Núria Sebastián is Professor of Basic Psychology at the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at UPF. She has been vice-president of the European Research Council (ERC) for the areas of the social and human sciences since 1 January.

- What does being vice-president of the European Research Council mean for your career?

It's obviously a challenge. First, I must say that the European Research Council is one of the European Union's instruments for funding research. It's the instrument which provides funding for cutting edge research, regardless of whether it is basic or applied knowledge. The European Research Council is a new organization that is a real catalyst for research in Europe. Its scientific board is made up of researchers from all disciplines, and it is the members of this board who take all the decisions, not bureaucrats who have no experience of working in science. Personally, it is an honour to be part of it and now, as vice-president, it is a huge responsibility.

- What will be your main responsibility from now on?

The European Research Council is unique; it's worth pointing out that there is no board for the life sciences or for the social sciences. There is only one board and we take all the decisions together. However, from the point of view of organizing assessments, the panels are grouped into three areas, one of which is the social and human sciences. As vice-president, of my responsibilities is to coordinate and ensure quality in this specific area.

- In your opinion, what are the strong points of research in Catalonia?

It's hard to find strong points in these times of crisis, especially when looking from a European perspective. The level of funding we have is much lower than that of our colleagues in northern Europe, and it's a miracle that we can still do high quality research (it's worse if you are a "normal" university lecturer, without any access to the initiatives aimed at large centres). Perhaps the strong point is that we researchers never give up and we don't throw in the towel.

- In this country, what are the challenges for social science research in the future?

The challenges for the social and human sciences here don't differ very much from those facing the majority of European researchers. From my point of view, a major problem in some circles is the prejudice against objective-driven research. In life and natural sciences, nobody worries if most of the resources are allocated to resolving climate change, finding better energy sources or curiing a particular disease. There is the idea in some areas of the social and human sciences that research subjects should not be influenced by the needs of society. This means that the funding available will be much more limited, since it will only be possible to benefit from non-targeted programmes (such as grants from the European Research Council). I want to make it clear that I'm not saying that we should only fund targeted research, but there could be more resources available in the field of social and human sciences if there was a change of attitude.

- What is the role of scientific dissemination in our society?

Most research is funded with public money; so the public owns it, since they pay for it with their taxes. Scientific dissemination is not an option, it is a fundamental part of the implicit contract between researchers and citizens. Something that is surprising is that there is a great deal of interest in the results of research in our society; you just have to look at the number of events, workshops, conferences, etc., which are organized with a great deal of success. And at the same time, society itself is not shocked by the limited resources invested in them. It's quite a contradiction.

Interdisciplinarity is a pending issue, and not just at UPF. But because of its size and because it shares a focus of study (human beings), it's particularly easy at UPF.

A musician: Mozart

A book: After thinking about it a long and hard, I can't choose one in particular...I like reading too much!

A value: Honour (an old-fashioned concept but one which covers plenty of important values)

SHE DISLIKES...

Peppers!

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She received her doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Barcelona

She has been a researcher at the Laboratory of Cognitive Sciences and Psycholinguistics in Paris and the Max Planck Institute in Nijmegen (Netherlands) and a lecturer at the University of Chicago.

Head of the Speech Acquisition and Perception Research Group at UPF

ICREA Academy and Professor of Basic Psychology at the DTIC

Director of the Doctoral School AT UPF

Awarded the Narcís Monturiol Medal (2012)

Vice-President of the European Research Council (1 January 2014)

Photo: Frederic Comallonga

Interview published in upf.edu - number 7 - February 2014