an optimized design for tracheotomy tubes (in collaboration with the surgical company Atos Medical).
Team of students who participated in the project. UPF
Irene Guim, a student on the bachelor’s programme in Advertising and Public Relations, won the contest and a prize worth 3,500. Held by the Spanish Institute for Women and Equal Opportunity, the contest received a total of 206 submissions from all over Spain. ‘Singularly equal’ refers to ‘individual singularities, which are not enough to make us different, whether inferior or superior’, the winner explained. ‘I wanted to make an uncluttered, minimalist poster that conveyed a clear message and that included the colour purple, given its significance.’ The inspiration for the poster design came from a comparison of women and nature. The motif for the drawings was the result of modifying fir trees to look like they had the arms and legs of a person. According to Guim, ‘All trees are different, singular, like people. But deep down, the essence is the same: we are all equal.’ The contest sought to transmit positive messages regarding women’s active participation in society, to increase the visibility of equal opportunities for women and men, and to promote actions to combat gender inequality.
·News·
March 2016
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#UPFund Outreach
‘30 years on’: Catalonia’s integration in Europe
Eduardo Mendoza, Jaume Casals and Fernando Guirao. frederic camallonga On the occasion of the 30th annimain sponsor is CaixaBank. It has versary of Spain’s adhesion to the also received support from the European Parliament, the European European Community, the Ciutadella campus hosted an exhibition Commission, Europe Direct, the to encourage reflection on what Catalan government, the City of European integration has meant Barcelona and more than 40 organizations. for Catalonia and, vice versa, what The exhibition is divided inCatalonia has meant for the Europe to eight sections: Starting point; Community. Catalonia got ready; Europe in the The exhibition was inaugurated in January by Jaume Casals, recclassroom; Material impact; Eurotor of UPF, and Fernando Guirao, pean citizenship; Challenges; What Jean Monnet Professor of History has Europe meant for Catalonia?; in the Department and What has CatIt will travel alonia meant for of Economics and Europe? It will Business and the to the Europe travel this year to exhibition’s curaDirect centres in tor. The event also the Europe Direct Girona, Lleida featured the writer centres in Girona, and Tarragona Eduardo Mendoza, Lleida and Tarragona before returnwho spoke about before returning to ing to Barcelona democracy in EuBarcelona for the rope. for the city’s Mer2016 Mercè festival cè festival. The exhibition’s
Private donors fund research at UPF The Department of Humanities and the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences (DCEXS) at UPF have both received donations to fund their research. First, Antonio Gallardo, chairman of the board of directors of the Landon Group and honorary vice-chairman of the board of Almirall, donated 45,000 to the Archaeology Laboratory, led by the lecturer Maria Eugènia Aubet, which is conducting archaeological research in the city of Tyre in southern Lebanon. According to Gallardo, his contribution is intended ‘to help increase and improve knowledge of Phoenician culture’. Second, María Luisa Pachán made her third donation to DCEXS this year. This time, it will be used to finance new equipment to carry out new biomedical research. ‘Global progress depends on scientific advances’, Pachán explained. ‘The countries that invest in research are the ones that make the most progress.’ The UPFund – Sponsorship and Patronage programme was launched to raise the profile of the university’s work in its community, with a view to upholding its commitment to excellence in teaching, promoting new research projects and creating new scholarship programmes.
María Luisa Pachán with a team of researchers from UPF. UPF
·Our Alumni· Ernest Costafreda (Business Management and Administration, 2012) Founder and Creative Director at Costalamel
‘I would tell students to focus on what they really want to do’ — Why did you decide to study business management and administration at UPF? — When I was 18, I didn’t really know what to do; I guess that’s the way it is for a lot of people at that age. I liked the idea of studying business, because you learn things that are applicable to all kinds of worlds. I had good marks in secondary school, and I felt like, in a certain sense, if I stayed in Lleida, I wouldn’t be taking advantage of that. I chose UPF because it offered the three things I was looking for: Barcelona, a public education and a degree programme with subjects in English.
helped me a lot more when it came to starting Costalamel. I wouldn’t say that it’s a master’s programme that helps you with your career, but rather that it offers you really useful personal insights. It gives you tools that are completely applicable when you have a project in mind.
— What is your most memorable moment from your time at UPF? — More than a moment, I would say a factor: living in a student hall of residence. I
— The CEO of your company also went to UPF, right? — Yes. Eduard Sáez was one of my best friends at university. We really got to know each other in our fourth year. He was a much better student than I was. I remember how a lot of times he would explain things to me before the exams. He would always sit in the front row, taking notes with printouts of the slides. I was more likely to be talking with the person next to me and doodling on my notes. I think that was lucky for us: having different, complementary profiles. We are both essential; without me, there would be no Costalamel, and without him, it could not grow at the rate it has been growing.
— You also earned a master’s degree in Brand Meaning Management at UPF BSM. How do you think it has helped you in your career? — I’ve never been a big fan of studying. I’ve always taken a more utilitarian approach and tried to learn about what I was interested in. Business management and administration didn’t excite me; I think it is a cold, fairly impersonal world. However, it has helped me not to destroy the brand. Brand Meaning, on the other hand,
and convinced me to keep looking. Also, there was and still is a need to find a project that combines both my skills and my passions.
— Costalamel t-shirts are made by hand in Barcelona. Do you think that keeping things local is a good business model? — To produce in Barcelona, you have to be close to your suppliers. Every Costalamel product is made by between one and five different workshops. We have to be nearby. There is no other alternative. Besides, if you do it in Barcelona (for real), it makes you different. And being different is something people notice.
— The fashion industry is very competitive. What do you think your brand owes its success to? — I think we try to do things thinking about the essence. We don’t ask ourselves ‘what should we do’, but rather ‘why are we doing it’. We try to make clothes that connect with people, that tell a story, that make a statement.
— Starting a business is a risky decision. Why did you take the plunge? — I didn’t think not taking it would be better. think UPF is more than an average mark on a transcript. It’s four critical years of your life. You meet people who will be key to your future and have unforgettable experiences. That is just as important if not more so than being top of the class.
— What made you decide to start Costalamel? — I am a very idealistic person; I have to believe in what I am doing in order to do it. I had friends who, out of fear or convenience, accepted jobs that didn’t convince them. In part, that helped to open my eyes
— And what are your goals for the future? — Right now, we are trying to raise a round of funding. If we find investors, we will apply the growth plan we’ve designed to increase our turnover fivefold within a year.
— It seems like this model has worked for you. Would you advise UPF students to start their own businesses? — I would tell students to stop doing what people expect of them and to focus on doing what they really want to do instead.