Examples of projects working on this SDG (more information at the ods.cat website)

Projects in progress

•  Characterization and manipulation of control points of virus infection fates PI: Meyerhans, Andreas Franz This project addresses three aspects of the interactions between host-viruses and their manipulation. The aim is to mechanically link biological processes that have different ways of regulating the outcome of infections and develop new therapeutic approaches against chronic infections. Project start and end: 2020-2023. 

•    Digital Missions for Care Social Economy's Resilience (DIMCARE). IP: Monllau Jaques, Teresa Maria.The aim of the project is to respond to the need for digitalisation in the people care sector within the social economy ecosystem. The use of new technologies and digital social innovations within a social enterprise or social economy ecosystem context is key for the future, now that digital transition has become a duty for all the economic contexts. Project start and end: 2022-2023.
•    La situació de les persones grans amb dependència funcional i les persones cuidadores a Barcelona. IP: Lanau Sanchez, Alba. Project coordinated by Universitat de Barcelona. The aim of this project is to analyze the living conditions and characteristics of people in a situation of functional dependency (SFD) in Barcelona and of the people in charge of care (management and assistance), in order to assess their needs by differentiating their profiles, as well as the different care strategies they develop. Project start and end: 2023-2026.

•    Mental Health PI: Garcia Benavides, Fernando The project will focus on wellbeing and mental health in academia. General knowledge about the causes of wellbeing in the workplace and mental health should be refined with contextual details (i.e., in the academic field) to develop personalized, effective and efficient action and prevention programmes. Project start and end: 2020-2024.

• Razón pública global: derechos humanos, legitimidad democrática y cambio demográfico (GLOPUR). IP: Moreso Mateos, Josep Joan.  Our proposal aims to develop the idea of global public reason in three areas in which we have already worked in the framework of the projects of AEI, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the ERC: 1) the general theory of law; 2) the theory of legitimacy and human rights; and 3) the intergenerational justice and demographic change.  Project start and end: 2021-2024. 

•      Shifting the Obesity Epidemic in Iberia-Latin American cities: Applying interdisciplinary, intersectional and intersectoral approaches to understand and change key obesogenic causes. PI: Benach de Rovira, Joan. The general objective of this project is to develop an analytical model to evaluate the determinants of social and gender inequalities in overweight and obesity in Ibero-Latin American cities in a recent period of time, and inform policies by integrating interdisciplinary and intersectoral approaches. Project start and end: 2021-2023. 

•   Tecnologías para la ablación de arritmias cardíacas mediante electroporación irreversible PI: Ivorra Cano, Anton The research focuses on the development of new technological tools and methods for nonthermal ablation of cardiac arrhythmias. Project start and end: 2020-2023.

•    Towards Personalized Suicide Prevention - Improving Clinical Risk Assessment and Indicated Treatment Allocation among Patients at Risk for Suicide. IP: Pastor Maeso, Manuel.  PI Coordinator: Philippe Mortier. IMIM.  The project will develop a prototype of a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS), i.e., a medical software program that assists clinicians in the personalized evaluation and management of suicide risk. Project start and end: 2023-2026.

•     Understanding the spatio-temporal social determinants of health to improve agent-based modelling of recurrent COVID-19 outbreaks (COVID-SHINE) PI: Benach de Rovira, Joan. The project has two general aims: (1) to enhance the ability of modeling strategies to predict the dynamics of recurrent outbreaks of COVID-19 by incorporating social determinants of health, and (2) to develop an integrated systems framework to inform policies, emphasizing on the reduction of health inequalities. Project start and end: 2021-2023

Finalised projects

•    Activism Mobilising Science (AMS): Citizen empowerment through knowledge co-production in public health-environmental conflicts PI: Zografos, Christos The main objective of the project is to use empirical research to investigate and improve the empowerment of citizens in the context of the public health implications of pollution and environmental conflicts. Project start and end: 2018-2020.

•    BRAIN-CONNECTS: Brain Connectivity during Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation PI: Deco, Gustavo The main objective of this project is to determine the value of MRI markers of brain connectivity (MRI-BBC) in the prediction of functional outcomes of stroke patients after rehabilitation. Secondary objectives are (1) to determine whether the combination of MRI-BBC and clinical scores can predict functional outcomes better than any of the approaches alone and (2) whether MRI-BBC can identify patients who will respond best to high-intensity rehabilitation. Project start and end: 2018-2020.

•    CardioFunXion PI: Bijnens, Bart. This research project, “CardioFunXion: Towards a new paradigm for evaluating cardiac function from images”, provides a platform for industrial-clinical-academic collaboration and will be an example of future partnerships in more efficient and auditable clinical image interpretation tools. Project start and end: 2015-2019.

•   Deciphering Beta cell T1D mechanisms and gene targets  PI: Pasquali, Lorenzo. The overall objective of the project is to reduce mortality from type 1 diabetes (T1D) through better prevention and treatment of the disease. Project start and end: 2020-2022

•    DEPDIS- Dependencia y Discapacidad: aspectos inexplorados IP: López Casasnovas, Guillem. The project aims to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of government interventions targeting people with disabilities and dependency, as well as to assess the impact of the economic cycle on these situations. Summary. Project start and end: 2018-2020. 

•    Evaluación del impacto de las prestaciones sociales sobre la relación entre la trayectoria laboral y la mortalidad por causas en una cohorte de afiliados a la Seguridad Social en España (2004-2016) PI: Garcia Benavides, Fernando The project aims to evaluate the impact of social benefits provided by the Social Security in Spain on the association between careers, premature mortality due to specific causes and years of disability-free working life. Project start and end: 2018-2020.

•    Finançament de serveis públics essencials, sostenibilitat i territori (FINSERVICES)  PI:  Agulló Agüero, Antonia. This project aims to contribute to the analysis of the public services financing system as an essential tool for achieving the right of access to essential services and the right to equal opportunities. Project start and end: 2018-2021.

•    INSPIRE: Modelado multiescala mecánico y biológico de los mecanismos de progresión avanzada de la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica basado en evidencias clínicas PI: Noailly, Jerome. The project will develop a model that integrates the different parameters involved in COPD to better characterize the disease and offer personalized treatment to the patient Project start and end: 2018-2020

•    Nuevos reguladores de la producción y toxicidad del péptido Beta-Amiloide implicados en la señalización del calcio en la enfermedad de Alzheimer PI: Muñoz López, Francisco José  This project aims to study the importance of calcium regulation in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease by characterizing new genes, not previously related to Alzheimer’s disease, which play a key role in the neurotoxicity and production of Aß. Project start and end: 2018-2021.

•    Preclinical development of innovative mRNA/MVA vaccines against SARS-CoV2 PI: Meyerhans, Andreas Franz Vaccines are efficient and cost-effective weapons against infectious diseases. The Andreas Meyerhans Infection Biology Laboratory is a member of a consortium headed by Felipe García, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, which aims to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. The vaccine is intended to be based on mRNA/MVA and induce protective immune responses of B and T cells in humans. Project start and end: 2020-2020.

•    The social urgency of a growing elderly population: Building sustainable home care services PI: De Armas Adrián, Jésica. The project seeks to improve home care services for the elderly and will help improve decision making with a positive impact on society in terms of health, social benefit and cost efficiency. Project start and end: 2020-2022.

Source: Database of grants and contracts and PDI project datasheets