The Instituto de Tecnología de Valencia and the Universitat Politècnica de València have presented the Medicarama Chair in Technology and Health, which aims to develop health technologies, promote and disseminate scientific advances and codes of good practice, as well as boost innovative digital education solutions in the field of healthcare.

José Manuel Martínez, CEO of the Instituto de Tecnología de Valencia and a graduate in Telecommunications Engineering from the UPV, and Pepe Capilla, Rector of the Universitat Politècnica de València, along with other representatives from both organisations, took part in the presentation ceremony.

Satisfaction with the collaboration

According to José Manuel Martínez, CEO of the Instituto de Tecnología de Valencia, the Medicarama Chair is an opportunity in many ways because “it allows us to collaborate with other companies and organisations for the benefit of society. Likewise, maintaining close contact with the UPV community makes it easier for us to keep a close eye on the progress of technology and learn more about the different research and innovation groups at the UPV to identify possible collaborations. Finally, the relationship with students always brings youth, dynamism and new ideas to the companies”. The CEO of the Instituto de Tecnología de Valencia has expressed his satisfaction at being able to collaborate with the university where he studied and to be able to contribute to society and the UPV, thanks to the training he received.

Training, research and learning

UPV professor José Millet, director of the Medicarama Chair, said that the Chair will promote activities of general interest to society and university students, such as prizes for the best projects, idea competitions and hackathons, as well as master’s degrees, courses, seminars, workshops and conferences on the use of new technologies in healthcare organisations.

On the other hand, research actions will be developed to explore machine-student interactions for learning and evaluation with artificial intelligence of health professionals.

Finally, the Chair will advance learning methodologies for these professionals through the use of technology, as well as promote the use of the same; it will also provide UPV students and staff with knowledge about health areas and promote active ageing and healthy living.

Valencia Institute of Technology

The Instituto de Tecnología de Valencia aims to provide higher and continuing education in the field of medicine and health, as well as training and further education services and career development in the health sector, the publication of publications and the organisation of scientific projects and events.

The Instituto de Tecnología de Valencia has collaborated for years in training UPV students in the field of Telecommunications and Biomedical Engineering by means of internships in companies.

Source: UPV’s Information Office

Eduardo Rojas Briales, professor at the School of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering (ETSIAMN) and researcher at the ITACA Institute of the Universitat Politècnica de València, has been appointed member of the Advisory Committee of the CIHEAM (International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies), an intergovernmental organisation created in 1962 under the auspices of the Council of Europe and the OECD.

This entity seeks to promote cooperation between Mediterranean countries through postgraduate training and the promotion of cooperative research in agriculture and natural resources.

To this end, it carries out problem-solving activities structured around four main lines of action: protection of the planet, inclusive development, food security and crisis and resilience to contribute to conflict resolution.

CIHEAM has 4 Mediterranean Agronomic Institutes located in Bari (Italy), Chania (Greece), Montpellier (France) and Zaragoza (Spain), and is composed of the following member countries: Albania, Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.

With the appointment of Eduardo Rojas, there are now two professors from the ETSIAMN who are linked to this organisation, following the appointment of Raúl Compés as director of the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) Zaragoza.

Who is Eduardo Rojas?

Eduardo Rojas Briales holds a degree in Forestry Engineering from the University of Freiburg (Germany) and a PhD in Forestry Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Since 2001 he has been a lecturer at the ETSIAMN, where he has taught forestry, sustainable forest management, European forest resources, nurseries and reforestation, landscaping and gardening, pastureland, forest breeding, renewable energies, disturbances, and climate change and fires.

Related to his university activity, in 2004, he was appointed Deputy Director of Academic Coordination of the ETSIAMN, being a key figure in developing the curriculum of the new Degree in Forestry and Natural Environment Engineering. He is currently a member of the University Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (ITACA) of the UPV. From 2017 to 2020, he coordinated the training programme that the Indian Forest Service organised for its future foresters abroad.

He is currently the Dean and President of the Official College of Forestry Engineers and the Association of Forestry Engineers, positions he has held since 2016. He is also the president of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), “the most important forest certification organisation in the world”, and since 2022 he has been a member of the board of trustees of the Fundació Pau Costa.

Previously, he was Assistant Director-General of the FAO and head of its Forestry Department (2010-2015) and UN Commissioner-General for Expo Milano 2015. He has also been the coordinator of Juntos por los Bosques (2016-22). This platform brings together the entire forestry sector in Spain.

Source: UPV’s Information Office

On January 27, at 11:00 a.m. in the Hall of Degrees of the Higher Technical School of of Geodesy, Cartographic and Topographic Engineering (Building 7I), Universitat Politècnica de València, the reading and defense of the Doctoral Thesis “Forest biomass estimation with Sentinel-2 imagery for improved forest management in Mediterranean areas ” by Mr. David Vinué Visús are scheduled.

The Directors of the Doctoral Thesis are Peregrina Eloína Coll Aliaga, José Vicente Oliver Villanueva and David Fuente Herraiz, researchers of the ITACA Institute.

The ITACA Institute of the Universitat Politècnica de València has organised a conference on innovation, which includes presenting research results, for 23 January.

The event will be held in person at Ciudad Politécnica de la Innovación, Access J (Red Cube).

We look forward to seeing you on Monday, 23 January, and we encourage you to extend this invitation to your contacts of interest.

Registration link

The first conference of the Jeanologia MISSION ZERO Chair: Reduction of water consumption and pollution in industrial processes will take place next Tuesday 29th November at 16h in the ETSII Hall.

Aimed at both UPV students and professionals, the conference will feature speakers of recognised prestige in the academic and research fields as well as in the industrial sector, who will address different technological solutions to improve the use and treatment of water and incorporate more sustainable and environmentally friendly processes.

The programme can be found at the following link.

To attend and receive a certificate of attendance by email, you can register at the following link:

More information on the website of the Jeanologia MISSION ZERO Chair.

On November 24, at 12:30 p.m. in the Innova Room (Building 8G, Access A, 4th floor), Universitat Politècnica de València, the reading and defense of the Doctoral Thesis “Clinical Decision Support Systems for Palliative Care Referral: Design and Evaluation of Frailty and Mortality Predictive Models” by Mr. Vicent Blanes Selva are scheduled.

The Directors of the Doctoral Thesis are Juan Miguel García Gómez, researcher of ITACA Institute, and Ascensión Doñate Martínez.

On December 9, at 11:00 a.m. in the Maxwell Room (4D building) of the Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de València, the reading and defense of the Doctoral Thesis “Design and development of a multi-frequency system for microwave heating” by Mr. Pablo Santón Pons are scheduled.

The Directors of the Doctoral Thesis are Juan Vicente Balbastre Tejedor, researcher of ITACA Institute, and Ruth de los Reyes Cánovas.

For the third consecutive year, the Innovation Days Valencia 2022 (i-Days) will take place at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) on 4 and 5 November. The i-Days promote healthcare innovation among university students through dozens of one- and two-day programmes held at academic institutions across Europe.

Students from all academic areas receive an introduction to the practical tools of healthcare innovation and compete in teams to tackle real-life healthcare challenges posed by the EIT Health, local organisations, private corporations or start-ups.

i-Days are accessible to all undergraduate and postgraduate students with an interest in healthcare innovation. You do not need any prerequisite skills or prior experience in innovation, entrepreneurship or healthcare. There are no academic requirements and students from all disciplines and departments are welcome to join.

The winning team from each i-Day will attend an all-expenses-paid event in Vienna to compete in the EIT-Health Winner’s Event. This final competition brings together students from across Europe.

Organised by EIT Health and the ITACA Institute of Universitat Politècnica de València together with IDEAS UPV, the event is sponsored and supported by Conselleria d’Innovació Universitats Ciència i Societat Digital, Ajuntament de València, Ajuntament de Gandia, Dextromedica, S.L., MYSPHERA, Quibim, with the collaboration of Fundació Fisabio, SaforSalut, CiberCV, etc.

For more information, please visit: https://idays.webs.upv.es/.

Climate change has driven countries and organisations worldwide to search for solutions to help mitigate or prevent its effects. While forests are suffering, they are also crucial to reducing emissions, as they are the most critical earth’s carbon sinks: they sequester carbon by capturing CO2 from the atmosphere and transforming it into biomass.

However, this process is threatened by the increase in natural disasters, now more frequent due to the current climate emergency. In this context, the Information and Communication Technologies against Climate Change (ICTvsCC) group of the ITACA institute of the UPV (Universitat Politècnica de València) is coordinating INFORMA, the major European forestry research project in the new Horizon Europe programme to improve forest management in this context.

14 partners, 8 EU countries and 5 regions

The project, which has a total budget of €5.3 million and 14 partners from 8 EU countries, has a duration of four years. Its main objective is to develop and implement the best sustainable forest management practices in the five most representative biogeographical regions across Europe (Atlantic, Mediterranean, Continental, Alpine and Boreal) and under future climate change scenarios to preserve carbon sinks and promote carbon sequestration while conserving their biodiversity and renewable natural resources.

In addition, INFORMA also aims to contribute with scientific rigour to the methodologies of quantification, monitoring, review and verification of existing carbon offset market instruments in Europe, especially in sustainable forest management actions in Mediterranean ecosystems. In Spain, carbon compensation mechanisms are the primary tool for payment for environmental services today, as they already have demand (sectors and companies with diffuse emissions), supply (public and private forest owners) and regulatory mechanisms, such as the Carbon Footprint Registry of the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.

Forest fires, the main threat

“In our country, the main threat to the preservation of ecosystems and carbon stocks is forest fires, as has become evident after the fires that occurred this summer in the Valencian Region. This type of disturbance is the main field of research in the pilot areas in the Mediterranean region, where the project will analyse the interactions between the current state of the forest, its sustainable management alternatives and the climate. In this way, the project will allow the implementation of best practices for adaptive management to climate change in the different types of Mediterranean forest ecosystems, but also the mitigation by forest bioeconomy, i.e. the optimisation of carbon sequestration in managed forests and the industrial transformation and consumption of the main forest products (wood, cork, biomass, resins, etc.) as substitutes for materials and products coming from fossil or non-renewable sources with a high impact on greenhouse gas emissions” says José-Vicente Oliver, director of the ICTvsCC-ITACA group at the UPV and general coordinator of the INFORMA project.

Moreover, the project will contribute directly with its results to the development of the European Forestry Strategy 2030, currently being negotiated by the EU Commission, as well as to the MOSAIC Strategy of the General Directorate of Forest Fire Prevention of the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Climate Emergency and Ecological Transition of the Valencian Regional Government (GV) and the recently announced Forestry Cooperation Fund by the Presidency of the GV for the coming years, whose objectives are the prevention and mitigation of the effects of forest fires on forest ecosystems and society, through the sustainable integrated management of agroforestry territory.

Source: UPV’s Information Office

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.