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URV

Strategic plan for research and innovation

Interdisciplinarity and social impact

The URV's third Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation (SPRI) consolidates the university's commitment to excellence in research and innovation. It lays the foundations for promoting interdisciplinary research and its contribution to the progress of society.

The new SPRI has been created in a complex setting of constant change in which research has to adapt to new local and international demands and challenges. Among these, the emergence of artificial intelligence will be one of the key factors in the transformation of research and innovation during the plan's implementation period. Interdisciplinarity means different disciplines coming together and collaborating to tackle complex challenges from different perspectives and using methods. It is an approach that seeks to enrich the understanding and solution of problems by using contributions from different fields of knowledge.

The new SPRI is committed to interdisciplinarity as a way of tackling the major challenges facing society in a context of constant change

The objectives of the new SPRI encompass areas such as the exchange of knowledge, the improvement of infrastructures and resources available for research and innovation, and the recognition of research talent and its retention at the university. The objectives are expressed in three strategic axes. The first axis highlights the importance of interactions between different areas of research and innovation in order to tackle the complex challenges facing society today. The second axis focuses on improving the working conditions of researchers by strengthening job security, increasing the resources available for research and innovation, and providing the spaces needed for this purpose. The third axis emphasises the social impact and international vision of research and innovation, through the creation of collaboration networks and strategic alliances, the recognition of research and transfer activities, and the promotion of open research.

This plan has been drawn up in parallel with the URV's strategic plans for teaching and the CRAI.

Urbano Lorenzo Seva
Vice-Rector for Scientific Policy and Interdisciplinary Projects

Mission

To contribute actively to the social and economic development
of southern Catalonia and the country through the
generation, transfer and application of knowledge.

Vision

To consolidate the URV as an internationally renowned research and innovation
institution by actively joining into international networks and collaborating with key
players to solve the most urgent social and economic challenges.
To become a catalyst for sustainable territorial development and a leader in the
promotion of interdisciplinary research.

Values

  • To be a driving force for social, cultural, economic and sustainable development.
  • To promote cooperation and synergy between members of the
    university community, companies, institutions and society in general.
  • To strive for excellence in research, teaching and knowledge transfer, whilst always
    aiming for the highest quality and impact.
  • To act in an ethical, inclusive and sustainable manner, whilst prioritising
    the wellbeing of people and the involvement of society in actions and decisions.
  • To promote creativity and the adoption of new ideas, technologies and
    methodologies to tackle the complex challenges facing society.


Strategic axes and objectives

Axis 1. Interdisciplinarity as an axis for generating knowledge and tackling future challenges.

  • Objective 1. To consolidate priority areas of interdisciplinary research and innovation based on challenges.
  • Objective​​​​​​​ 2. To establish structures and/or bodies that facilitate interdisciplinarity.
  • Objective​​​​​​​ 3. To promote knowledge and collaboration between research groups within the same institution.

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Axis 2. People, infrastructures and resources

  • Objective 1. To increase the job security of staff and ensure that new young researchers come through the ranks, all from a gender perspective.
  • Objective​​​​​​​ 2. To promote an effective policy for attracting and retaining talent, taking into account the gender perspective.
  • Objective​​​​​​​ 3. To improve and increase the spaces and services available for research and innovation.

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Axis 3. Social impact and international vision

  • Objective 1. To promote active, collaborative research with an international outlook.
  • Objective​​​​​​​ 2. To disseminate scientific knowledge to the public and promote the open science strategy.
  • Objective​​​​​​​ 3. To foster transfer and innovation and social impact.

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Main actions

  • To create a line of internal grants for the development of interdisciplinary projects with a clear and accessible application process.

  • To redefine research support and management services to better respond to interdisciplinary research.

  • To organise annual awards for research groups that have excelled in promoting interdisciplinarity.

  • To increase specific resources for the recruitment of predoctoral and postdoctoral research staff, deploying training and qualification programmes to increase competitiveness in the labour market.

  • To implement training and career development programmes for research staff.

  • To establish training and mentoring programmes for young researchers.

  • To develop a plan for the renewal of obsolete equipment and research services.

  • To establish collaboration and exchange agreements with other research centres to facilitate the mobility of research staff and students.

  • To create an Open Science Committee to assess, promote best practices and ensure compliance with legislation and policies in this area.

  • To implement programmes to support and identify evidence of social impact in the research carried out within the University.


Main support measures

  • To identify and consolidate the four areas of interdisciplinary work that combine the research and innovation interests defined by the University.

  • To create at least one new structure to bring together URV research staff with the potential to access important funding and attract young talent.

  • To increase the number of interdisciplinary collaborations.

  • To increase by 20% the participation of young research staff in annual training courses focused on research and innovation management skills.

  • To increase the number of ICREA research staff by at least 50%.

  • To increase the number of ERC projects in the next three years.

  • To obtain SDUR accreditation for at least 50% of URV departments.

  • To create a system of indicators of the social impact of research and transfer.

  • To increase the number of spin-offs by at least 20%.

  • To increase by 30% the number of research publications in open access journals.

The URV has approved the CoARA good practice guide, reaffirming its commitment to a fairer, more qualitative and socially impactful evaluation of research:

CoARA good practices at the URV