He undertook his thesis  “Identification of clinically relevant genetic variation in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases using genome-wide approaches” under the supervision of Sara Marsal and Antonio Julià from the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR). His research has focused on identifying clinically relevant genetic variation in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Through the analysis of genomic data from a large cohort of 6,485 patients, the results have contributed to advancing the understanding of the genetic bases of these diseases. In addition, more specifically they suggest preventive therapeutic strategies for their treatment.

What are you doing now and where?​

I’m currently doing a postdoctorate at the Rheumatology Research Group of the VHIR. I’ve furthered the research lines opened during the thesis and have begun new ones, all of which have strong relevance and are cutting-edge in the field of autoimmunity.

What did doing your thesis mean for you?​

In my case, undertaking my doctoral thesis allowed me to identify, for the first time, new genetic variants associated with autoimmune diseases, their clinical phenotypes and the response to the most common treatments used for these diseases. Beyond the scientific outcomes, the development of my doctoral thesis enabled me to acquire scientific rigor, a capacity for biomedical interpretation of results from a translational viewpoint and analytical and communication skills. This training will undoubtedly serve as one of the cornerstones for the scientific career ahead of me.

What does this special award mean for you?

Receiving recognition, beyond scientific publications, for the fruit of all the hours of work dedicated to research over those four years is a source of great satisfaction. It is another reason to continue researching to work towards ensuring that all new findings have an impact on medical practice and therefore contribute to improving patients’ quality of life.

The thesis  “Endocrine control of insect metamorphosis: Characterization of the ‘metamorphic gene network’” was supervised by David Martín, Xavier Franch and Elena Casacuberta from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE:UPF-CSIC). The research addressed endocrine control of insect metamorphosis and the characterization of the “metamorphic gene network”. Her work has revealed critical genetic and developmental changes in the expression and function of the genes from the  “Metamorphic Gene Network” which play a key role in the evolution of complete metamorphosis. You can read the interview on her doctorate on the IBE website.

What are you doing now and where?​

I have just been awarded the Juan de la Cierva national post-doctoral grant to work for two years in the Development and Morphogenesis in Drosophila laboratory, led by Jordi Casanova at the Barcelona Institute of Molecular Biology (IBMB). During this period I’ll continue working on development, focussing on how a cell defines its identity.

What was your experience of your doctoral thesis?

The thesis was a very intense path full of all kinds of moments with experiences I will never forget, such as living in Japan. It’s true that during the thesis there were difficult moments because, no matter how much you work sometimes things don’t work out the way you want them to, and that can be very frustrating. But it is important to accept that as part of the job and keep going. For me, the experience of doing the thesis was very positive, not only because I learned so much, but also because it helped me to grow as a person, and to see what kind of scientistic I want to be.

What does this special award mean for you?

For me, this award means recognition for all my efforts and enthusiasm during this time and serves as motivation to continue with my career as a scientist, which is not always easy. It is also recognition of the work of my thesis supervisors Xavier Franch, David Martín and Elena Casacuberta, who have taught me a lot throughout this time.

Her thesis “Dynamical aspects of the regulation of bacterial proliferation” was supervised by Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo from the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at UPF. Her research has addressed the dynamical aspects of the regulation of bacterial proliferation. This study has demonstrated for the first time a connection between ribosomes and the membrane potential, two fundamental properties of cells that are essential for life. This research has significant potential applications for the development of strategies to combat bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics.   The results also show an alternative process for resisting antibiotics not just based on molecular mechanisms, but also on microbial context. Her study, therefore, suggests that we cannot extrapolate the antibiotic response of bacterial species in situations when multiple species co-exist.

What are you doing and where?

I’m currently doing a postdoctorate at the University of California, San Diego. During the doctorate I collaborated with Professor Gurol Suel’s group and we discovered that ions can play an important role in the resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. During the postdoctorate, I wanted to continue with this line of research to better understand what other functions ions could play a key role in.

What did doing the thesis mean for you? 

During my degree I had to combine my studies with other work. Beginning the doctorate and being able to dedicate my time exclusively to what I wanted was a major change, a personal accomplishment. I think it is for that reason that I valued every moment of the thesis.

What does this special award mean for you?

I’m very grateful to have been selected; I see the award as recognition of the work we did. But really, the results of a thesis do not depend on just one person, but rather everyone you work with during the doctorate, especially your thesis supervisor. So this award is for the whole group! 

The thesis “Analysis of transcription mechanisms that limit type I interferon responses” was supervised by Cristina Lopez-Rodriguez and Jose Aramburu from the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at UPF. His research has analysed the transcription mechanisms that limit type I interferon responses. His work considers NFAT5 as a transcription factor capable of inducing or repressing the expression of specific target genes in response to antigen recognition and also in the absence of stimuli. This thesis confirms NFAT5 as a pleiotropic regulator of innate immune responses.

What are you doing now and where?

I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the Francis Crick Institute in London in the laboratory of Dominique Bonnet.

What was your experience of your doctorate?

It was a fantastic experience. I consider myself to be very fortunate because I know a PhD can be a hard and frustrating time, but for me it exceeded expectations. I was able to learn to be a scientific researcher, to think critically and design experiments to answer the right questions. Looking back I even see the difficult moments as being positive, as I learnt a lot from them. I was also able to collaborate with other colleagues both from Cristina Lopez’s laboratory and from DCEXS, and that taught me how to interact and share knowledge with others.

What does this special award mean for you?

Above all, recognition for the group where I did the doctorate. The recognition that for five years we did good science and carried off a sound and highly comprehensive project combining different techniques.

His thesis “Genetic introgression in chimpanzees and bonobos” was supervised by Tomàs Marques-Bonet from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE:UPF-CSIC) at UPF. His research focuses on genetic introgression in chimpanzees and bonobos, and highlights the fact that the chimpanzee population substructure makes genetic information a good predictor of geographic origin at country and regional scales.  He suggests that the origins of confiscated chimpanzees may be discernible with enough data from reference populations. These results can contribute to the conservation of this endangered species. You can read the interview on his doctorate on the IBE website.

What are you doing now and where?

I’m a postdoctoral researcher at Molly Przeworski’s laboratory at Columbia University in New York. I am currently researching how the number of germline mutations varies between sexes in different species. In humans, fathers pass on to their children four times more mutations than mothers. We are investigating whether that also occurs in other organisms.         

What did doing your thesis mean for you?

My PhD was a very good experience. It’s true that when you do a thesis there are always going to be difficult moments. In my case, I was fortunate enough to overcome them and I think that it is these kinds of experiences that have most enabled me to grow as both a person and a scientist. However, most of the time I enjoyed my thesis; the good times are also important for growing and learning.

What does this special award mean for you?

I’m delighted. Receiving recognition for the fruit of years of hard work makes me very happy.

She completed her thesis  “Modelling spatiotemporal cell regulation” under the supervision of Jordi Garcia Ojalvo from the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at UPF.  A fundamental question in biology is how the function of cells depends on signals from both inside and outside the cellular environment. Ultimately, cells respond to chemical signals like hormones and nutrients, but spatial restrictions and temporal (dynamic) variations in the signalling molecules are also important regulators that are not fully understood. This thesis models spatiotemporal cell regulation at various levels of complexity, from single cells to animal tissues. The paper reveals an additional regulating level in this signalling channel which plays a critical role in development, stem cell regulation and disease.

What are you doing now and where?

I’m doing a postdoctorate at Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) in the Department of Systems Biology.

What did doing your thesis mean for you?

Doing the thesis was both a privilege and a great personal and academic challenge. For years I’d wanted to do research and the PhD allowed me to find out that I really did want to do this. It meant learning lots of new things, and seeing that I could contribute my grain of sand to increasing our knowledge of the world of cells. I was also lucky enough to work alongside not only great scientists but also great people.

What does this special award mean for you?

I am very pleased with this award as recognition of the work that’s been done.

Her thesis “Novel insights in nicotine addiction: focus on cognitive function” was supervised by Fernando Berrendero and Rafael Maldonado from the Department of Experimental and Health Sciences at UPF. Her research looked at new developments in nicotine addiction, with a focus on cognitive function. Her work reveals for the first time that the inflammation of cerebral regions that are key to learning and memory is associated with cognitive deficits present in early nicotine withdrawal. It also demonstrates that the use of anti-inflammatory drugs normalises cognition during early abstinence. These results open the door to using anti-inflammatory compounds to treat one of the relatively unknown aspects of giving up smoking: learning and memory alteration, which play a key role in relapse in tobacco use.

What are you doing now and where?

After the doctorate I decided to switch from preclinical to clinical research. I’m currently working as a Clinical Trial Manager at the Spanish biopharmaceutical company Oryzon Genomics SA, a company that uses epigenetics to develop therapies for diseases with major unresolved medical needs. Within the clinical team, my role is to manage the clinical trials for diseases of the central nervous system.

What was your experience of doing a PhD?

I think that my doctorate, as well as increasing my knowledge about the central nervous system, gave me the opportunity to develop other skills that are highly valued in other professional environments. For example, critical thinking, analysing situations, decision making, teamwork and project management.

The years spent on the doctorate were exhausting, but I think I enjoyed my thesis project so much that this compensated for the hardship. I think that my passion for the subject of my thesis was evident in my work and the final results.

What does this special award mean for you?

I think it is fair recognition for the efforts of both myself and my thesis supervisors. It was the result of many years of work, of not giving up in the face of negative results and being virtually 100% committed to science.

The thesis “DNA methylation and its relationship with lifestyle, environmental and cardiovascular risk factors” was supervised by Carla Lluís-Ganella and Roberto Elosua from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM). Coronary heart disease implies the interplay between genetic and environmental factors. Common genetic variants explain just 15-20% of its heritability. DNA methylation, which regulates gene expression without altering the DNA sequence, has been proposed as a heritable signature for explaining this missing heritability and as a mediating effect of lifestyle and environment on health. Sergi Sayols-Baixeras has investigated DNA methylation and its relationship with lifestyle, environmental and cardiovascular risk factors. He highlights that tobacco addiction is strongly associated with a distinctive methylation pattern and that there is a relation between DNA methylation and various cardiovascular risk factors, although its causality is complex.

What are you doing now and where?

Right now I’m a postdoctoral researcher with the Molecular Epidemiology Research Group at Uppsala University, in Sweden. My current research is focussed on a project with European funding which has three main aims: to identify the relationship between gut microbiota and subclinical atherosclerosis; to identify the association between metabolites in plasma and species of gut microbiota associated with subclinical atherosclerosis; and finally to study whether or not these associations are causes of the disease.

What did doing your thesis mean for you?

The thesis enabled me to acquire experience in research in academia, especially in the analysis of omics data, meeting leading international researchers and being tutored by two exceptional researchers, Dr. Roberto Elosua and Dr. Carla Lluís-Ganella. Mine was a very positive experience because I had the opportunity to undertake cutting-edge research as part of a great team, the Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Genetics (EGEC) research group and its institution, the IMIM.

What does this special award mean for you?

This award represents recognition for the project idea of my supervisor and evidently the good work that my supervisors, my colleagues and myself have undertaken during this period, and which has led us to publish in highly reputable international journals.

The thesis “El análisis de la atención en la recepción televisiva: la incidencia de las respuestas automáticas de atención en la motivación hacia el consumo de contenidos” was supervised by Xavier Ruiz and Albert Costa from the Department of Communication at UPF. The analysis of viewers’ attention while watching television is fundamental for our understanding of media reception processes. This thesis addresses this subject by reviewing the different theoretical models and methodologies used for its study, and offers a theoretical proposal on the possible effects of automatic attention allocation on viewers’ motivation. In this regard, the thesis also contains experimental research on the effect of high-definition images on viewers’ attention and motivation, the results of which provide preliminary evidence to support the aforementioned theory. Finally, it draws reflections on  the future development of this area, both from the viewpoint of academic research and the television and advertising industries.

What are you doing now and where?

I’m currently conducting postdoctoral research in the Department of Communication Science at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, under a Marie Curie grant.

What did doing your thesis mean for you?

Besides the hugely important learning dimension, doing my thesis was an experience that, at least in my case, made an enormous contribution in terms of my personal development: it poses a great challenge, but also allows you to meet and work with people you can learn so much from, beyond what is purely academic.

What does this special award mean for you?

For me, this award is not just an important recognition for my own efforts, but also as a way of recognising the work of my supervisors, Xavier Ruiz Collantes and, especially, Albert Costa, who is sadly no longer with us.

Her thesis, “Comunicación y epistemología freireana: micro-mundos posibles en docencia, cooperación, activismo y medios”  was carried out under the supervision of Matilde Obradors, from the Department of Communication at UPF. Through a compendium of four articles, she took a critical and interrelated approach to participatory communication for development, communication for social change, critical pedagogy, advertising and public relations, the field of NGOs and the third social sector, Theatre of the Oppressed, the use of audiovisuals and critical discourse analysis. Based on an understanding of cultural, dialogical and power structures, the thesis develops four praxis-focused communication models supported by Freirean epistemology: a) local participatory communication; b) critical pedagogy for competence-based curricula; c) curricular shaping for subjects from the Degree in Advertising and Public Relations; and d) critical discourse analysis based on awareness. The result is a synthesis of Freirean epistemology considered as the basis for social praxis.

What are you doing now and where?

I’m currently working at La Xixa Teatre, a Catalan non-profit entity focused on the research, development and multiplication of tools for theatre and popular education, as a means for social transformation. Within the organisation, my job is to coordinate the research processes and European projects. I’m currently coordinating, together with the rest of the team, around ten European projects in areas such as interculturality, the environment, gender and sexuality and cultural heritage, among others. Our approach is based on the philosophy and critical pedagogy of Paulo Freire, and our core methodology is Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, both of whom are key figures in my life since doing the thesis. For two years I have been working remotely, which has allowed me to spend time with my family and my partner: we now live between Havana, a small village close to Albacete and Barcelona.

What was your experience of doing a PhD?

Doing the PhD was a difficult but highly enriching experience. It was an intense and at times extremely solitary experience. They were years of learning and also of taking paths that were not always the right ones, which is precisely when I learnt most. In this regard, I am very grateful to my tutor, Matilde Obradors, for her infinite patience during my search for the right path for me.

For me, the most important thing was that my research was meaningful, that it helped me to change things that I thought could be better, fairer or at least that helped me to be more aware of my own practice. But this need is not always easy to combine with the deadlines and bureaucracy that form part of the process, and which demand you achieve specific results that follow a logic alien to the research itself of the thesis. I really do believe that this is where you learn most from the doctoral process: how to give meaning to research that has to be undertaken with limitations regarding time, resources, forms, etc. What I have learnt has been of enormous benefit in my current job, as I am carrying out research-action outside of the University, where the conditions for research are less favourable because action is prioritised over research, although the research remains an essential part.

What does this special award mean for you?

A thesis requires a huge amount of effort and resources, and it is often carried out without knowing for certain who it will reach or, more to the point, how it will be received. The award is recognition of this work, it’s a way of feeling acknowledged professionally, which is always satisfying. It is also a validation, in this case by a jury that has taken the time to assess the thesis, and which also saw value in its results. Overall, I feel very grateful to have received this recognition.

Her thesis “Keeping up with the news: youth culture, social activism & digital communication” was supervised by Mònica Figueras from the Department of Communication at UPF. It presents a global exploration of the use of the media and the news based on the study of the younger generations. Specifically, the doctoral thesis is focussed on understanding the media practices of a new generation of young people in two different contexts. Firstly, young people in their daily routines. In other words, exploring how young people use media within their reach in their day-to-day lives (for socialising, study, entertainment, information, content generation, etc.). Secondly, young people in exceptional situations. Specifically, exploring how young people use the media within their reach in their activist actions. When this thesis was undertaken, two social movements, Catalonia’s 15M and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement both formed part of the wave of social movements that arose between 2009 and 2014. The study of habits of the population in general and young people in particular enables us to anticipate the new communication ecosystem. The recent networked social movements typically feature citizen mobilisation, especially of young people, the occupation of public space and an intense use of communication and information technologies. It is likely that through observation we can detect present and future communication trends. And that is what this thesis did: detect communication trends that gave rise to social movements and which ended up being accepted and introduced, not only among the population at large, but also in professional journalism. The results offer a broad and comprehensive picture of the media ecology of young people and, specifically, young activists of the new networked movements, like 15M or the Umbrella Movement. In this way, the research contributes knowledge on a segment of the population of vital importance for understanding the future of communication, given their condition as young, active citizens with a commitment to society. It also offers models of analysis that can be used for future research and/or by other researchers.

What are you doing now and where?

I am a temporary lecturer at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, in the Department of Audiovisual Communication, Documentation and History of Art. That means that I teach on the Degree in Audiovisual Communication and conduct research on young people, social media and news habits. I’m also the coordinator of a University Masters on Social Media and Corporate Communication.

What did doing a thesis mean for you?

It meant furthering my knowledge and a change of life. I decided to leave my professional life in the media and pursue an academic career. And I’m very pleased, because in academia I never get bored, I keep learning every day and collaborate with great research teams from around the world. Thanks to the thesis I learnt about social research, gained a better understanding of the communication and social phenomena that surround me, met new and very different people, came to form part of a strong and enriching research team at UPF, travelled to learn about other research schools and departments, made new friendships and grew as a researcher and as a person.

What does this special award mean for you?

For me, it is a celebration, recognition of the work we did; it makes me very happy. A thesis, at certain moments, can be an individual endeavour and this award is external, collective confirmation that the research undertaken was of a high quality and contributes to broadening our knowledge of society in my area of expertise.

The thesis  “Representació mediàtica i interpretació adolescent de la sexualitat i la relació amorosa en la ficció seriada” was supervised by Joan Ferrés i Prats and Pilar Medina Bravo from the Department of Communication at UPF. The aim was to analyse the portrayal of sexuality and amorous relationships in series and how teenagers interpret these portrayals. To do this, various quantitative and qualitative methodologies were combined: questionnaires, semiotic analysis of series content and the qualitative analysis of content on online forums. The analyses offered some revealing results: a) teenagers are not very selective regarding the series they consume; b) storylines containing amorous and sexual relationships are what most attract teenagers; c)  many of the series present stereotypical amorous and sexual relationships and characters. There is a notable presence of the concept and myths of romantic love. The only exception is where open and ground-breaking dilemmas are presented; d) when series present stereotypical amorous relationships, teenagers accept them without instigating discussion. However, when series take risks and present open and ground-breaking dilemmas, teenagers discuss them in the forums and their own conceptions are questioned; e) fan forums are a useful tool for inter-peer learning about amorous and sexual relationships.

What are you doing now and where?

Right now I am a Serra Hunter lecturer at the Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media at the University of Barcelona.

What did doing your thesis mean for you?

Doing my thesis implied a major learning process on different levels, from learning the basics for carrying out research (research and analysis tools) to acquiring more theoretical knowledge and, even, self-management, such as handling frustration and difficult emotions (essentially learning to be resilient). That said, I should point out that doing a thesis is a complex experience that, in my case, implied many shades of grey more than blacks or whites. I think that, as a rule, we tend to forget the most difficult moments, but if I’m honest, I have to say it was not easy. I remember spending a lot of time alone, feeling unsure, anxious, etc. Obviously it felt good to finish it, but I suffered along the way.

What does this special award mean for you?

I was very happy when I found out about the special award because, at the end of the day, it is praise for your work, and is a kind of reward for so much effort. But I have to say that it came a little late. I presented my thesis in 2015 and won this award in 2019, after I had received post-doctoral grants and gained a Serra Hunter position at another university. So, an award that should have helped me to obtain grants and find work, had partly lost its purpose when I finally received it.

He undertook his thesis “Sports journalism ethics and quality of information: the coverage of the London 2012 Olympics in the British, American and Spanish press” under the supervision of Salvador Alsius from the Department of Communication at UPF. This thesis examined to what extent six prestigious newspapers (The Guardian/The Observer, The Daily Telegraph/The Sunday Telegraph, The New York Times, The Washington Post, El País and La Vanguardia) complied with the fundamental principles of journalism ethics (truth, justice and responsibility) in their coverage of the London 2012 Olympics. The analysis revealed significant strengths, including the use of a broad range of sources, a comprehensive analysis of contextual elements, the recognition of errors and the fight against discrimination. However, the research also highlights that in other core aspects, such as the diversity of the sporting agenda, sensationalism, stereotyping and the use of violent and aggressive language, there is considerable room for improvement.

What are you doing now and where?

I am currently a Lecturer at UPF’s Department of Communication and the Director of Studies for the Bachelor’s degree in Journalism.  I am participating in several competitive research projects on journalism ethics and media accountability, sports communication and new challenges for the education sector. I teach different subjects on undergraduate and postgraduate courses, such as Research Techniques Applied to Communication and The Ethics of Mediation: Difference and Power.

What did doing your thesis mean for you?

Doing my doctoral thesis “Sports journalism ethics and quality of information. The coverage of the London 2012 Olympics in the British, American and Spanish press”, supervised by Dr. Salvador Alsius and which received an international mention, was an extraordinary opportunity to acquire the tools and knowledge for setting out on a career in teaching and research. The thesis allowed me to develop a new conceptual framework for examining and assessing news quality in sports journalism, based on the profession’s basic principles.  The theoretical approach that was used and the results obtained have developed into a wide range of academic contributions, which have helped to make advances in the field of journalism ethics and its intersection with sports communication. Thanks to the PhD, I was also able to undertake research placements and attend international conferences, allowing me to meet other researchers from Spain and around the world, with whom I have been able to publish and promote knowledge transfer tools like Accountable Sports Journalism (https://accountablesportsjournalism.org).

What does this special award mean for you?

Receiving the 13th Special Doctorate Award of the Department of Communication is a source of great satisfaction for me and for my fellow members of the Journalism Research Group (GRP). It is recognition of individual effort, but also of the fertile and sustained lines of work developed by the group over the years and which integrate research, teaching and knowledge transfer activities.

The thesis “Exploración de procedimientos semiautomáticos para el proceso de indexación en el entorno web” was supervised by Rafael Pedraza and Cristòfol Rovira, from the Communication Department at UPF. The vast amount of information that exists today requires the development of tools, methods and processes that facilitate its access. Of particular importance are information systems that are both efficient and accurate. Indexing techniques have long been of great use in this field. However, their large-scale application in the context of the Internet, is not always feasible because of the magnitude and diversity of information found online. This thesis presents two proposals to facilitate the process of indexing online documents. The first makes use of semi-automatic indexing techniques based on elements of SEO, and applied through a tool called DigiDoc MetaEdit. The second proposes a model for updating controlled vocabularies based on the processing of users’ search logs on search engines.

What are you doing now and where?

I’m working as a lecturer at the University of Barcelona in the Faculty of Information and Audiovisual Media.

What was your experience of doing a PhD?

The process of doing my thesis was a great experience in terms of personal growth. My case was quite unusual since I did the doctorate courses at the University of Alicante and presented my thesis at UPF where I was working as an adjunct lecturer. Due to personal circumstances and my professional career I couldn’t work full-time on my thesis, so I did it part-time and by published works. It was not easy and there were lots of stumbling blocks, but it was the only way for me, as it set me targets that were easier for me to achieve. Furthermore, it was useful for obtaining the different accreditations once the thesis was completed.

What does this special award mean for you?

To be honest I don’t know how to judge the impact it has had, but I’m sure that in one way or another it is and will be important. I imagine that for future calls it will be something that evaluators will take into account. For the moment, the milestones I have reached were prior to the award, but I have a feeling that it is all more connected that I could have imagined at the outset.

The doctoral thesis “Television dialogue and subtitling: A Corpus-driven study of police procedurals”, supervised by Sergi Torner Castells and Jenny Brumme from the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at UPF, comes under the disciplines of Audiovisual Translation and Applied Linguistics, as it uses the methodology of corpus linguistics to perform a contrastive analysis of television dialogue in American English and the subtitles in Peninsular Spanish of three police drama series: Castle, Dexter and The Mentalist. The study focuses on the presence of elements of fictive orality in these audiovisual texts: the television dialogues are oral productions stemming from a written text, the script, which looks to achieve naturalness; at the same time, the subtitles put the oral dialogue back into a written format. So, both in the dialogue and the subtitling, we find prototypical elements of orality and writing. The specialised bibliography confirmed that subtitles are a form of translation in which the linguistic elements that provide the audiovisual text with most naturalness are often lost, since to ensure the subtitles of the translated dialogue are synchronized with the image, the professionals have to deal with restrictions regarding time and space. The thesis addresses this issue from an empirical perspective and answers questions such as whether this neutralisation arises in the subtitling or if there is a prototypical subtitling language. In 2020 a paper was published deriving from this thesis  in the collection New Trends in Translation Studies by the publisher Peter Lang, titled Subtitling Television Series https://www.peterlang.com/view/title/65100

What are you doing now and where?

On 22 September I came back to work at UPF, three and a half years after completing my thesis, as a tenure-track lecturer in the Department of Translation and Language Sciences. I teach general English-Spanish translation and translation and the media. After completing my thesis I worked as a freelance translator, was coordinator of a master at a private university and undertook a two-year Juan de Cierva postgraduate course at the Autonomous University of Barcelona on audiovisual translation and media accessibility.

What did doing your thesis mean for you?

Research is what I like doing most and a thesis is the gateway to being a professional researcher. During the thesis I learnt to work as a team on research projects, I read key authors which I now refer to for my teaching and research work, and I learnt to apply different research methodologies. The experience was a very positive one. I am very grateful to my research group InfoLex and my thesis supervisors, Sergi Torner and Jenny Brumme, for the support they gave me throughout the process.

What does this special award mean for you?

A doctoral thesis is an academic endeavour that demands great dedication during a sustained period of time. Receiving an award that confirms the quality of the work done, that it has produced interesting results, and that it may make further contributions is a source of great satisfaction and an incentive to keep working.

The thesis “Audiovisual prosody and verbal irony”, supervised by Pilar Prieto, from UPF’s Department of Translation and Language Sciences, examines the behaviour of audiovisual cues of verbal irony from a multidisciplinary perspective, in other words, approaching the subject matter from different viewpoints, both theoretical and methodological. The thesis, therefore, includes four experimental studies that deal with different research questions using different experimental designs. The first is a case study on a professional comedian —Andreu Buenafuente—; the second includes a production-based experiment designed to generate a spontaneous ironic discourse and another on the perception of gestures that arise following the ironic utterances; the third study presents three perception-based experiments that examine the relative contribution of the context, from the prosodic and gestural cues to the understanding of verbal irony, and the fourth study investigates the contribution of prosodic and gestural cues in the understanding of verbal irony in children aged 3, 4 and 5. The results of the thesis show that both prosodic and gestural cues contribute to the understanding of verbal irony, guiding the listener in the interpretation of the utterance by providing clues as to the assumptions, emotions and attitudes of the speakers. Together with recent studies on the general pragmatic effects of prosody and gesture, the results of the experiments show that audiovisual cues to irony constitute powerful factors enabling the understanding of the speakers’ intentions in communicative interactions. Furthermore, in this thesis empirical evidence is presented regarding the significant involvement of multimodal markers  —and especially gestural cues— in the detection of verbal irony as compared with contextual cues, in both the adult and child population. This crucial finding has led us to the understanding that the study of prosodic and gestural cues to irony should be an integral part of any pragmatic or psycholinguistic explanation on the production and understanding of verbal irony.

What are you doing now and where?

I’m currently working as a collaborating teacher on the subject General Linguistics from the Speech Therapy Degree at the UOC and the subject Practicum-Final Research Project from the University Masters on Learning Difficulties and Language Disorders.

What was your experience of doing your thesis?

The experience was very enriching, both from an educational and personal viewpoint. Not only was I able to learn more about the subject matter of my thesis (audiovisual prosody of verbal irony), but I also acquired and developed many other skills related with research management: from experimental design in all its stages, the unquestionable need and benefits of teamwork and, above all, the constant effort required in research to make advances that can contribute to the scientific community.

That does this special award mean for you?

Like all awards, it represents recognition for a job well done, but in my case, it is clear that this recognition is not just for my work, but also for that of my thesis supervisor and all my colleagues from the Prosodic Studies Group, from whom I have learnt as much as from my own research. As I said before, teamwork is fundamental for making significant advances in the area of research, and this award is a clear example of that.

The thesis “Vocabulary acquisition in study abroad and formal instruction: an investigation on oral and written lexical development” was supervised by Carmen Pérez Vidal and Immaculada Miralpeix Pujol from the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at UPF. This study investigates the impact of two different consecutive learning contexts - formal instruction in the country of origin and a three-month stay abroad - on second-language vocabulary acquisition in oral and written production. Data were obtained from a group of 30 bilingual Catalan/Spanish advanced English learners before and after each learning period by means of an oral interview and a written composition. These samples were analysed in terms of quantitative lexical proficiency measures in the domains of fluency, density, diversity, sophistication and accuracy, as well as through a qualitative analysis of second language idiomaticity. Data from 29 native English speakers were also collected for the purpose of comparison. The results reveal that a stay abroad is beneficial for the development of vocabulary for written production, but not so much for vocabulary for oral production, and affects, above all, lexical fluency and diversity. The period of formal instruction, in contrast, is shown to have a moderate effect on progress in vocabulary for oral production and has more significant benefits for lexical sophistication. It is also found that the initial level of lexical competence largely explains the progress made.

What are you doing now and where?

Right now I’m on maternity leave, but I’m currently working for a multinational company putting into practice the language combination I have used since my degree: Russian, English and Spanish. I also collaborate with the UOC as an English language consultant in the Centre for Modern Languages (CIM).

What did doing a thesis mean for you?

Firstly, personal growth: it gave me the strength to persevere and remain committed to such a meticulous task. It enabled me to acquire cross-disciplinary skills and learn about new fields, like inferential statistics. The PhD experience is unique, and both demanding and gratifying. In this regard, I would like to thank UPF for funding my training through countless conferences, as well as the research placement I did in Georgetown University in Washington (US). After receiving my doctorate I had the opportunity to work as a teacher in different Catalan universities, which allowed me to learn about different methods and ways of working. However, if I can be in any way critical, I think that on a national level a lot is invested in training doctoral students, but not many doors are left open to PhD holders. It is very difficult to pursue an academic career in Spain: other than working as an adjunct lecturer under temporary contract, there seems to be very little in the way of opportunities for those of us who cannot go abroad to enrich our CVs. What we need are more opportunities.

What does this special award mean for you?

Of course, it is recognition of the more than 250 pages that I paid for in blood, sweat and tears. While some of my friends got married and went travelling, I spent my whole time reading, analysing data and writing. So this award is undoubtedly a reward for the effort invested over several years of my life; I hope I can attend the presentation of the award if the situation allows it. On another note, I would like this award to be taken into account when it comes to my accreditation (quick wink, as promised, to my thesis supervisors – my tireless allies).