Professor Xavier Luri, new director of the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia
Xavier Luri, a professor at the University of Barcelona, has been appointed director of the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC). On 1 September, he took over from Ignasi Ribas, who led the institute from 2017 to 2025.
Xavier Luri, a professor at the University of Barcelona, has been appointed director of the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC). On 1 September, he took over from Ignasi Ribas, who led the institute from 2017 to 2025.
Xavier Luri (Ribes de Freser, 1966) holds a PhD in Physics from the UB and has been a professor in the UB’s Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics since 2021. He started teaching in the early 90s, and has built a solid career as a researcher at the Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the UB (ICCUB), a research unit of the IEEC that he has directed from 2018 to 2025.
Since 2023, he has been a member of the European Space Sciences Committee, which provides independent scientific advice on space science to entities such as the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA). In fact, the Committee’s scientific activity is closely related to ESA, as it is focused on the Gaia mission, an astrometric satellite built by this agency with the participation of the IEEC and designed to produce the largest and most accurate 3D map of the Milky Way by observing more than one billion stars.
Luri was one of the supporters of the Gaia mission for ESA’s approval in 2001 and has also been a member of its scientific advisory group, Gaia Science Team (2001-2007). Since 2014, he has played a very relevant role in the Spanish contribution to this project: he has participated in research and development related to supercomputing, data processing and software development, as well as in the calibration of the galaxy’s luminosity, kinematics and dynamics of the galaxy.
Luri also has extensive experience in the fields of innovation and knowledge transfer. During the development phase of the Gaia mission, he was involved in ESA development contracts that resulted in a patent for a data compression system and the creation of the spin-off company DAPCOM, which he founded.
In addition, Luri has stood out for his great capacity for scientific dissemination, with which he has actively contributed to bringing space science closer to society. Throughout his career, he has participated in numerous activities, such as talks, workshops and astronomical observations, and has led successful outreach projects (he is co-founder, for example, of the Big Van Ciencia association).
In this new phase as director of the IEEC, Xavier Luri will lead the institute’s strategy to continue positioning it as a benchmark institution in scientific research and technological development and innovation, as well as in the promotion of the space sector in Catalonia, an area in which the IEEC is one of the key centres in deploying the NewSpace Strategy of Catalonia, promoted by the Government of Catalonia.