La Caixa Foundation and Barcelona City Council fund UB projects that present innovative solutions to urban challenges
La Caixa Foundation and the Barcelona City Council will promote projects led by the University of Barcelona as part of the call for grants for scientific research projects. The initiative, endowed with two million euros, will fund a total of fourteen research and innovation projects that provide innovative solutions to address urgent urban challenges in community health, sustainability and climate change. Apart from leading some of the projects, the UB collaborates in initiatives led by other institutions that have also received support in this call.
La Caixa Foundation and the Barcelona City Council will promote projects led by the University of Barcelona as part of the call for grants for scientific research projects. The initiative, endowed with two million euros, will fund a total of fourteen research and innovation projects that provide innovative solutions to address urgent urban challenges in community health, sustainability and climate change. Apart from leading some of the projects, the UB collaborates in initiatives led by other institutions that have also received support in this call.
The award ceremony took place on Wednesday 10 January at 12.30 p.m. in the Saló de Cròniques of the City Council. Jordi Valls, Deputy Mayor for Economy, Finance, Economic Promotion and Tourism, and Ignasi López, Director of the Area of Relations with Research and Health Institutions of the La Caixa Foundation, took part in the event.
Urban sustainability and local trade
URBANSOSTEN is a project led by Professor Lluís Frago, from the Faculty of Geography and History, whose first aim is to understand the changes in Barcelona's main commercial axes based on their relationship with the socio-economic structure, the circuits of the urban economy and public space. Secondly, it aims to generate new ideas and innovative responses that will make it possible to understand and design better urban and commercial policies. Teams from the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) and the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) are collaborating on the project.
Collective mental health, rights and citizenship
Professor Mercedes Serrano, from the Faculty of Education, directs the GCM Barcelona project, which aims to analyse the effect of the intervention from the Guide for the Collaborative Management of Medication in Mental Health (GCM) on personal autonomy, sustainability and satisfaction with mental health treatments and services. It is a mixed and participatory pilot project with people who use psychotropic drugs, in which the Rovira i Virgili University (URV), the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), the Nou Barris Mental Hygiene Centre Association, the Sant Pere Claver Health Foundation and the Radio Nikosia Sociocultural Association are also participating.
Barcelona, a climate-friendly metrópolis
Led by Professor David Moya, director of the Observatory of Public Law (IDP Barcelona) of the UB, the BAMAC project aims to analyze the position of large cities like Barcelona in the protection of people who are forced to migrate as a result of climate change. The project will contribute to reflecting on what specific measures cities can take to contribute to humanitarian resilience in the context of climate change, identify good practices and promote collaboration and dialogue between global metropolises.
The UB also collaborates in other projects funded by the same call, such as the Endo-Healt project on endometriosis, education and health, led by the Gynaecology Service and the Patient Experience Observatory of the Hospital Clínic, and PANIS, an initiative led by the UAB aimed at identifying and reducing nutritional and health poverty in Barcelona.